I don't believe in luck. I don't believe in destiny. Instead, I believe that our lives are powered by countless microdecisions.
I believe passionately in preemptive pessimism, especially before a book comes out. I expect the worst both from reviewers and sales, and then, with any luck, I may be proved wrong.
It is my great good luck the words I use are English words, which means I live in a very old nation of open borders; a rich, deep, multi-layered, promiscuous universe, infused with Latin, German, French, Greek, Arabic and countless other tongues.
The public health of five million children should not be left to luck or chance.
I've had quite a lot of luck with dreams. I've often awoken in the night with a phrase or even a whole song in my head.
I keep a lucky red rag in my pocket when I bat, which has been a good luck charm for a few years.
I don't like expeditions where it is a total lottery whether you live or die. You have to keep those sort of good luck cards for rare occasions!
I thought I would reflect here on a theme most scientists enjoy recalling: the part luck played in their accomplishments.
People say you make your own luck; I don't think that's the case, but maybe you contribute to your luck by recognizing it and taking advantage of it.
Thank God there has been no recurrence of 9/11. It is not because of luck - it is because of mass sacrifice and effort.
I've had a lot more good luck than bad, and I've made a lot more good pictures than bad ones, and I'm pretty happy with what I have. I don't walk around regretting too many things.
This world is run with far too tight a rein for luck to interfere. Fortune sells her wares; she never gives them. In some form or other, we pay for her favors; or we go empty away.
When I got out of high school, I started breaking out. I tried everything from A to Z as far as seeing doctors and getting prescriptions. I even did home remedies, and I had no luck. A fan gave me Proactiv, and it cleared my skin, but there were too many steps. I lose everything, and I lost one of the products. My acne started to come back.
My luck at the gambling table was varied; sometimes I was fifty to a hundred dollars ahead, and at other times I had to borrow money from my fellow workmen to settle my room rent and pay for my meals.
If your current get-rich project fails, take what you learned and try something else. Keep repeating until something lucky happens. The universe has plenty of luck to go around; you just need to keep your hand raised until it's your turn. It helps to see failure as a road and not a wall.
Rather than engage in the sort of selective retention that so many investors tend to do and pretend mistakes never happened, I prefer to 'own' them. This allows me to learn from them and, with any luck, avoid making the same errors again.
There's very few geniuses that come and revolutionize everything. For the rest of us that want to be artists and have something to say, it's a lot of work and a lot of luck.
Luck can often mean simply taking advantage of a situation at the right moment. It is possible to make your luck by being always prepared.
I used to send Tony Romo texts throughout the season just to encourage him, just to wish him luck and just to tell him to get on his offensive line. I hated watching this young man get sacked as much as he did, especially when it came down to big games.
I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you're prepared for it.
