--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Fortune, delighting in her cruel task…" description: "\"Fortune, delighting in her cruel task, and playing her wanton game untiringly, is ever shifting her uncertain favours.\" — Horace" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/horace-172_favour_fortune-delighting-in-her-cruel-task-and_3028037.jpg" --- # Fortune, delighting in her cruel task, and playing her… ![“Fortune, delighting in her cruel task, and playing her wanton game untiringly, is ever shifting her uncertain favours.” quote by Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/horace-172_favour_fortune-delighting-in-her-cruel-task-and_3028037.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/horace-172_favour_fortune-delighting-in-her-cruel-task-and_3028037.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/587/horace-172_favour_fortune-delighting-in-her-cruel-task-and_3028037.jpg) > “Fortune, delighting in her cruel task, and playing her wanton game untiringly, is ever shifting her uncertain favours.” [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Fortune delights in cruelty, playing a relentless, unpredictable game that shifts her favor. **In simple terms:** Fortune is fickle and cruel. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty, adapt. Themes fortune uncertainty fate Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - business - personal life - politics Key Concepts stoicism randomness Questions to Reflect On - How do you respond to sudden change? - Can you influence fortune? A Different Perspective Reliance on luck can undermine agency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cruel Task](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cruel-task-3042187/) [Delighting Cruel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delighting-cruel-4933167/) [Favour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/favour/) [Fortune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fortune/) [Fortune Delighting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fortune-delighting-4933166/) [Games](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/games/) [Shifting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shifting/) [Shifting Uncertain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shifting-uncertain-4933169/) [Tasks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tasks/) [Uncertain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uncertain/) [Untiringly Shifting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/untiringly-shifting-4933168/) [Wanton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wanton/) [Wealth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wealth/) ## Related quotes > [“It is a cruel task, to frighten people in God’s name.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-arden/it-is-a-cruel-task-to-frighten-people-in-god-s-name/) [Katherine Arden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-arden/) > [There is continual spring, and harvest there Continual, both meeting at one time: For both the boughs do laughing blossoms bear, And with fresh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-spenser/there-is-continual-spring-and-harvest-there-continual-both-meeting-at/) [Edmund Spenser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-spenser/) > [To say that Romans 7 describes the Christian is to slight the grace of God and to foster wanton behaviour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacobus-arminius/to-say-that-romans-7-describes-the-christian-is-to-slight-the-grace/) [Jacobus Arminius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacobus-arminius/) > [ It took the love of a good man \[to heal\]. 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She reproduces herself with abandon, with teeming infinite generosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/the-wondrous-thing-about-nature-her-gift-to-us-is-her-wanton/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [Discipline means protection from one's own wanton interest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-vaughan/discipline-means-protection-from-one-s-own-wanton-interest/) [Bill Vaughan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-vaughan/) > [The tongue of slander is too prompt with wanton malice to wound the stranger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/the-tongue-of-slander-is-too-prompt-with-wanton-malice-to-wound-the/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) ## More by Horace > [Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/strange-is-it-not-that-of-the-myriads-who-before-us-passed-the-door/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [“Finxerunt animi, raro et perpauca loquentis. (To action little, less to words inclinded.)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/finxerunt-animi-raro-et-perpauca-loquentis-to-action-little-less-to/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [No verse can give pleasure for long, nor last, that is written by drinkers of water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/no-verse-can-give-pleasure-for-long-nor-last-that-is-written-by/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Fate with impartial hand turns out the doom of high and low; her capacious urn is constantly shaking the names of all mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/fate-with-impartial-hand-turns-out-the-doom-of-high-and-low-her/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [A word, once sent abroad, flies irrevocably.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/a-word-once-sent-abroad-flies-irrevocably/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [“Natales grate numeras? 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We need to create a new breed of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hani/what-we-need-in-south-africa-is-for-egos-to-be-suppressed-in-favour/) [Chris Hani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hani/) > [The man who confers a favour would rather not be repaid in the same coin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-man-who-confers-a-favour-would-rather-not-be-repaid-in-the-same/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [I'm in favour of drug tests, just so long as they are multiple choice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-rambis/i-m-in-favour-of-drug-tests-just-so-long-as-they-are-multiple-choice/) [Kurt Rambis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-rambis/) > [Not the fastest always win the race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/unkown/not-the-fastest-always-win-the-race/) [Unkown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/unkown/) > [“When you favour a woman, she will want to return the favour in so many means, but its better to rupidiate such offerings.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/when-you-favour-a-woman-she-will-want-to-return-the-favour-in-so-many/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [I am not in favour of the takeover of excellent and strategically important British companies by struggling foreign firms whose actions are fuelled by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sainsbury-baron-sainsbury-of-turville/i-am-not-in-favour-of-the-takeover-of-excellent-and-strategically/) [David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sainsbury-baron-sainsbury-of-turville/) > [Modesty once lost, never returns into favour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/publilius-syrus/modesty-once-lost-never-returns-into-favour/) [Publilius Syrus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/publilius-syrus/) > [A free India will throw all her weight in favour of world disarmament and should herself be prepared to give a lead in this.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/a-free-india-will-throw-all-her-weight-in-favour-of-world-disarmament/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Whenever known and sufficient causes are available, it is anti-scientific to discard them in favour of a hypothesis that can never be verified.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-weber/whenever-known-and-sufficient-causes-are-available-it-is-anti/) [Max Weber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-weber/) > [When it was suggested to Pasteur that many of his great achievements depended on luck, he replied - I'm sure with more than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-wolpert/when-it-was-suggested-to-pasteur-that-many-of-his-great-achievements/) [Lewis Wolpert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-wolpert/) > [I am already kindly disposed towards you. 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