Guy de Maupassant on luck

She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks.

Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs!

Chance favors the prepared mind.

Louis Pasteur1822–1895

I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

I think luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it… The man who can smile at his breaks and grab his chances gets on.

Samuel Goldwyn1882–1974