Fortunes Quotes
More Fortunes Quotes
I've opened the way for others to make fortunes, but a fortune for myself was not what I was after.
daniel boone— As quoted in Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer (1993) by John Mack Faragher p. 301
In prosperous times the mercantile classes often realize fortunes, which go far towards securing them against the future; but unfortunately the working classes, though they share in the general prosperity, do not share in it so largely as in the general adversity.
thomas malthus— Book II, Chapter I, On The Progress of Wealth, Section X, p. 437
My pride fell with my fortunes.
william shakespeare— William Shakespeare, As You Like It (c. 1599-1600), Act I, scene 2.
If you herald some turn in our fortunes, if you bring us some measure of grace thanks, unicorn … And even if you do not, thanks for the brightness of your company at a dark time .
— Roger Zelazny, in the Chronicles of Amber novel Sign of the Unicorn (1975), Corwin, in Ch. 5
I see men's judgments are A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward Do draw the inward quality after them, To suffer all alike.
william shakespeare— William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra (1600s), Act III, scene 13, line 31
Men in great fortunes are strangers to themselves.
Francis Bacon— 1625 Essays, no.11,'Of Great Place'.
For of fortunes sharpe adversitee The worst kynde of infortune is this, A man to han ben in prosperitee, And it remembren, whan it passed is.
Geoffrey Chaucer— c.1385 Troilus and Criseyde, bk.3, l.1625-8.
Nature magically suits the man to his fortunes, by making these the fruit of his character.
ralph waldo emerson— Fate (The Problem)
Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians.
sarah grimké— Written in 1852, as quoted in ch. 87
A good many causes tend to make good masters and mistresses quite as rare as good servants.... The large and rapid fortunes by which vulgar and ignorant people become possessed of splendid houses, splendidly furnished, do not, of course, give them the feelings and manners of gentle folks, or in any way really raise them above the servants they employ, who are quite aware of this fact, and that the possession of wealth is literally the only superiority their employers have over them.
fanny kemble— Further Records, 1848-1883, vol. 1; entry dated February 12, 1874 (1891).
Men's fortunes are on a wheel, which in its turning suffers not the same man to prosper for ever.
Herodotus— Herodotus, in A. D. Godley, translator, Herodotus (1931), vol. 1, book 1, section 207, p. 261.
Avoir sa belle-mère en province quand on demeure à Paris, et vice versa, est une de ces bonnes fortunes qui se rencontrent toujours trop rarement.
honoré de balzac— To be able to keep a mother-in-law in the country while he lives in Paris, and vice versa, is a piece of good fortune which a husband too rarely meets with.Part III, Meditation XXV: Allies, Section II: Of the Mother-in-Law
Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublié, parce qu'il a été proprement fait.
honoré de balzac— The secret of great fortunes without apparent cause is a crime forgotten, for it was properly done.Part IIA variant, "Behind every great fortune there is a great crime," has appeared as a quotation of Balzac; but it may have originated in a paraphrase in The Oil Barons: Men of Greed and Grandeur (1971) by Richard O'Connor, p. 47: "Balzac maintained that behind every great fortune there is a great crime."
As with the tender juvenile, who sets light to his frock, so with the sweet senior, who sets his fortunes on fire. Even in his maturer time, in his state of cinderhood, he still craves to be further consumed.
samuel laman blanchard— "That a Burnt Child often Dreads the Fire"
For of fortunes sharp adversitee The worst kynde of infortune is this, A man to han ben in prosperitee, And it remembren, whan it passed is.
Geoffrey Chaucer— Book 3, line 1625-1628.
The United Nations will spearhead our efforts to manage the new conflicts (that afflict our world)....Yes the principles of the United Nations Charter are worth our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
colin powell— General Colin Powell, 4/21/93, receiving the UN-USA Global Leadership Award
The landed interest is the great foundation upon which rest the fabric of society, and the institutions of the country. I mean no disparagement to manufactures and commerce; I know how essential they are to the happiness and prosperity of the country, and how much they add even to the value of the land. But the land of the country is the country itself, and the owner of the land has the deepest and most permanent interest in its well-being; tied down to the soil, he must share the fortunes of his country, whether in its greatness or its fall.
temple, henry, 3rd viscount palmerston— Speech in the House of Commons (3 March 1831), quoted in George Henry Francis, Opinions and Policy of the Right Honourable Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B., M.P., &c. as Minister, Diplomatist, and Statesman, During More Than Forty Years of Public Life (London: Colburn and Co., 1852), pp. 172-173.
What chiefly diverts the men of democracies from lofty ambition is not the scantiness of their fortunes, but the vehemence of the exertions they daily make to improve them.
alexis de tocqueville— Book Three, Chapter XIX
Can wealth give happiness? look round and see What gay distress! what splendid misery! Whatever fortunes lavishly can pour, The mind annihilates, and calls for more.
Edward Young— Edward Young, Love of Fame (1725-28), Satire V, line 394.
The Scots are poor, cries surly English pride; True is the charge, nor by themselves denied. Are they not then in strictest reason clear, Who wisely come to mend their fortunes here?
Charles Churchill— Charles Churchill, Prophecy of Famine, line 195.
In particular, it is absurd to hope to banish envy of other people's possessions or fortunes, if only because the spirit of envy can lead to emulation and ambition and have positive consequences.
christopher hitchens— Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, p. 100 (2007).
But happy they, the happiest of their kind, whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend.
james thomson— James Thomson, The Seasons, Spring (1728), line 1,111.
The poorest of the sex have still an itch To know their fortunes, equal to the rich. The dairy-maid inquires, if she shall take The trusty tailor, and the cook forsake.
john dryden— John Dryden, Sixth Satire of Juvenal, line 762.
My pride fell with my fortunes.
— Rosalind, Sc. ii
His fortunes all lie speechless, and his name Is at last gasp.
— Queen, scene v
We are ready to try our fortunes To the last man.
— Mowbray, scene ii
Mend your speech a little, Lest you may mar your fortunes.
— Lear, Scene I
