Fortuna Quotes
More Fortuna Quotes
fortuna vitrea est, tum cum splendet frangitur.
publilius syrus— Fortune is like glass; when she shines, she is broken.
— Syrus, Maxims. 283.
Fortis fortuna adiuvat. Fortune favours the brave.
— 8161 BC Phormio, 203.
magna servitus est magna fortuna.
seneca the younger— A great fortune is a great slavery.From Ad Polybium De Consolatione (Of Consolation, To Polybius), cap. VI, line 5.
Stultum facit fortuna, quem vult perdere.
publilius syrus— Translation: Whom Fortune wishes to destroy she first makes mad.
— Maxim 911. One of the most famous renditions of the ancient Greek proverb (which is anonymous and dates to the 5th century BCE or earlier).
— The provenance of the proverb and its English versions is at Wikipedia's Euripides page, under the heading "Misattributed".
Genus immortale manet, multosque per annos Stat fortuna domus, et avi numerantur avorum.
virgil— Th' immortal line in sure succession reigns;
The fortune of the family remains;
And grandsires' grandsires the long list contains.Book IV, lines 208–209 (translated by John Dryden).
If fortune favors you do not be elated; if she frowns do not despond.
ausonius— Ausonius, Septem Sapientium Sententiæ Septenis Versibus Explicatæ, IV. 6.
Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia.
cicero— It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules man's life.
— Cicero, Tusculanarum Disputationum, LIX.
Barbaris ex fortuna pendet fides.
livy— The fidelity of barbarians depends on fortune.
— Livy, Annales, XXVIII. 17.
Non temere incerta casuum reputat, quem fortuna numquam decepit.
livy— He whom fortune has never deceived, rarely considers the uncertainty of human events.
— Livy, Annales, XXX. 30.
Si quanta nobilitas et fortuna mihi fuit, tanta rerum prosperarum moderatio fuisset, amicus potius in hanc urbem quam captus venissem, neque dedignatus esses claris maioribus ortum, plurimis gentibus imperitantem foedere in pacem accipere.
caratacus— Had my lineage and rank been accompanied by only moderate success, I should have come to this city as friend rather than prisoner, and you would not have disdained to ally yourself peacefully with one so nobly born, the ruler of so many nations.Tacitus Annales, Bk. XII, ch. 37; translation from The Annals of Imperial Rome, trans. Michael Grant, (Harmondsworth: Penguin, [1956] 1971) p. 267.
Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus Advenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias, Ut te postremo donarem munere mortis Et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem. Quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum, Heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi, Nunc tamen interea haec prisco quae more parentum Tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias, Accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu, Atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale.
— By many lands and over many a wave
I come, my brother, to your piteous grave,
To bring you the last offering in death
And o’er dumb dust expend an idle breath;
For fate has torn your living self from me,
And snatched you, brother, O, how cruelly!
Yet take these gifts, brought as our fathers bade
For sorrow’s tribute to the passing shade;
A brother’s tears have wet them o’er and o’er;
And so, my brother, hail, and farewell evermore!CI (translated by Sir William Marris)
Vivite felices, quibus est fortuna peracta Jam sua.
— Be happy ye, whose fortunes are already completed.
— Virgil, Æneid (29-19 BC), III. 493.
Fortibus est fortuna viris data
— Fortune favours the bold.
— Annals, Book VII
Fortis fortuna adiuvat.
— Fortune favours the brave.
— Variant translation: Fortune assists the brave.
— Act I, scene 4, line 25 (203).
— Cf. Virgil, Aeneid, Book X, line 284: "Audentes fortuna iuvat."
Genus immortale manet, multosque per annos Stat fortuna domus, et avi numerantur avorum.
— Th' immortal line in sure succession reigns;
The fortune of the family remains;
And grandsires' grandsires the long list contains.
— Book IV, lines 208–209 (translated by John Dryden).
Audentis fortuna iuvat! Fortune helps those who dare.
— Aeneid, bk.10, l.284.The phrase is often rendered as'Fortune favours the brave'.
Quot post excidium Trojae sunt eruta regna?Quot capti populi? quoties fortuna per orbemServitium imperiumque tulit, varieque revertit?
marcus manilius— How many realms since Troy have been o'erthrown?How many nations captive led? How oftHas Fortune up and down throughout the worldChanged slavery for dominion?
— I, 506, as translated in Dictionary of Quotations (1897) by T. B. Harbottle, p. 248.
fortuna cum blanditur, captatum venit.
publilius syrus— Translation: When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.
— Maxim 277.
Vixi, et, quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi.
virgil— My life is lived, and I have played
The part that Fortune gave.
— Virgil, Aeneid, Book IV, line 653 (trans. John Conington).
fortuna miserrima tute est: Nam timor eventus deterioris abest.
ovid— The most wretched fortune is safe; for there is no fear of anything worse.
— Ovid, Epistolæ Ex Ponto, I. 2. 113.
Sed profecto fortuna in omni re dominatur; ea res cunctas ex lubidine magis, quam ex vero, celebrat, obscuratque.
Sallust— But assuredly Fortune rules in all things; she raises to eminence or buries in oblivion everything from caprice rather than from well-regulated principle.
— Sallust, Catilina, VIII.
La fortuna è una Dea senza cervello, E però tutto il giorno fa pazzie.
niccolò forteguerri— VIII, 1.Translation: Fortune’s a goddess without brains, and so
The whole day long she’s doing foolish things.Translation reported in Harbottle’s Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 342.
Che la fortuna ajuta i coraggiosi.
niccolò forteguerri— VIII, 84.Translation: For fortune ever favoureth the brave.Translation reported in Harbottle’s Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 342.
Heu, fortuna, quis est crudelior in nos Te deus? Ut semper gaudes illudere rebus Humanis!
horace— O Fortune, cruellest of heavenly powers,
Why make such game of this poor life of ours?Book II, satire viii, line 61 (translated by John Conington).
Che la fortuna ajuta i coraggiosi.
— VIII, 84.
— Translation: For fortune ever favoureth the brave.
— Translation reported in Harbottle’s Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 342.
Quot post excidium Trojae sunt eruta regna? Quot capti populi? quoties fortuna per orbem Servitium imperiumque tulit, varieque revertit?
— How many realms since Troy have been o'erthrown?
How many nations captive led? How oft
Has Fortune up and down throughout the world
Changed slavery for dominion?
— I, 506, as translated in Dictionary of Quotations (1897) by T. B. Harbottle, p. 248.
fortuna cum blanditur, captatum venit.
— Translation: When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.
— Maxim 277.
Jam portum inveni, Spes et fortuna valete. Nil mihi vobiscum est, ludite nunc alios.
— Fortune and Hope farewell! I've found the port;
You've done with me: go now, with others sport.
— Version of the Greek epigram in the Anthologia; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 233. Translation by Merivale. Latin by Thomas More, in the Progymnasmata prefixed to first ed. of More's Epigrams. (1520).
Speme e fortuna, addio; che' in porto entrai. Schernite gli altri; ch'io vi spregio omai.
— Version of the Greek epigram by Luigi Alamanni; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 233.
