Probabilities, odds, statistics. Whatever you call them, calculating the likelihood of a particular outcome is a tricky proposition. For some casino games, probabilities are fixed. For others, like online slots, they are completely random and based on a stringent Law of Independent Trials. Still others combine fixed probabilities with randomness that is contingent upon game play. Poker is a good example of the latter.
In honor of our most recent article on Random Number Generators, we decided to post a list of some of our favorite probability proverbs and odds quotes. We're not sure if the Greek philosophers, Poet Laureates and great inventors quoted here had gambling in mind when they uttered their famous phrases, but basic probability suggests that each placed a bet or two in his lifetime. Do you agree with what each has to say about odds?
Democritus (b. 460 BCE)
“Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance.”
Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
“The probable is what usually happens.”
Caesar, Julius (102 BCE-44 BCE)
“Iacta alea est.” (The die is cast.)
Cicero (106 BCE – 43 BCE)
“Probability is the very guide of life.”
Descartes, René (1596-1650)
Discourse on Method
”It is a truth very certain that when it is not in our power to determine what is true we ought to follow what is most probable.”
Bulwer, Lytton E.G. (1803-1873)
“Fate laughs at probabilities.”
Bertrand, Joseph (1822-1900)
Calcul des probabilites
“How dare we speak of the laws of chance? Is not chance the antithesis of all law?”
Wilde, Oscar (1854-1900)
“Always be a little improbable.”
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930)
The Sign of Four
“When you have eliminated the impossible, what ever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
Einstein, Albert (1879-1955)
“I will never believe that god plays dice with the universe.”
