Born on Third Base, Didn’t Hit a Triple

Pindar, Pythian 8.74-77

“If someone stumbles into good fortune without hard work,
Then many think he is a wise man among fools,
And that he has outfitted his life with well-planned schemes.
But these things aren’t up to men: god controls them.
Sometimes he raises one person up and then brings another down.”

εἰ γάρ τις ἐσλὰ πέπαται μὴ σὺν μακρῷ πόνῳ,
πολλοῖς σοφὸς δοκεῖ πεδ᾿ ἀφρόνων
βίον κορυσσέμεν ὀρθοβούλοισι μαχαναῖς·
τὰ δ᾿ οὐκ ἐπ᾿ ἀνδράσι κεῖται· δαίμων δὲ παρίσχει,
ἄλλοτ᾿ ἄλλον ὕπερθε βάλλων, ἄλλον δ᾿ ὑπὸ χειρῶν

picture of Elon Musk pointing

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