All great events hang by a hair. The man of ability takes advantage of everything and neglects nothing that can give him a chance of success; whilst the less able man sometimes loses everything by neglecting a single one of those chances.

A man. All men. He will pass up a hundred chances to do good for one chance to meddle where meddling is not wanted. He will overlook and fail to see chances, opportunities, for riches and fame and welldoing, and even sometimes for evil. But he won't fail to see a chance to meddle.

Never forget, Caelius, that a great man makes his luck. Luck is there for everyone to seize. Most of us miss our chances; we're blind to our luck. He never misses a chance because he's never blind to the opportunity of the moment.

An individual life is one thread in the tapestry and what is one thread compared to the whole?

Cry about one thing in life, cry about all; one thread runs through the whole piece.

From triumph to downfall there is but one step. I have noted that, in the most momentous occasions, mere nothings have always decided the outcome of the greatest events.

I have seen in the most significant of circumstances, that some little thing always decides great events.

SMALL THINGS
& GREAT

He that lets
the small things bind him
leaves the great
undone behind him.

One man may hit the mark, another blunder; but heed not these distinctions. Only from the alliance of the one, working with and through the other, are great things born.

There are tides in the affairs of men, tides of restlessness and awareness; there are thin threads of thought that reach out across the distance and, like the threads of a weaver, are drawn together tight.

Comment l’homme est-il assez insensé pour quitter cette vie tant qu’il n’a pas épuisé toutes ses chances de bonheur ? Celui qui perd sa fortune au jeu quitte-t-il le tapis tant qu’il lui reste une pièce d’or ? Une seule pièce peut lui rendre tout.

It is those who concentrates on but one thing at a time who advance in this world. The great man or woman is the one who never steps outside his or her specialty or foolishly dissipates his or her individuality.

tis the part of a truly prudent man not to be wise beyond his condition, but either to take no notice of what the world does, or run with it for company

think men make more mistakes by being too clever than by being too good