Quote#Politics & Power
Nothing is more uncertain than the result of any one throw; few…
Quote byJames A. Garfield · 1831–1881
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "Effects of The Rebellion on Southern Life Insurance Contracts : Argument made before the Supreme Court of the United States in the Cases of the New York Life Insurance Company v. Statham et al. and the Same v. Charlotte Seyms." (26 April 1876), as published in The Works of James Abram Garfield (188.
English (original)
Nothing is more uncertain than the result of any one throw; few things more certain than the result of many throws. When applied to human life, the law of averages exhibits many striking results.
— James A. Garfield
More from James A. Garfield
Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can testify; but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself.
The worst days of darkness through which I have ever passed have been greatly alleviated by throwing myself with all my energy into some work relating to others.
I would rather be beaten in Right than succeed in Wrong.
Be fit for more than the thing you are now doing. Let everyone know that you have a reserve in yourself,— that you have more power than you are now using. If you are not too large for the place you occupy, you are too small for it.
Let us not commit ourselves to the absurd and senseless dogma that the color of the skin shall be the basis of suffrage, the talisman of liberty.
I believe in God, and I trust myself in His hands.