Entry in progress—B.P.
Wikiquote: Luck
I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.
. Coleman Cox, in Listen to this (1922)
. Unsourced variant: The harder I work, the luckier I get.
. Sometimes mistakenly attributed to Thomas Jefferson, Stephen Leacock, or Samuel Goldwyn.
Google Books
Straight Talk from Coleman Cox
By Coleman Cox
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company
1928
Pg. 63:
I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.
(Compiled from Coleman’s 1922 book Listen to this—ed.)
Google Books
Telling of Selling
By Coleman Cox
San Francisco, CA: C. Cox
1933
Pg. 9:
I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.
28 October 1947, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), “An Outdoors Diary,” pg. 12, col. 3:
When I remarked that he certainly seemed to have a magic touch with his garden, he answered, “Yes, I’m like that fellow who said, ‘It’s funny but I find that the harder I work, the luckier I am.’”
Google News Archive
8 June 1958, Miami (FL) News, “Yanks Trying Live Baseball” by Red Smith, pg. 3C, col. 2:
“A fellow said something to Mori about what a lucky stiff he was. ‘Yes,” Mori said, ‘I’ve noticed that the harder I work the luckier I get.’”
(Gene Mori, a New Jersey automobile dealer who owned three racetracks—ed.)
Google Books
Taking Chances:
The psychology of losing and how to profit from it
By Robert T. Lewis
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company
1979
Pg. 98:
Unlike Thomas Jefferson, who stated, “I am a great believer in luck, and the harder I work, the more I have of it,” there are some people who feel unlucky if they do not achieve their goals without effort.
New York City • Banking/Finance/Insurance • Thursday, October 08, 2009 • Permalink