All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;

All discord, harmony not understood;

All partial evil, universal good;

And spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,

One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 289.

By happy chance we saw

A twofold image: on a grassy bank

A snow-white ram, and in the crystal flood

Another and the same!

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): The Excursion. Book ix.

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.

'T is not enough no harshness gives offence,—

The sound must seem an echo to the sense.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 162.

A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate

Of mighty monarchs.

James Thomson (1700-1748): The Seasons. Summer. Line 1285.

That power

Which erring men call Chance.

John Milton (1608-1674): Comus. Line 587.

Main chance.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry VI. Part II. Act i. Sc. 1.

As the ancients

Say wisely, have a care o' th' main chance,

And look before you ere you leap;

For as you sow, ye are like to reap.

Samuel Butler (1600-1680): Hudibras. Part ii. Canto ii. Line 501.

If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act i. Sc. 3.

A fool must now and then be right by chance.

William Cowper (1731-1800): Conversation. Line 96.

So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune,

That I would set my life on any chance,

To mend it, or be rid on 't.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act iii. Sc. 1.

And grasps the skirts of happy chance,

And breasts the blows of circumstance.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): In Memoriam. lxiv. Stanza 2.

If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act i. Sc. 3.