Fortune

Fortune can not be flattered by such fetish worship. But she can be wooed and won by hard work.
~ William Maxwell Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook)

World's glory is but like a flower,
Which both is bloom'd and blasted in an hour.
~ Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, The Tragedie of Darius (1603).

Luck has created much of what I have today, but at the same time, I haven't sat still.
~ Bill Bixby, Los Angeles Herald Examiner (1969).

It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity:
Thus could I sing and thus rejoice: but it is not so with me.
~ William Blake, The Price of Experience (1797).

Since all the riches of this world
May be gifts from the devil and earthly kings,
I should suspect that I worshipped the devil
If I thanked my God for worldly things.
~ William Blake, Gnomic Verses xix.

Deep in the brightness of the skies
The thronging years in glory rise.
And, as they fleet,
Drop strength and riches at thy feet.
~ William Cullen Bryant, published in Graham's Magazine (July 1847). Oh Mother of a Mighty Race

It is not a sign of arrogance for the king to rule. That is what he is there for.
~ William F. Buckley, Jr.

The sea hath fish for every man.
~ William Camden, Remaines concerning Britaine (1605).

Science and art may invent splendid modes of illuminating the apartments of the opulent: but these are all poor and worthless compared with the common light which the sun sends into all our windows, which pours freely, impartially over hill and valley, which kindles daily the eastern and western sky; and so the common lights of reason, and conscience, and love, are of more worth and dignity than the rare endowments which give celebrity to a few.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), An Introductory Address to the Franklin Lectures, Boston MA (1838). Self-Culture

Determin'd, from whatever point they rise,
To trust his fortune to the seas and skies.
~ William Falconer, The Shipwreck (1762). Canto I

If there's a will, prosperity can't be far behind.
~ W.C. Fields, in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: W.C. Fields on Business (January 2000).

It's a funny old world -- a man's lucky if he can get out of it alive.
~ W.C. Fields, You're Telling Me (1934 screenplay).

[O]ne of my most precious treasures . . . is an exquisite pair of loaded dice, bearing the date of my graduation from high school.
~ W.C. Fields, Let's Look at the Record (1939).

It is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Pirates of Penzance (1880 opera)

Now that's the kind of King for me --
He wished all men as rich as he,
So to the top of every tree
Promoted everybody!
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, The Gondoliers (1889 opera)

So tweasure your wuv.
~ William Goldman, The Princess Bride ("The Impressive Clergyman" in the 1987 screenplay).

The greatest reverses of fortune are the most easily borne from a sort of dignity belonging to them.
~ William Hazlitt

How is it the great pieces of good luck fall to us?
~ William Dean Howells, from Literature And Life (1902). Spanish Prisoners of War

Providence certainly does not favor just certain individuals, but the deep wisdom of its counsel, instruction and ennoblement extends to all.
~ Wilhelm von Humboldt

Ne'er waste your fortune like a careless drone,
Except you'll be contented when 'tis gone.
~ William Hutton, from Poems, chiefly tales (1804). Maxims

It would never end. Why should it? Could a Great Wonder be merely a transient thrill? Absurd. Dawn followed night, day after day, and the wonder had not faded. It would never fade..
~ William John Locke, The Fortunate Youth (1914).

Good luck always brings merit, but merit very seldom brings good luck.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, from A Writer's Notebook (1949).

The fattest hog of Epicurus' sty.
~ William Mason, An Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers, Knight, (May 1773)

I've had ample contact with lawyers, and I'm convinced that the only fortune they ever leave is their own.
~ Wilson Mizner

Fortune is a prize to be won. Adventure is the road to it. Chance is what may lurk in the shadows at the roadside.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million (1910). The Venturers

I wanted the gold, and I got it --
Came out with a fortune last fall, --
Yet somehow life's not what I thought it,
And somehow the gold isn't all.
~ Robert William Service, from The Spell of the Yukon, and Other Verses (1907). The Spell of the Yukon

A thousand moral paintings I can show
That shall demonstrate these quick blows of Fortune's
More pregnantly than words.
~ William Shakespeare

As good luck would have it.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act III, scene v

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer'd.
~ William Shakespeare, Cymbeline. Act IV, scene iii

Fortune knows we scorn her most when most she offers blows.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra

Fortune reigns in gifts of the world.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act I, scene ii

