Iniqua raro maximis virtutibus
Fortuna parcit. Nemo se tuto diu
Periculis offerre tam crebris potest,
Quem sæpe transit casus, aliquando invenit.
Adverse fortune seldom spares men of the
noblest virtues. No one can with safety expose
himself often to dangers. The man who has
often escaped is at last caught.
O Fortuna, viris invida fortibus,
Quam non aeque bonis praemia dividis!
O Fortune, that enviest the brave, what unequal rewards thou bestowest on the righteous!
Minor in parvis Fortuna furit,
Leviusque ferit leviora deus.
Fortune is gentle to the lowly, and heaven strikes the humble with a light hand.
Volat ambiguis
Mobilis alis hora; nee ulli
Prsestat velox Fortuna fidem.
The shifting hour flies with doubtful wings; nor does swift Fortune keep faith with anyone.
Fortune knows,
We scorn her most, when most she offers blows.
And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms.
Fortune brings in some boats, that are not steertt.
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please.
The great man down, you mark his favorite flies,
The poor advanced makes friends of enemies.
Will Fortune never come with both hands full,
But write her fair words still in foulest letters?
She either gives a stomach, and no food;
Such are the poor, in health: or else a feast,
And takes away the stomach; such are the rich,
That have abundance, and enjoy it not.
Fortune is merry,
And in this mood will give us anything.
When Fortune means to men most good,
She looks upon them with a threatening eye.
King John. Act III.. Sc. 4. L. 119.
A good man's fortune may grow out at heels.
Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne'er turns the key to the poor.
O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle.
find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star; whose influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop.
How some men creep in skittish Fortune's hall,
While others play the idiots in her eyes!
So is Hope
Changed for Despair—one laid upon the shelf,
We take the other. Under heaven's high cope
Fortune is god—all you endure and do
Depends on circumstance as much as you.
Fortune, my friend, I've often thought,
Is weak, if Art assist her not:
So equally all Arts are vain,
If Fortune help them not again.
In losing fortune, many a lucky elf
Has found himself.
Fortune is like a widow won,
And truckles to the bold alone.
Fors sequa merentes
Respicit.
A just fortune awaits the deserving.
Fortuna nimium quern favet, stultum facit.
When fortune favors a man too much, she
makes him a fool.
Fortuna vitrea est, turn cum splendet frangitur.
Fortune is like glass; when she shines, she
is broken. —
Miserrima est fortuna quae inimico caret.
That is a very wretched fortune which has
no enemy.
Felicitate corrumpimur.
We are corrupted by good fortune.
