WIST Quotations

Sevigne, Mme. -- Letter (1673-12-22) to Mme. de Grignan [ed. Hoyt and Ward (1896), No. 202]

Dave — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 01:09:18 +0000

Fortune is always on the side of the largest battalions.

[La fortune est toujours pour les gros bataillons]

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné (1626-1696) French aristocrat, woman of letters [Madame de Sévigné, Mme de Sévigné]
Letter (1673-12-22) to Mme. de Grignan [ed. Hoyt and Ward (1896), No. 202]
(Source)

(Source (French), No. 118). Other translations:

Fortune generally declares in favor of numerous battalions.
[Source (1811), No. 274]

Providence is always on the side of the big battalions.
[Oxford Dict. of Proverbs]

Also attributed to her cousin Roger de Bussy-Rabutin ("God is usually on the side of the big squadrons against the small").

The phrase had become proverbial by at least the early 19th C. Other variants include:

God sides with the big battalions.
God sides with whichever side has the biggest battalions.

Macaulay, Thomas Babington -- “Horatius,” st. 27, Lays of Ancient Rome (1842)

Dave — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 21:41:43 +0000

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods?

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
“Horatius,” st. 27, Lays of Ancient Rome (1842)
(Source)

Szasz, Thomas -- The Second Sin (1973)

Dave — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 00:24:48 +0000

Anxiety is the unwillingness to play even when you know the odds are for you. Courage is the willingness to play even when you know the odds are against you.

Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) Hungarian-American psychiatrist, educator
The Second Sin (1973)

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 4, Mort (1987)

Dave — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 12:36:50 +0000

Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one.
But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 4, Mort (1987)
(Source)

Kennedy, Robert F. -- “Day of Affirmation,” address, University of Capetown, South Africa (6 Jun 1966)

Dave — Fri, 21 May 2010 04:37:32 +0000

Let no one be discouraged by the belief that there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills — against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence … Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation …

Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) American politician
“Day of Affirmation,” address, University of Capetown, South Africa (6 Jun 1966)
(Source)

Hale, Edward Everett -- “I Am Only One”

Dave — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:29:18 +0000

I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) American clergyman and author
“I Am Only One”

Keough, Hugh E. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

It may be that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong — but that’s the way to bet.

Hugh E. Keough (1864-1912) Canadian-American sports journalist
(Attributed)

Variants:

"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but the betting is best that way."
"To be sure the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but it is ninety-nine times in a hundred."

Also attributed to Damon Runyon, Franklin Pierce Adams, Grantland Rice, and Burns Mantle, all of of whom in turn credited Keough. The saying itself, a take-off on Ecclesiastes 9:11, has a number of antecedents: see here for more background.