uncertain quote

Wed Oct 23 21:02:55 UTC 2013

Here is a link and an excerpt from Bary Popik's entry on the Rickey quote:

“Luck is the residue of design” (Dodgers executive Branch Rickey)
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/luck_is_the_residue_of_design_dodgers_executive_branch_rickey/

[Begin excerpt frm Barry Popik's website]
1 November 1915, Lexington (KY) Herald, pg. 7, col. 4:
LIFE’S BOXSCORE SIMILAR TO BASEBALL SAYS RICKEY Manager St. Louis Browns
Addresses Y. M. C. A. At University

“There is no luck. Luck is the residue of design,” said Branch Rickey,
manager of the St. Louis Browns, in a half-hour address to the members
of the Y. M. C. A. at State University last night.
[End excerpt]

Here are links to two entries on the Quote Investigator website:

The Harder I Practice, the Luckier I Get
Gary Player? Arnold Palmer? Jerry Barber? Jack Youngblood?
Lee Trevino? Ethel Merman? L. Frank Baum?
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/07/14/luck/

I’m a Great Believer in Luck. The Harder I Work, the More Luck I Have
Thomas Jefferson? Coleman Cox? Stephen Leacock? Samuel Goldwyn? Anonymous?
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/21/luck-hard-work/

Ralph Keyes disscussed the Louis Pasteur quote in the Quote Verifier:

[Excerpt from Ralph Keyes]
"CHANCE favors the prepared mind." So said Louis Pasteur in an 1854
lecture. Pasteur's full statement was "In the fields of observation
chance favors only the prepared mind." ("Dans les champs de
l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits prepares.")
Similar observations have been made repeatedly, before and since, by
those who don't want to believe that random events can influence their
lives. (See "Luck is the residue of design.")
Verdict: Abridged Pasteur.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 8:11 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: uncertain quote
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Oct 22, 2013, at 7:59 PM, David A. Daniel wrote:
>
>> I have a client who says that, "There is no such thing as luck. What you
>> call luck is just attention to detail" is a Churchill quote. I can't
>> actually find it attributable to anyone, much less Churchill. Can the quote
>> sleuths out there shine any light on this? Thanks.
>> DAD
>>
> Sounds a bit reminiscent of Branch Rickey's "Luck is the residue of design", if that is indeed Branch Rickey's.  (General manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals in mid-20th c., signed Jackie Robinson on to the former, etc. etc.)
>
> LH
>
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