Comments on: Luck Quotes

By: Patt

Patt — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:15:53 +0000

These are great… there are a lot of luck quotes here that I hadn’t seen before.

I’ve always liked:

Fortune favors the brave. —Virgil

and

Fortune cannot favor those who do nothing. —Sophocles

By: Dr.Michael

Dr.Michael — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:14:50 +0000

J..D, – I was able to become twice an amateur world champion in the game of chess.Around 1920 the was a Soviet study of chess masters that revealed 16 skills and strengths that a master possesses to a high degree:
1) A good reserve of physical strength and good general health
2)Strong nerves
3) Self -control
4)Ability to distribute attention over many factors
5)Ability to perceive dynamic relationships
6)A contemplative turn of mind
7)A high level of intellectual development
8)Ability to think objectively
9)Ability to concentrate
10)A powerful memory for chess and other matters
11)Powers of synthetic thought and imagination
12)Ability to ex ell in chess and other combination s
13)A disciplined and purposeful will
14)A highly active intellect, willing to take the initiative
15)Extremely disciplined emotions and the ability quickly to recover,
when taken by surprise and defeated
16)High level of self confidence
Here I will quote Garry Kasparov:
“There is no one that can share your responsibility. It it is your responsibility you must carry it on and you must be responsible for your actions. At the end of the day we all are being challenged, sooner or later, by our destiny. And it’s up to us to make all the difference in this life. If not you, who else?”
— Garry Kasparov
However trying to be objective, I will quote myself:
“Even if the chess master possesses all these qualities and is a genius practitioner.If he is not a parallel researcher in his own field , and has not entirely done research on his own,which he only knows at this very moment,as well as deeply understands.No matter that this may be achieved with the help of computer programs and hired analysts (consultants), he will always exceed the practical geniuses in a conflict and will certainly become a world champion.”
These shared thoughts of mine don’t fully reinforce your statement – “Interestingly, my job is about taking the luck out of success.Our team’s tag line is ‘proven practices for predictable results ‘.” It just tries to clarify the”oh the irony.” of what you described, by trying to give a reasonable explanation.

By: JD

JD — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:59:03 +0000

@ Juliet

The 3 things that I’ve noticed that change luck the most are:
1. your mindset
2. who you hang with
3. your container (your work or environment)

@ Lance

One of my friends put it well in that while he doesn’t depend on luck, he doesn’t preclude it either.

I think it’s all about setting yourself up for success, then taking advantage of the opportunities you get.

@ Dr. Michael

Thank you.

It’s interesting that you correlated luck and happiness. It’s true. If we internalize our success, we grow our skills. If we externalize our success on luck, we give up control. I’ve seen more good luck shine on those that internalize their success (oh, the irony.)

Interestingly, my day job is about taking the luck out of success. Our team’s tagline is “proven practices for predictable results.”

@ Nadia

It sounds like you’re also a believer in the power of skill. I’ve seen skill really change people’s fortunes. Time and time again.

You reminded me that the RAS (reticular activating system) might play a key role in making luck happen.

@ Giovanna

So true. I found that when I waited at the dock for my luck ship to roll in, it never did. I find more luck by making things happen.

@ Jannie

Songwriting is a great example where you can’t just luck into it. Perspiration pays off.

@ Fred

Thank you. The way you put it reminded me of a skilled fighter. The unskilled never notices the openings. The skilled fighter notices the tells and the openings and calculates their best moves.

From a gambling standpoint, I guess it would be playing your best hand with the cards you’re dealt.

By: Have I Got a List For You? – patriciaswisdom.com

Have I Got a List For You? – patriciaswisdom.com — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:22:28 +0000

[...] at Sources of Insight has been sharing a list of his favorite quotes about good [...]

By: Fred H Schlegel

Fred H Schlegel — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:23:12 +0000

Love the top ten you pulled out, but also a great complete list. Great reminders of how luck is often made or found by the prepared pursuer. Thanks JD.

By: Jannie Funster

Jannie Funster — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:56:38 +0000

My favorites? Well, I had heard the Louis Pasteur before and keep it in mind. But the Ben Franklin is new to my ears and I like it a lot. The Thomas Edison one rings very true too. Putting on my songwriting overalls lately.

By: Dr.Michael

Dr.Michael — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:05:20 +0000

I continued to reflect upon luck and it struck me still difficult to universally define. Browsing through the many quotes which were generated by all it struck me that from an esoteric point of view it strangely correlates with happiness (n.)-”a delicate balance between what one is and what one has.” Well I told myself “This is not a bad starting point to reach some esoteric and deeply human insight.We are all our “Creator’s” human beings and have an encoded universal luck
potential.Unfortunately some of us have their specific potential for luck, blocked for a number of objective and subjective reasons.But this does not mean that you should loose faith in your potential
for luck and success and this fact if taken seriously may change your whole life. All you have to acknowledge and remember is that you possess a cosmic nature and potential by definition. But before you can fully operate and master your mighty thoughts,you have to find the internal strength to get rid of some obstructions,the greatest of which is the suspicion that you are not able to overcome this and that.One tends to forget the Main Cosmical Law that states that the human thought is real,which essentially means that anyone can potentially be a master and author of his fate and an actor of his social role.Few people however fully understand this magical ability of the human being and lack the persistence to influence their luck potential.Though it is simple and involves four basic steps:
1)The sincere and persistent will to accomplish happiness and luck, that have to stick together;
2) Constant positive thinking in order to be able to design things the way you want them to be;
3)Imagine that what you pursue has already come true(this means to consciously exclude by all means negative thoughts in order to gain control other constructive positive energies and reduce them to the reality that you are aiming to achieve.);
4)Mobilize your imagination to visualize that you are already a happy person,living among the ones you strongly love,that you are absolutely healthy, full of energy and decisiveness,and that you have already fulfilled this goal of yours.(Do this with the utmost details so that your fantasies become deep and clear.It will be difficult of course, at the very beginning of that exercise,to gain that piece of mind without worrying.However by being persistent and purposeful in the end you will achieve something that should be completely natural and legally correct,since you as a human being truly deserve it.
It is my sincere hope that happiness and luck will become your natural state of affairs.
Good luck in your enterprise!

By: Giovanna Garcia

Giovanna Garcia — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:16:30 +0000

Hi J.D.,
I always say, “We make our own luck!” You have many great quotes here, I kept some of them so I can read it later.
Thanks for sharing.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

By: Nadia - Happy Lotus

Nadia - Happy Lotus — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:03:43 +0000

Hi JD,

I used to think luck was this random thing that only happened to people who were really fortunate. However, with time and experience, I have now come to see that luck is when opportunity meets preparation. I believe it is was Oprah who said that and I think she is right.

Actually, they did a study on luck and they found that it truly boils down to preparation and opportunity. Every single day we are surrounded by all kinds of people. You just never know how someone that you ignore may actually have the power to change your life around or make your dreams come true.

By: Dr.Michael

Dr.Michael — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:59:53 +0000

Well this is a hell of an article! So many interesting quotes assembled most carefully and with taste. Though my personal opinion is that luck can not be principally defined or given prescriptions for,
because it is a genetic phenomena that is difficult to predict, if at all possible, but one can speculate about it when it occurs. When skills and opportunity come together as quoted, we may identify some sort of correlation, but not a cause – effect relation. But the mechanisms of it’s occurrence remain a principally unknown mystery,exactly as our genes and the sequences they carry. We can reason about such a phenomena, but not much more. Try to find resources where luck is defined and you will find out that they are scarce. A chance is something completely different although it correlates with luck. Anyway this article was a pleasure to study and reflect upon.