George Carlin - Mark Twain - Gore Vidal - Mark Helprin - William Shakespeare - Harry Hill - David Spiegelhalter - James Burke TV - All Quiet on the Western Front 1979 - House of Cards US 2013-2018 - Witness to the Mob 1998 - Jane Austen -
Take a fucking chance once in a while. George Carlin, Napalm and Silly Putty audio
The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half of life consists of the chance without the capacity. Mark Twain
Never pass up a chance to have sex or appear on television. Gore Vidal, cited Chieger, Was it Good for You, Too, 1983
No one ever said that you would live to see the repercussions of everything you do, or that you have guarantees, or that you are not obliged to wander in the dark, or that everything will be proved to you and neatly verified like something in science. Nothing is: at least nothing that is worthwhile. I didn’t bring you up only to move across sure ground. I didn’t teach you to think that everything must be within our control or understanding. Did I? For, if I did, I was wrong. If you won’t take a chance, then the powers you refuse because you cannot explain them, will, as they say, make a monkey out of you. Mark Helprin, Winter’s Tale
Against ill chances men are ever merry,
But heaviness foreruns the good event. William Shakespeare, Henry IV part II ii 81, Archbishop
There is diversity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance or death. William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor V i 3
What are the chances of that happening, eh? Harry Hill, routine on stage
All our lives we’re pulled about and pushed around by the mysterious workings of chance. When chance seems cruel some call it fate, and when chance is kind we might call it luck. Professor David Spiegelhalter, Tails You Win: The Science of Chance, BBC 2012
What actually is chance? Is it something fundamental in the fabric of the universe? ibid.
What makes random so useful is that it is completely unpredictable but in a predictable way. ibid.
The Lottery only pays back 45% of the money it takes in, far far worse than any casino game. ibid.
Our brains are hardwired to look for cause and effect. ibid.
Quantum Mechanics has shown us a sub-atomic world that is fundamentally uncertain. ibid.
We can never rely on predictions. ibid.
Surprises will almost certainly happen. ibid.
How once upon a time against all the odds something happened that could be the reason you’re alive today, thanks to the way chance works. James Burke, Connections s2e13: The Big Spin, BBC 1994
Always, over every one of us, is the element of chance. All Quiet on the Western Front 1979 starring Richard Thomas & Ernest Borgnine & Donald Pleasence & Ian Holm & Patricia Neal & Paul Mark Elliott & Dai Bradley & Matthew Evans & George Winter & Dominic Jephcott et al, director Delbert Mann,commentary
Or adopt flipism: a pseudo philosophy of life in which important decisions are made with the flipping of a coin … a solution as elegant as hell, but then there’s no elegance in modern politics, it’s mostly hell. House of Cards US s5e5: Chapter 57, Frank, Netflix 2017
This life of ours is a wonderful life. But it’s very unpredictable. There are so many ways you can screw it up. Witness to the Mob 1998 starring Tom Sizemore & Nicholas Turturro & Debi Mazar & Abe Vigoda & Philip Baker Hall & Frank Vincent & Lenny Venito & Angelo Ruggiero & Michael Imperioli et al, director Thaddeus O'Sullivan
Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813