Fortune-teller

“ The fortune-teller’s influence is almost as unbounded over the superstitious. He is consulted by them on every occasion, be it their future lot, their present happiness, their chances of drawing a prize at a lottery, the fluctuations of the exchange, the consequences of a marriage, the direction luckiest for a removal, the proficiency of their family doctor, the whereabouts of a missing article, the keeping of an appointment, or the efficacy of a prayer, in short, every mortal thing in which there is the least shadow of uncertainty. ”

“ For instance, a fortune-teller may inform you, having pocketed your two guineas, that a rich uncle in Australia is going to leave you a million pounds next year. She doesn’t promise you the million pounds herself; obviously that is coming to you anyhow, fortune-teller or no fortune-teller. ”

“ Fortune-tellers are rife amongst them—those sages whose comprehensive view knows the past, the present, and the future. They seek unto familiar spirits, that peep and mutter, for the living to the dead. ”

“ You had better go to the fortune-teller, if there be such a person in the place; he may know about him as well as other stray goods.
FLOUNCE.
No, no! I hates fortune-tellers; they have told me so many lies already.——Good morning, gentlemen, I ax your pardon.—I have been very rude ”

“ An intelligent Chinese, with whom I was acquainted, informed me that this fortune-teller of the dead is often very eloquent in his descriptions of the future happiness of those who obey his directions; he informs them that they or their children, or some one in whom they are much interested, shall enjoy riches and honours in after life, as a reward for the attention and respect they have paid to the remains of their fathers ”

“ FORTUNE. If you dream that some one told your fortune, you may calculate every thing will go pretty nearly the reverse of what was assured to you: if you were promised money you will get poverty, and vice versa. To dream of making a sudden fortune is a sign of want. All dreams of this kind go by the rule of contrary. 76, 8, 4.
FOUNTAIN. To dream you are at a fountain, is a favorable omen; if the water is clear, it denotes riches and honors; and in love, it foretells happiness in marriage; but if muddy, it denotes vexation and trouble. ”

“ But through the ages, the long unbroken succession of fortune-tellers—and they flourish still—witnesses to the perpetually smouldering feeling that after all there may be a better sort of knowledge—a more serviceable sort of knowledge than that we now possess. ”

“ Shows that an event of some kind is soon to occur in your affairs, either for good or evil. To a farmer or a laboring man it will probably be fortunate, but it may be otherwise. To a banker, a money-dealer, or a jeweler, it is generally a bad omen—to other trades, uncertain. ”

“ Another class of prosperous humbugs is the fortune-tellers, who are found around every temple and in every public place, ready to forecast the fate of every enterprise that may be disclosed to them; ready to predict good fortune and evil fortune, and sometimes they display remarkable penetration and predict events with startling accuracy. ”

“ If you dream of buying a gold watch, it is a sign of poverty; but if you imagine that you are presented with one, it foretells good luck and money-getting: to dream of losing your gold watch is also a good omen, as it denotes success in business. ”

“ People who throw this number may congratulate themselves, as it foretells riches, honors, and a happy and contented life. It predicts unexceptionable prosperity in all kinds of business, good luck in love matters, and advancement to those who are honorably ambitious. To rogues and dishonest people it is an omen of discomfiture, detection and punishment. ”

“ A married woman who throws it will rise in the world, or have a legacy left to her.
Eleven. This throw foretells extravagance and fondness of show and display. Those who throw it, or for whose fortune it may be thrown, will probably have the command of means, but all will be spent in gimcracks, parties of pleasure, and in adorning the person; and though they may not come to poverty, they will leave nothing109 but debt to their heirs. To laboring people it denotes that they will be always in debt, and live above their means. ”

“ If you want to buy land, you will be apt to get a good bargain and be fortunate. This number foretells good luck to a farmer putting in his crops, and the same to a girl choosing a husband; for though she may not get a rich man, yet he will be industrious, thrifty, comfortable, and good-hearted. To consumptive people this throw is not a favorable one, as in many cases it predicts a short life to them. ”

“ To a young man, this number shows that by perseverance and industry he will do well in the world—that his luck will be good if he only tries his best to get along. If you have had anything stolen from you, or have lost valuable property while walking or riding, this throw is unfavorable; you will probably never recover what you have lost. ”

“ Money brings honour, friends, conquest, and realms.
What raised Antipater the Edomite,
And his son Herod placed on Juda’s throne,
Thy throne, but gold, that got him puissant friends?
Therefore, if at great things thou wouldst arrive,
Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap—
Not difficult, if thou hearken to me.
Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand;
They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain, 430
While virtue, valour, wisdom, sit in want. ”

“ On the twenty-third day the child born shall be of an ungovernable temper, and will give himself up to wandering abroad in the world, and seeking his fortune in foreign parts, and in the end shall be mistaken. This is a good day to choose a wife; for he that can meet with a good woman on that day, should marry her while he can have her.
On the twenty-fourth day the child then born shall be a prodigy in the world, and make all men admire his surprising wonderful actions, which shall exceed those of the ordinary sort of men. ”

“ Which wealth as soon as fame can yield;
Thou scornedst at such low rates to purchase worth,
Nor couldst thou owe it only to thy birth,
Thy self-born greatness was above the power
Of parents to entail, or fortune to deflower.
Thy soul, which, like the sun, heaven moulded bright. ”

