Gambling Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old gambling quotes, gambling sayings, and gambling proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

True luck consists not in holding the best of the cards at the table; luckiest is he who knows just when to rise and go home. John Milton Hay
In gambling the many must lose in order that the few may win. George Bernard Shaw
The gambling interests like to point to the construction jobs, but those jobs go away. John Warren Kindt
The subject of gambling is all encompassing. It combines man's natural play instinct with his desire to know about his fate and his future. Franz Rosenthal
Victory is a fleeting thing in the gambling business. Today's winners are tomorrow's blinking toads, dumb beasts with no hope. Hunter S. Thompson
I figure you have the same chance of winning the lottery whether you play or not. Fran Lebowitz
You bring in gambling into a major population base, and the more people you have going into a casino, the more people you have hooked on gambling. John Warren Kindt
At the gambling table, there are no fathers and sons. Chinese Proverb
Gambling has held human beings in thrall for millennia. It has been engaged in everywhere, from the dregs of society to the most respectable circles. Peter L Bernstein
If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time. Chinese Proverb
Gambling operates under the premise that greed can be satisfied by luck. Rita Mae Brown
Gambling is not a vice, it is an expression of our humanness. We gamble. Some do it at the gaming table, some do not. You play, you win, you play, you lose. You play. Jeanette Winterson
Gambling is the great leveller. All men are equal at cards. Nikolai Gogol
At gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck. Ian Fleming
The gambling supply house catalog is distinctly not the safest place to learn about cheating devices, beware of catalog men. John Scarne
Gambling makes boys selfish and cruel as well as men. Thomas Hughes
Gambling is entertainment. People go to casinos to be entertained. Eric Schneiderman
The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling. Ambrose Bierce
Gambling is not as destructive as war or as boring as pornography. It is not as immoral as business or as suicidal as watching television. And the percentages are better than religion. Mario Puzo
Gambling can turn into a dangerous two-way street when you least expect it. Weird things happen suddenly, and your life can go all to pieces. Hunter S. Thompson
A Gentleman is a man who will pay his gambling debts even when he knows he has been cheated. Leo Tolstoy
Gambling with cards or dice or stocks is all one thing. It's getting money without giving an equivalent for it. Henry Ward Beecher
It's hard to walk away from a winning streak, even harder to leave the table when you're on a losing one. Cara Bertoia
I want people to understand, gambling is not a bad thing if you do it within the framework of what it's meant to be, which is fun and entertaining. Michael Jordan
Gambling is an act of faith of gamblers. Prophecy is an act of faith of the saints. Toba Beta
Gambling is a disease of barbarians superficially civilized. Dean Inge
All gambling is the telling of a fortune, but of a monstrously depleted fortune, empty of everything save one numerical circumstance, shorn of all such richness as a voyage across the water, a fair man that loves you, a dark woman that means you harm. Rebecca West
Time spent in a casino is time given to death, a foretaste of the hour when one's flesh will be diverted to the purposes of the worm and not of the will. Rebecca West
Gambling is a principle inherent in human nature. Edmund Burke
By gaming we lose both our time and treasure: two things most precious to the life of man. Owen Feltham
Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing for something. Wilson Mizner
Some psychiatrists claim gambling is masochistic, that gamblers want to lose to punish themselves. Sure some do. Some People like to jump off the Empire State Building. But millions go up to look at the view. Mario Puzo
A gambler is someone who plays slot machines. I prefer to own slot machines. Donald Trump
It's the risk I like about owning a casino. Some days you win, other days you win more. Paul Lyons
No use gambling if you can't lose your head once in a while. Larry Merchant
So the gambler, lest he should lose, does not stop losing. Ovid
He was so sure he would lose that he had not played everything— as if to prolong the sensation of losing. Andre Malraux
They gambled with me for my heart with all kinds of games. They defeated me and took it away. As-Sanawbari
The solemn resolutions, which are nevertheless broken, never to do it again, the stupefying pleasure and the bad conscience which tells the subject he is ruining himself. Sigmund Freud
Bad beats haunt you like bad dreams. Alvin Alvarez
Show me a gambler and I'll show you a loser. Mario Puzo
To gamble is to risk, to approach 'the ruin factor.' When I was poor the ruin factor was not important. Hell, I was ruined anyway. Mario Puzo
I play in order to lose. That's what gets my juice going. If I only bet on the games I know, I could at least break even. Axel Freed
The games became burning lights on the floor of my withdrawal, and later, while I slept, there were poker chips falling through my dreams. Jim Lewis
My only worry about my husband's gambling is that he may lose. Spanish Proverb
It is possible that a wise and good man may be prevailed on to gamble; but it is impossible that a professed gamester should be a wise and good man. Lavater
Some play for gain; to pass time others play; both play the fool; who gets byplay is loser in the end. Heath
Curst is the wretch enslaved to such a vice, who ventures life and soul upon the dice. Horace
All gaming, since it implies a desire to profit at the expense of others, involves a breach of the tenth commandment. Whately
Gambling houses are temples where the most sordid and turbulent passions contend; there no spectator can be indifferent. A card or a small square of ivory interests more than the loss of an empire, or the ruin of an unoffending group of infants and their nearest relatives. Zimmermann
Out of adultery comes murder, out of gambling comes thieving. Chinese Proverb
In Texas it's not a question of gambling; it's a question of what time are we gambling. I mean, I grew up shooting dice. Jackie Burke
Life is a big gambling game. Some are born lucky and some are born unlucky. Jack London
I have a notion that gamblers are as happy as most people, being always excited; women, wine, fame, the table, even ambition, sate now & then, but every turn of the card & cast of the dice keeps the gambler alive— besides one can game ten times longer than one can do anything else. Lord Byron
There is no gambling like politics. Benjamin Disraeli
I have no brief for gambling, nay / The notion I express / That money earned 's the only way / To pay for happiness. / With cards and dice I do not hold; / By betting I've been bit: / Conclusion: to get honest gold / You've got to sweat for it. Robert William Service
To build a new way / That may lead, towards / The same outcome / So I dare not / I am afraid, / From such ones / It seems everyone is that / I cannot risk and bear / Such gambling again. Ehsan Sehgal
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Quit while you're ahead. All the best gamblers do. Baltasar Gracian y Morales
The only sure thing about luck is that it will change. Bret Harte
The roulette table pays nobody / except him that keeps it./ Nevertheless a passion for gaming is common, / though a passion / for keeping roulette tables is unknown. George Bernard Shaw
Luck, bad if not good, will always be with us. But it has a way of favoring the intelligent and showing its back to the stupid. John Dewey
Remember this: The house doesn't beat the player. It just gives him the opportunity to beat himself. Nicholas Dandolos