Monday, October 02, 2006

How do you know if you're lucky?

Someone asked me today how I really felt about luck and race cars. Here are a few favorite quotes that pretty much sum it up for me...

"I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." -
-- Benjamin Franklin


"Fortune has rarely condescended to be the companion of genius." - -- Isaac Disraeli

Luck Favors the Prepared Mind


He worked by dayand toiled by nightHe gave up playand some delightDry books he readnew things to learnand forged aheadsuccess to earnHe plodded onwith faith and pluckand when he wonthey called it luck
"Men live at the mercy of forces they cannot control. Belief in fortune and luck, good and evil, is one of the most widespread and persistent of human beliefs." - John Dewey

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" - Seneca, Roman Dramatist

"Fortes fortuna adiuvat" (Fortune favors the brave) - Latin proverb

"You make your own luck"

"Luck is the residue of design" - Branch Rickey



The bottom line is, from experience having won many long endurance races, I can tell you sure there were some lucky moments, but at the same time in retrospect I know most of them were a result of "What if" preparation. Success breeds success and luck is simply it's off-spring. A man can count on too much luck but he can never be too prepared.

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