| Title: | Luck, Happiness |
| Original Title: | Chance, Bonheur |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 3 (1753), p. 86 |
| Author: | Denis Diderot (biography) |
| Translator: | Malcolm Eden [University of London] |
| Subject terms: |
Synonyms
Grammar
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| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.847 |
| Citation (MLA): | Diderot, Denis. "Luck, Happiness." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Malcolm Eden. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2007. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.847>. Trans. of "Chance, Bonheur," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 3. Paris, 1753. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Diderot, Denis. "Luck, Happiness." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Malcolm Eden. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.847 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Chance, Bonheur," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 3:86 (Paris, 1753). |
Luck, happiness; terms relating to events or circumstances that have made or make people contented with their lives. But happiness is more general than luck; it includes almost all such events. Luck relates only to events that depend on pure chance or whose cause, not depending on ourselves, can and could have turned out contrary to our wishes, without our having any cause to complain. We can diminish or add to our own happiness, but luck is out of our control; you cannot make yourself lucky; you either are or you are not. A man who enjoys an honest fortune could choose to play or not to play odds and evens, but all his personal qualities would not bring him better luck.