
“Sometimes it's about playing a poor hand well.”
Source: The Goldfinch
As quoted in Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior (1991) by Dan Millman, p. 78
Life’s not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well.
As quoted in "They Came to Write in Hawai‘i" by Joseph Theroux, in Spirit of Aloha (March/April 2007)
“Sometimes it's about playing a poor hand well.”
Source: The Goldfinch
Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things https://archive.org/details/joshbillingsoni00billgoog (1868), Chapter XXIV: "Perkussion Caps", p. 89; republished in The Complete Works of Josh Billings http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36556 (1876), Chapter 141: "Ods and Ens", p. 248. Often paraphrased as "Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well."
The World, ii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part I - Lord, What is Man?
“One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.”
“Lay hold on Christ with both your poor, empty hands.”
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 589.
Lyrics of " Loved by the Sun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40eZABP5eJs", written for the "Unicorn Theme" by Tangerine Dream, on the soundtrack of the film Legend (1986).
Source: An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness