Famously Said Random quote

Miscellaneous quotes

973 quotes from 439 people

Most readBy personPage 18 of 65

Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances… Strong men believe in cause and effect.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882The Conduct of Life (1860), Worship
- Luck
The two parties which divide the state, the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation, are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882The Conservative (1841)
- Change
- Politics
The man who renounces himself, comes to himself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Divinity College Address (1838), p. 6
It is not enough to be in the right place at the right time. You should also have an open mind at the right time.
Paul Erdős1913–1996My Brain Is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdos (1998) by Bruce Schechter, p. 99
- Luck
- Thinking
Sweet is the remembrance of troubles when you are in safety.
Euripides481–407 BCFrg. 133 (Cassell’s, 1907)
Every man is like the company he is wont to keep.
Euripides481–407 BCPhœnissæ. Frag. 809. Reported in Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 724–25.
The variety of all things forms a pleasure.
Euripides481–407 BC
A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
Euripides481–407 BCFrg. 32 (Bartlett’s, 1892)
Chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.
Euripides481–407 BCPirithous.
- Luck
There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change.
Euripides481–407 BCIphigenia in Tauris, ll. 721–722 (Bartlett’s, 1892)
- Change
- Luck
Great treasure halls hath Zeus in heaven,
From whence to man strange dooms be given,
Past hope or fear.
And the end men looked for cometh not,
And a path is there where no man thought:
So hath it fallen here.
Euripides481–407 BCMedea (431 BC), Part 2, spoken by ChorusIn context
- God
- Luck
A man is the sum of his misfortunes. One day you’d think misfortune would get tired, but then time is your misfortune
William Faulkner1897–1962The Sound and the Fury (1929), June Second, 1910 (2 of 4)In context
- Luck
- Time
Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting.
William Faulkner1897–1962The Sound and the Fury (1929), April Seventh, 1928 (1 of 3)In context
It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn’t get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man.
Richard Feynman1918–1988The Meaning of It All (1999), lecture II: “The Uncertainty of Values”
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself⁠—and you are the easiest person to fool.
Richard Feynman1918–1988“Cargo Cult Science”, adapted from a 1974 Caltech commencement address