fortune

is a door that opens inward so one can do nothing about it, one cannot push it open by rushing at it.

Alas, fortune's door does not open inward so that one can push it open by rushing at it... but it opens outward, and therefore one can do nothing about it.

is a woman and if one wants to hold her down it is necessary to beat and strike her down.

It is better to be impetuous than cautious because Fortune is a woman and 'it is necessary, if one wants to hold her down, to beat and strike her down.' (Machiavelli Chapter XXV : How Much Fortune Can Do in Human Affairs, and in What Mode It May Be Opposed )

is a woman, and as such, it is better to be adventurous than cautious.

It is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman. Niccolo Machiavelli

is good fortune when it consist in not needing good fortune.

Inside I have given you every good... your good fortune consist in not needing good fortune. (Seneca 'dialogues' 16)

is like a woman, in that if she be too much wooed she is the farther off.

That conceit, elegantly expressed by the Emperor Charles V., in his instructions to the King, his son, 'that fortune hath somewhat the nature of a woman, that if she be too much wooed she is the farther off. Francis Bacon

is like glass: she breaks when she is brightest.

Fortune is like glass: she breaks when she is brightest

is like the market, where if you will bide your time the price will fall.

Fortune is like the market, where if you will bide your time the price will fall

fortune, n.Definitions

fortune