“Luck is stupid as a cow and blind as a bat.”

“It's a natural progress, but still. That thing about the cow is so stupid. Do I look like a cow to you?”

“Never forget, Caelius, that a great man makes his luck. Luck is there for everyone to seize. Most of us miss our chances; we're blind to our luck. He never misses a chance because he's never blind to the opportunity of the moment.”

“The wickedness of men is that their power breeds stupidity and blindness.”

“Dog love is blind. For that matter, dog love is stupid.”

“We have flattered ourselves by inventing proverbs of comparison in matter of blindness,--"blind as a bat," for instance. It would be safe to say that there cannot be found in the animal kingdom a bat, or any other creature, so blind in its own range of circumstance and connection, as the greater majority of human beings are in the bosoms of their families. Tempers strain and recover, hearts break and heal, strength falters, fails, and comes near to giving way altogether, every day, without being noted by the closest lookers-on.”