We are always ready to blame fortune for the negative consequences of our own carelessness.
A schoolboy, exhausted from play, threw himself down by the edge of a deep pit and fell fast asleep. Fortune happened to pass by and, seeing him in this dangerous situation, kindly gave him a tap on the shoulder. “My dear child,” she said, “if you had fallen into this pit, I would have been blamed, though the accident would have been entirely due to your own carelessness.”
Misfortune, as a celebrated cardinal once said, is often just another word for imprudence. While this isn’t always true, it is certain that people suffer more from their own imprudence than from events beyond their control.
