Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Accident
Chapter of accidents.
Burke—Notes for Speeches. (Edition 1852) Vol. II. P. 426.
Accidents will occur in the best regulated families.
Dickens—David Copperfield. Ch. XXVIII. Pickwick Papers. Ch. II. Scott—Peveril of the Peak. Last Chapter. V. S. Lean—Collectanæ. Vol. III. P. 411.
To what happy accident is it that we owe so unexpected a visit?
Goldsmith—Vicar of Wakefield. Ch. XIX.
Our wanton accidents take root, and grow
To vaunt themselves God’s laws.
Charles Kingsley—Saint’s Tragedy. Act II. Sc. 4.
Nichts unter der Sonne ist Zufall—am wenigsten das wovon die Absicht so klar in die Augen leuchtet.
Nothing under the sun is accidental, least of all that of which the intention is so clearly evident.
Lessing—Emilia Galotti. IV. 3.
At first laying down, as a fact fundamental,
That nothing with God can be accidental.
Longfellow—Christus. The Golden Legend. Pt. VI.
By many a happy accident.
Thomas Middleton—No Wit, no Help, like a Woman’s. Act IV. Sc. 1.
Was der Ameise Vernunft mühsam zu Haufen schleppt, jagt in einem Hui der Wind des Zufalls zusammen.
What the reason of the ant laboriously drags into a heap, the wind of accident will collect in one breath.
Schiller—Fiesco. Act II. Sc. 4.
I have shot mine arrow o’er the house
And hurt my brother.
Hamlet. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 254.
Moving accidents by flood and field.
Othello. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 135.
A happy accident.
Madame De Staël—L’Allemagne. Ch. XVI.
The accident of an accident.
Lord Thurlow—Speech in reply to Lord Grafton.
The chapter of accidents is the longest chapter in the book.
Attributed to John Wilkes by Southey—The Doctor. Ch. CXVIII.