“You have the magical combo of luck and sheer pigheadedness it takes to succeed in business.”

Succeeding in Science: Some Rules of Thumb (1993)
Context: To have success in science, you need some luck.
But to succeed in science, you need a lot more than luck. And it's not enough to be smart — lots of people are very bright and get nowhere in life. In my view, you have to combine intelligence with a willingness not to follow conventions when they block your path forward.

Song lyrics, Singles and rarities
Context: See how I fall like the snow,
Come to cover the lovers,
(But don't you wake them up)
Come to sparkle the dark up,
With just a touch of make up.
Come to cover the muck up.
Ooh with a little luck —
December will be magic again.

Source: Flipped

"Sand Dabs, Five"
Winter Hours (1999)
Context: You can have the other words — chance, luck, coincidence, serendipity. I'll take grace. I don't know what it is exactly, but I'll take it.

" resignation and postmortem http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/nomo.html" (essay)

Waldo (p. 186)
Short fiction, The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein (1999)

Source: Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

Book The Second Bounce of the Ball (2007)

O interview (2003)
Context: The whole society is obsessed.... I'm not complaining — I'm just saying, "Don't be too impressed with me. Don't try to dress like me or wear your hair like mine. Find your own style. Don't spend your savings trying to be someone else. You're not more important, smarter, or prettier because you wear a designer dress." I only wear the expensive clothes because I get them free and I'm too lazy to go out and look for my own. I, a rich girl from Mexico, came here with designer clothes. And one day when I was starving in an apartment in Los Angeles, I looked at my Chanel blouses and said, "If only I could pay the rent with one of these." … In those days, the rag I used to dry my dishes was more useful. Now many who start in this business come to me for advice and ask, "How do I get started?" And I have to say, "I honestly have no idea." I think it's a bunch of accidents that happen to you and somehow you survive them and take advantage of them and something magical happens — and you have an agent.