Quote

The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great ambition.

— Luc de Clapiers

Sentiment: POSITIVE

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✓Similar Perspectives

There is no greater evil for men than the constraint of fortune.

— Sophocles

The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate.

— Francis Bacon

If a man's fortune does not fit him, it is like the shoe in the story; if too large it trips him up, if too small it pinches him.

— Horace

Evil prospers when good men do nothing.

— John Philpot Curran

The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

However great an evil immorality may be, we must not forget that it is not without its beneficial consequences. It is only through extremes that men can arrive at the middle path of wisdom and virtue.

— Wilhelm von Humboldt

Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help himself.

— P. T. Barnum

A wise man turns chance into good fortune.

— Thomas Fuller

✗Opposing Perspectives

The only good luck many great men ever had was being born with the ability and determination to overcome bad luck.

— Channing Pollock

Fortune truly helps those who are of good judgment.

— Euripides