Every man is the architect of his fortune.
Meaning: Individual choices and actions, not circumstance, determine the outcomes and success one achieves in life.
Origin: From the Latin faber est suae quisque fortunae — each person is the maker of their own fortune — which the Roman historian Sallust credited to the statesman Appius Claudius Caecus, builder of the Appian Way. Success or failure is in one's own hands.
More proverbs about Human Nature
- When fortune smiles take the advantage. — Seize opportunities promptly when circumstances favor you, as favorable conditions are te…
- Fortune knocks once at least at every man's gate. — Opportunity arrives for everyone eventually; recognizing and seizing that moment determin…
- So many frosts in March, so many in May. — Late spring frosts arrive proportionally to early spring cold spells, making March weathe…
- Frugality makes an easy chair for old age. — Spending restraint in youth builds financial security and comfort during elderly years wh…
- A man of gladness seldom falls into madness. — Sustained cheerfulness builds psychological resilience against despair and mental deterio…
- When the child is christened, you may have godfathers enough. — Offering help after a child arrives proves easier than providing it during uncertain preg…
From our untranslatable words
- Poshlost' — Not merely the trashy, but the falsely important, falsely beautiful and falsely clever —…
- Nadryv — An uncontrolled outpouring of buried feeling, often strained past anything the person tru…
- Yurodivy — One who plays the fool deliberately as a religious act, and is therefore licensed to spea…