Fortune Favors the Brave

Twice last week I heard the phrase "Fortune favors the brave."

The first time was at work, when it was quoted by my great-grand boss to encourage us to ask questions. I responded by asking a very ill-advised question. Fortune did not favor me. (The grand-boss replied "What?" as if I were insane.)

The second time I heard it was for this commercial for cryptocurrency. Matt Damon thinks you should be 'brave' and invest in derivative money. 

I have mentioned before (yet somehow people still don't know) that the phrase was coined by Pliny the Elder, who said "Fortune favors the brave" as as a reason to go save people from a volcanic eruption, which promptly killed him. Pliny the Younger recounted this later, thus able to record his father's famous last words and then say, "Wow, we need a word for that, maybe something like 'ironic'."

Not a good reason to buy crypto currency or speak frankly to your great-grand-boss in either case.

Comments

[KC]

There's brave, and then there's stupid.

There's a lot of stupid.

(I do think, however, that if one specifically, hard-core solicits questions, though, one has a responsibility to react well to them rather than making people feel dumb! Especially in a work environment! If one does not want to permanently discourage questions, that is, I supposed...)

[Allison McCaskill]

I believe the phrase "Fortune favors the brave" was used in one of my favourite Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes ("Hush"). It sounds like one of those things men say because they sound good but they're basically empty of content. I am sorry fortune didn't favour you - I hate when I ask questions and people act like I'm insane.

[TheQueen]

KC - well, the grand-boss gave us a poor analogy, and my response and question were very direct. Probably so direct I shouldn't really slight her for her reaction, which was just as direct as mine.
Alison McCaskill - I see it as example of blind optimismi, and I'd rather have realism. (Also - get ready to hate me - I've only seen perhaps two episodes of Buffy the Tv series. Still, I know Hush is the one with minimal dialog. Many smart people speak well of it. I should watch it. Gary loves anything supernatural (except Supernatural), maybe we will bring it after Hacks.)