to give hostages to fortune??

Discussion:

(too old to reply)

Dave

2003-12-30 15:03:15 UTC

Can anyone explain to me in other words the expression: to give hostages to
fortune.

Here is my context:
Secondly, D.47 provided the compilers with a margin of flexibility. They had
given very few hostages to fortune in Deo Auctore; there were very few
specific instructions which could give rise to criticism if things went
wrong.

In my dictionary I've found also this quotation, but neither that does
clarify its meaning:
He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are
impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays,
"Of Marriage and Single Life" (1597-1625).

Thanks to anyone who will help me. David.

Steven M (remove wax for reply)

2003-12-30 15:14:33 UTC

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Post by Dave
Can anyone explain to me in other words the expression: to give hostages to
fortune.
Secondly, D.47 provided the compilers with a margin of flexibility. They had
given very few hostages to fortune in Deo Auctore; there were very few
specific instructions which could give rise to criticism if things went
wrong.
In my dictionary I've found also this quotation, but neither that does
He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are
impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays,
"Of Marriage and Single Life" (1597-1625).
Thanks to anyone who will help me. David.

A hostage to fortune is something that is beyond the control of the
interested party.

Here is how I might paraphrase the sentence you gave:

Original:
"They had given very few hostages to fortune in Deo Auctore;"

"There were very few things that could go wrong with Deo Auctore;"
"Very few things had been left to chance with Deo Auctore;"

--
Steve M - ***@houston.rrwax.com (remove wax for reply)

Chaos. I can relate to that. My life is chaos most of the time. I
am in tune with the universe. It feels like home. -- Robert Fulghum

Tron Furu

2003-12-30 22:14:11 UTC

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Post by Steven M (remove wax for reply)

A hostage to fortune is something that is beyond the control of the
interested party.
"They had given very few hostages to fortune in Deo Auctore;"
"There were very few things that could go wrong with Deo Auctore;"
"Very few things had been left to chance with Deo Auctore;"

Isn't that a very optimistic version? I'm not an english speaker, but it
seems to me that the expression is very well paraphrased in the original
text itself: "there were very few specific instructions which could give
rise to criticism if things went wrong". Had the authors made very specific
instructions, they would have laid themselves open to criticism for having
caused eventual problems arising from following those instructions, and
these instructions, then, would have been "hostages to fortune". But they
didn't.

TF

Richard Loebner

2003-12-30 17:20:09 UTC

Permalink

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think of "fortune" as in "fortune telling", a form of guessing the future.
Hence "giving hostage to fortune" means leaving something to the
uncertainties of pure chance.

Hope this helps.

--
Richard,
Crowthorne Berkshire UK

Gary Vellenzer

2003-12-31 00:44:52 UTC

Permalink

In article <TsgIb.21888$***@news3.tin.it>, ***@tiscali.it
says...

The Bacon quote explains the meaning.

The purpose of hostages is to ensure good behavior. If you have no wife
or child, you can undertake risky projects with no danger to them. If
you do have wife and child, and undertake risky projects, the Goddess of
Luck is likely revenge herself on you by harming them.

So a hostage to fortune is anything that you put at risk by your
actions. It's generally used to indicate uncertainty about future
disasters.

Gary

Gary