Let those who are in favour with their stars
Of public honour and proud titles boast.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 25

O! I am fortune's fool!
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act III, scene i

On fortune's cap we are not the very button.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Pray, sit; more welcome are ye to my fortunes
Than my fortunes to me.
~ William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens. Act I, scene ii

Prosperity's the very bond of love.
~ William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale

Rich, only to be wretched, thy great fortunes
Are made thy chief afflictions.
~ William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens. Act IV, scene ii

The mightiest space in fortune nature brings
To join like likes and kiss like native things.
~ William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
~ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Act IV, scene iii

This is the third time; I hope good luck lies in odd numbers. . . . There is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance or death.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor

When fortune flatters, she does it to betray.
~ William Shakespeare, King John

When Fortune means to men most good,
She looks upon them with a threatening eye.
~ William Shakespeare, King John

Who seeks, and will not take when once 'tis offer'd,
Shall never find it more.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act II, scene vii

You fools of fortune, trencher-friends, time's flies.
~ William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens

I was lucky. I rode for 40 years, in 40,000 races, and had a lot of falls. But I never had any spinal injuries or anything like that. Then an automobile got me. So, you never know.
~ William Lee (Willie) "The Shoe" Shoemaker (on being paralyzed in an auto accident), News Conference (1 October 1991).

For what is virtue, courage, wit,
In all men, but a lucky hit?
~ William Somervile, Fables. The Fortune-Hunter, Canto III

If you have things right in your life
but do not know why,
you are just lucky, and you will not move
in the little ways that encourage good fortune.
~ William Stafford, Stories That Could Be True (1977). The Little Ways That Encourage Good Fortune

The aggregation of large fortunes is not at all a thing to be regretted. On the contrary, it is a necessary condition of many forms of social advance.
~ William Graham Sumner, What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883). Chapter III: That It Is Not Wicked To Be Rich; Nay, Even, That It Is Not Wicked To Be Richer Than One's Neighbor

For never a beggar need now despair,
And every rogue has a chance.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, from Ballads (1855). The Speculators

'Tis human fortune's happiest height to be
A spirit melodious, lucid, poised, and whole;
Second in order of felicity
I hold it, to have walk'd with such a soul.
~ William Watson, from Epigrams of Art, Life and Nature (1884).

You know, Hobbes, sometimes even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help.
~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

Lady Luck has been good to me and I fancy she has been good to everyone. Only some people are dour, and when she gives them the come hither with her eyes, they look down or turn away and lift an eyebrow. But me, I give her the wink and away we go.
~ William Allen White

Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come.
~ Serena Williams (on winning the Australian Open), The Age (26 January 2003). It's history, Serena-style

I know how lucky I've been in life, more than anybody will ever know. I've lived a kind of precarious life style, precarious in sports, flying and baseball. And oh boy. I know how lucky I've been.
~ Theodore Samuel ("Ted") Williams, Interview in National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Yearbook (2000 edition). Ted Williams: In his own words

You know what luck is? Luck is believing you're lucky, that's all ... To hold a front position in this rat-race, you've got to believe you are lucky.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).

Having your love
I was rich
Thinking to have lost it
I am tortured
and cannot rest.
~ William Carlos Williams, from Journey to Love (1955). Asphodel, That Greeny Flower

They laugh because they prosper.
Fruit for them is upon all branches.
Lo! how they jibe at loss, for
Kind heaven fills their little paunches!
It's the coroner's merry, merry children
Who laugh so easily.
~ William Carlos Williams, from The Tempers (1913). Hic Jacet

I'm staggered by the question of what it's like to be a multimillionaire. I always have to remind myself that I am.
~ Bruce Willis, Rolling Stone (Issue 858/859)

In the queer messes of human destiny the determining factor is luck. For every important place in life there are many men of fairly equal capacities. Among them luck decides who shall accomplish the great work, who shall be crowned with laurel, and who shall fall back into silence and obscurity.
~ William E. Woodward

The generous inclination, the just rule,
Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughts --
No mystery is here!
~ William Wordsworth, The Excursion (1814). Book IX: Discourse of the Wanderer, and an Evening Visit to the Lake

There's more enterprise
In walking naked.
~ William Butler Yeats, A Coat (1914)

When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933). A Dialogue of Self and Soul