fate, chance, fortune (a woman?)

The race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong,
neither yet bread to the wise,
nor yet riches to men of understanding,
nor yet favour to men of skill;
but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Ecclesiastes 9
So as not to rule out our free will, I believe that it is probably true that fortune is the arbiter of half the things we do, leaving the other half or so to be controlled by ourselves. I compare fortune to one of those violent rivers which, when they are enraged, flood the plains, tear down trees and buildings... Yet although such is their nature, it does not follow that when they are flowing quietly one cannot take precautions, constructing dykes... So it is with fortune. She shows her potency where there is no well-regulated power to resist her, no embankments and dykes built to restrain her.

Machiavelli, The Prince

I actually really like what Machiavelli writes here. (He then spoils it by going on to say that fortune is like a woman, who needs to be dominated and subdued.) But I like the way that whilst acknowledging the potency of chance/fate, he doesn't allow us to become complacent and feel impotent about the role of our own responsibility in our lives. If it is all down to chance, we might as well just lie in a darkened room. Which is often tempting.