Themes

"Audentem forsque Venusque juvant."

"Fortuna multis dat nimis, satis nulli."

"You are sad in the midst of every blessing. Take care that Fortune does not observe—or she will call you ungrateful."

"Quivis beatus, versa rota fortunæ, ante vesperum potest esse miserrimus."

"Posteraque in dubio est fortunam quam vehat ætas."

"Raro simul hominibus bonam fortunam bonamque mentem dari."

"Non temere incerta casuum reputat, quem fortuna numquam decepit."

"Non semper temeritas est felix."

"Barbaris ex fortuna pendet fides."

"La fortune ne paraît jamais si aveugle qu' a ceux à qui elle ne fait pas de bien."

"Il lit au front de ceux qu'un vain luxe environne, Que la fortune vend ce qu'on croit qu'elle donne."

"Fortune aveugle suit aveugle hardiesse."

"Fortune, that favours fools."

"Horæ Momento cita mors venit aut victoria læta."

"Cui non conveniet sua res, ut calceus olim, Si pede major erit subvertet; si minor, uret."

"Curtæ nescio quid semper abest rei."

"Laudo manentem; si celeres quatit Pennas, resigno quæ dedit, et mea Virtute me involvo, probamque Pauperiem sine dote quære."

"The bitter dregs of Fortune's cup to drain."

"Fortune, men say, doth give too much to many, But yet she never gave enough to any."

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

"Ein Tag der Gunst ist wie ein Tag der Ernte, Man muss geschäftig sein sobald sie reift."

"Das Glück erhebe billig der Beglückte."

"Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave."

"Multa intersunt calicem et labrum summum."

"Fortune truly helps those who are of good judgment."

"Neuer thinke you fortune can beare the sway, Where Virtue's force, can cause her to obay."

"Let fortune empty her whole quiver on me. I have a soul that, like an ample shield, Can take in all, and verge enough for more."

"If hindrances obstruct thy way, Thy magnanimity display. And let thy strength be seen: But O, if Fortune fill thy sail With more than a propitious gale, Take half thy canvas in."

"Eheu! quam brevibus pereunt ingentia fatis."

"Fors juvat audentes."

"Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia."

"Fortune, the great commandress of the world, Hath divers ways to advance her followers: To some she gives honor without deserving; To other some, deserving without honor; Some wit, some wealth,—and some, wit without wealth; Some wealth without wit; some nor wit nor wealth."

"Cæsarem vehis, Cæsarisque fortunam."

"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."

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

"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.""

"Si fortuna juvat, caveto tolli; Si fortuna tonat, caveto mergi."

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

"Vixi, et, quem dederat cursum Fortuna, peregi."

"Adspirat primo Fortuna labori."

"The lovely young Lavinia once had friends; And fortune smil'd, deceitful, on her birth."

"Fortis fortuna adiuvat Fortune favours the brave."

"How some men creep in skittish Fortune's hall, While others play the idiots in her eyes!"

"Know thus far forth: By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune — Now my dear lady — hath mine enemies Brought to this shore; and by my prescience I find my zenith doth depend upon A most auspicious star, whose influence If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes Will ever after droop."

"O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle."

"Fortune, that arrant whore, Ne'er turns the key to the poor."

"A good man's fortune may grow out at heels."

"When Fortune means to men most good, She looks upon them with a threatening eye."

"Fortune is merry, And in this mood will give us anything."

"Will Fortune never come with both hands full, But write her fair words still in foulest letters? She either gives a stomach, and no food; Such are the poor, in health: or else a feast, And takes away the stomach; such are the rich, That have abundance, and enjoy it not."