Austen Jane 1775-1817

Pride and Prejudice

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Bacon Francis 1561-1626

Essays „Of Fortune"

Chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands.

Bacon Francis 1561-1626

Essays „Of Fortune"

If a man look sharply, and attentively, he shall see Fortune: for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible.

Boethius 476-524

De Consolatione Philosophiae

For in every ill-turn of fortune the most unhappy sort of unfortunate man is the one who has been happy.

Cicero Marcus Tullius 106-43 BC

I never admired another's fortune so much that
I became dissatisfied with my own.

Dryden John 1631-1700

Heroic Stanzas (death of Oliver Cromwell)

For he was great, ere fortune made him so.

Eliot George 1819-1880

Scenes of Clerical Life

Errors look so very ugly in persons of small means - one feels they are taking quite a liberty in going astray; whereas people of fortune may naturally indulge in a few delinquencies.

Farquhar George 1678-1707

The Beaux' Stratagem

No woman can be a beauty without a fortune.

Gray Thomas 1716-1771

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A youth to fortune and to fame unknown.
Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy marked him for her own.

Gray Thomas 1716-1771

„Sketch of his own Character"

Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune,
He had not the method of making a fortune.

Jonson Ben c.1573-1637

The Alchemist

Fortune, that favours fools.

Jonson Ben c.1573-1637

Every Man out of His Humour

 

Blind Fortune still

Bestows her gifts on such as cannot use them.

 

La Rochefoucauld François Duc de 1613-1680

Maxims

We need greater virtues to bear good fortune than bad.

Leacock Stephen 1869-1944

The sorrows and disasters of Europe always brought fortune to America.

Lucas 39-65 AD

Pharsalia

Caesar lives after his battles, but his fortune has perished.

MacDonald Sir John A. 1815-1891

When Fortune empties her chamberpot on your head, smile and say „We are going to have a summer shower".

Mackenzie Sir Compton 1883-1972

The Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett

Prostitution. Selling one's body to keep one's soul: this is the meaning of the sins that were forgiven to the woman because she loved much: one might say of most marriages that they were selling one's soul to keep one's body.

Proverbs and Sayings

Latin

Fortune is fickle and soon asks back what he has given.

Proverbs and Sayings

Persian

If fortune turns against you, even jelly breaks your tooth.

Seneca c.4 BC-AD 65

A good mind possesses a kingdom: a great fortune is a great slavery.

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

Much Ado About Nothing

To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune;
but to write and read comes by nature.

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

Cymbeline

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

King Lear

This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune - often the surfeit of our own behaviour - we make guilty of our own disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Tacitus AD. c.56-c.117

Histories

These times having the rare good fortune that you may think what you like and say what you think.

Terence c.190-159 BC

Phormio

Fortune favours the bold.

Virgil 70-19 BC

Aeneid

Fortune assists the bold.

Webster John c.1580-c.1625

The White Devil

Fortune's a right whore:
If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels,
That she may take away all at one swoop.

Woollcott Alexander 1887-1943

A broker is a man who takes your fortune and runs it into a shoestring.

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