fortune favors the bold

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a proverb of classical Latin origin — audentes fortuna iuvat — attributed to the Roman poet Virgil in the Aeneid and to the admiral Pliny the Elder's dying words as he approached Vesuvius during its eruption in 79 CE, asserting that decisive, courageous action increases the probability of favorable outcomes because boldness creates its own momentum and opportunities; the saying has been interpreted both as practical strategy — bold actors gather more information, create more options, and move first — and as moral claim that courage is rewarded by the universe or by the dynamics of human social systems that respect decisive action; in contemporary usage it is one of the most widely cited maxims in entrepreneurship, military leadership, and competitive sport, though critics note that survivorship bias means we remember the bold who succeeded and forget the equally bold who failed catastrophically