To be fortunate is God, and more than God to mortals.

To be fortunate is God, and more than God to mortals.

Behind every great fortune there is a crime.

Behind every great fortune there is a crime.

It is a madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because in herself she is nothing, but is ruled read more

It is a madness to make fortune the mistress of events, because in herself she is nothing, but is ruled by prudence.

It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules man's life.
[Lat., Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia.]

It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules man's life.
[Lat., Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia.]

When Fortune smiles, I smile to think how quickly she will frown.

When Fortune smiles, I smile to think how quickly she will frown.

Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a ribbon to stick in his coat;
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Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a ribbon to stick in his coat;
Found the one gift of which Fortune bereft us,
Lost all the others she lets us devote.

We ought to give thanks for all fortune: it is is good, because it is good, if bad, because it read more

We ought to give thanks for all fortune: it is is good, because it is good, if bad, because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country

Fortune rarely accompanies anyone to the door.

Fortune rarely accompanies anyone to the door.

That conceit, elegantly expressed by the Emperor Charles V., in
his instructions to the King, his son, "that fortune read more

That conceit, elegantly expressed by the Emperor Charles V., in
his instructions to the King, his son, "that fortune hath
somewhat the nature of a woman, that if she be too much wooed she
is the farther off."