“ At the worst it can be left in trust. But when I follow my father, only ten millions will go to—to—relatives. You must be the custodian of the bulk; and when I give you its present figure—reminding you that such wealth rolls up wealth unceasingly, by the mere force of momentum—it may dawn upon you that you still have it in your power to become as great and as mighty as ever your boyish imaginings dictated, and that you will need all the character you have put in storage. What is your idea of a great fortune—an American fortune? ”

“ On the twenty-ninth day the child that shall be born shall be fortunate and happy, blessed with long life, and attain to an eminent degree of holiness, wisdom, and virtue. To marry a good woman is a good fortune, and such shall be his that shall marry on this day. ”

“ You cannot transfer the skill, sagacity, prudence, foresight, which lie concealed in your wealth. It meant a great deal for you, but means nothing to your heir. In climbing to your fortune, you developed the muscle, stamina, and strength which enabled you to maintain your lofty position, to keep your millions intact. You had the power which comes only from experience, and which alone enables you to stand firm on your dizzy height. Your fortune was experience to you, joy, growth, discipline, and character; to him it will be a temptation, an anxiety, which will probably dwarf him. ”

“ I have staked life upon the pursuit, and all that makes life valuable. And why should I not stake fortune also? 'Fortune buys fortune,' says the old adage; and as the stake is great, so shall my game be bold. ”

“ It will be the last time I shall ever see her unless good fortune lies in this letter, and for that I hardly dare hope. You know that when a man's luck has been against him for a long time, it kills the very roots of hope and brings him almost to doubt certainty. Soon after I have seen my friend, Le Grand, I shall write to you in cipher, of which I shall leave you the key. If I see a prospect of fortune worthy of Frances, I shall ask her to wait a time for me, but if my ill fortune pursues me, I shall never again be heard from by any one in England. ”

“ Here wealth was simply lying in great heaps, and the poor man too could win it if only he grasped at it boldly enough. Fortune here was a golden bird, which could be captured by a little adroitness; the endless chances were like a fairy tale. ”

“ Let Fortune strike down a victim, and even the heathen cries, ‘This is the hand of God!’ But where Fortune brings no vicissitude; where her wheel runs smooth, dropping wealth or honours as it rolls—where Affliction centres its work within the secret, unrevealing heart—there, even the wisest man may not readily perceive by what means Heaven is admonishing, forcing, or wooing him nearer to itself. ”

“ Since then I have thought of nothing but business. I am now thirty-eight years of age, and in my prime. I have amassed a fortune—something more than a quarter of a million, as you know—and have no one to leave it to when I pass away. ”

“ From my childhood I have been accustomed to luxury and idleness, and have been bred as though my fortune were large, and my expectations almost without a limit. The idea of wealth has been familiarised to me from my cradle. I have been taught to look upon those means, by which men raise themselves to riches and distinction, as being beyond my heeding, and beneath my care. ”

“ You could give wealth and splendor, it is true; you could confer all the blandishments of fortune, all the luxuries that rich men command; but one hour of gentle solicitude in sickness—one kind look, that recalled years of tenderness—one accustomed service, the tribute of affection—were worth all that gold could purchase, told ten times over. ”

“ They were entirely without the capacity of spending money either upon themselves or on other people, and yet they had striven as eagerly for the possession of this fortune as ever any proud, ambitious spirit strove for the golden means by which he hoped to work his way upon the road that leads to glory. ”

“ It is not for the sake of wealth itself or the eclat attending its possession that I desire an immediate fortune, but that by means of it I may attain another object dearer than wealth, and more precious than my career. ”

“ From news which I received to-day, and which I had little expectation of ever hearing, I have reason, good reason, to hope that within a very short time I am likely to come into possession of an enormous fortune--a fortune so large that it will make me one of the richest men in the kingdom. You are a man of business. ”

“ If you should ask a very rich man how he accumulated his fortune he would tell you that the first savings involved great thrift and wisdom or great good luck, but that after a while his wealth flowed in upon him almost in spite of himself. ”

“ His thoughts were, however, far from the welfare of others, and all that he cared about was to be left alone with his studies, by which means he hoped to gain perfect happiness. He was well aware that Fortune was neither a bag of money nor good eating and drinking. By his ardent and diligent studies he had discovered that Fortune was, indeed, a great power of nature, like lightning or magnetism, and he declared that it should be his one day or another. ”

“ You may prate of gold, but your fortune lies, And you know it well, in your boy's bright eyes. And there's nothing that money can buy or do That means so much as that boy to you. Well, which does the most of your time employ, The chase for gold—or that splendid boy? ”

“ And my lord, I have made a maxim, that should be writ in letters of diamonds, that a wise man ought to have money in his head, but not in his heart [1] . Pray my lord inquire whether your prototype, my lord Digby, after the restoration when he was at Bristol, did not take some care of his fortune, notwithstanding that quotation I once sent you out of his speech to the H. of commons? In my conscience, I believe Fortune, like other drabs, values a man gradually less for every year he lives. ”

“ The upshot of all this was to recommend to me rather the bestowing my fortune upon some eminent merchant, who lived already in the first figure of a merchant, and who, not being in want or scarcity of money, but having a flourishing business and a flowing cash, would at the first word settle all my fortune on myself and children, and maintain me like a queen. ”