Le hasard cest peut-être le pseudonyme de Dieu, quand il ne veut pas signer. Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when He did not want to sign. Anatole FranceLe Jardin dEpicure. P. 132. Quoted Le hasard, en definitive, cest Dieu.
I shot an arrow into the air It fell to earth I knew not where; For so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. LongfellowThe Arrow and the Song.
Ours is no sapling, chance-sown by the fountain, Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade. ScottHail to the Chief. Lady of the Lake. Canto II. Quoted by Senator Vest in nominating Bland in Chicago.
Chance will not do the workChance sends the breeze; But if the pilot slumber at the helm, The very wind that wafts us towards the port May dash us on the shelves.The steersmans part is vigilance, Blow it or rough or smooth. ScottFortunes of Nigel. Ch. XXII.
But as the unthought-on accident is guilty To what we wildly do, so we profess Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies Of every wind that blows. Winters Tale. Act IV. Sc. 4. L. 549.
Quam sæpe forte temere eveniunt, quæ non audeas optare! How often things occur by mere chance, which we dared not even to hope for. TerencePhormio. V. 1. 31.
Er spricht Unsinn; für den Vernünftigen Menschen giebt es gar keinen Zufall. He talks nonsense; to a sensible man there is no such thing as chance. Ludwig TieckFortunat.