Luck & fortune sayings
12 idioms last verified 2026-07-18
Sayings about luck, fate, and adversity — from classical maxims to Shakespearean tags, several of which Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) traces to their earlier sources.
About this category
Sayings about luck, fate, and adversity — from classical maxims to Shakespearean tags, several of which Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) traces to their earlier sources. Each entry below gives the plain meaning, an origin note honestly attributed to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) or marked as uncertain, and a usage example.
Answers in this topic
- What does ‘bury the hatchet’ mean?
- What does ‘kick the bucket’ mean?
- What does ‘strike while the iron is hot’ mean?
- What does ‘hit the nail on the head’ mean?
- What does ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’ mean?
- What does ‘blood is thicker than water’ mean?
- What does ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ mean?
- What does ‘actions speak louder than words’ mean?
- What does ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ mean?
- What does ‘every dog has its day’ mean?
- What does ‘don't put all your eggs in one basket’ mean?
- What does ‘fortune favours the bold’ mean?
Questions
- Where do the origins for luck & fortune sayings come from?
- Origins on this page are drawn from public-domain reference works, primarily Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898). Where the origin is disputed or unknown, the entry says so plainly.
- Are these idioms still in modern use?
- Most are in everyday English; a few are chiefly literary or old-fashioned, and those are flagged in the usage notes.
Source:
Last verified: 2026-07-18