Transcript of “Fortune Favors the Brave, Bold, and Audacious”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Janet from Tucson.
Hello, Janet in Tucson. How are you?
Well, you know, I love words and I was tickled to find your show. So when I was young and wild back in the 80s, I was working in a bar in Alaska during the oil boom. And this guy came in, dressed really nicely. And I went over to see if he wanted a drink and he had an accent. So I asked him where he was from. He told me South Africa and handed me a card with an embossed lion on it. And it said, fortune favors the audacious. So that just lit up something inside me. I thought, wow, I have to live by that. But I’ve seen it written out as fortune favors the brave. I’ve seen fortune favors the bold. And I was wondering about the origin of it and what the accurate quote is.
Oh, wow. Well, Janet, we’re wondering about your time being young and wild in the 80s in Alaska. That sounds pretty wild. And what’s stopping you now?
Right now, I’m 69, and my quote would be a t-shirt I’ve seen lately that said, your mistake was thinking I’m a nice old lady.
All right. So you still got some sass in you.
I can go back up to Alaska and show them what’s what.
Oh, yeah.
And you’re audacious.
I’m wondering if this guy, was that his family crest? I’m wondering about this card. Did you find out anything more? Was he ex-military or anything like that?
No, he was a businessman and, you know, probably in sales.
And that would explain the card because, you know.
It sure would.
Well, Janet, what we can tell you is that this is a really old idea. It goes back to antiquity. And there were ancient Roman writers who recorded several Latin sayings to that effect. And as you suggested, sometimes it’s fortune favors the bold or fortune helps the brave. And the idea in the Latin versions of that was that the Roman goddess Fortuna, the goddess of luck, is going to help people who are brave or who are strong.
And versions of this have been adopted as a motto by various military regiments in different countries, which is why I asked about that. And also by sports teams. Some people put a version of this on the family coat of arms. But we see it back in the 2nd century BCE in a comedy by Terence, the Roman playwright from North Africa. And then a little bit later, we see the Roman poet Virgil, who had a version a little bit closer to yours. It’s Audentes Fortuna Uat, which means fortune helps the brave.
And of course, it doesn’t always favor the brave. There’s another story about the Roman commander Pliny the Elder, who supposedly said something like that right before going to watch the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. And that did not go well for him. But I can see why a guy would put it on his card and pass it out to attractive young women or to anybody, to sales prospects.
Well, that’s really interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Well, Janet, I think we’ve given you several millennia of history here.
Thank you. It was very interesting. And thank you for calling. Take care of yourself in Tucson. Stay audacious.
Right. You guys are awesome.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Thank you so much.
I just love the idea that she came across this cool language question slipped across a bar in Alaska on a business card. You know, stranger things have happened. Maybe it fell out of a book that you checked out at the library. Maybe it came up over dinner. Maybe it’s just something you remember whispered on the dead of night while you were trying to fall asleep. Whatever it is, we want to help you answer that language question.
