Card Quotes and Music

There are so many expressions that we commonly use in our everyday conversations that come from the ordinary deck of playing cards. Have you ever heard someone say that they don’t want to “get lost in the shuffle” or ask the question, “What’s the deal anyway?”

Most of us have heard people say, “It’s just not in the cards for me to …”  when things didn’t work out the way they planned.

When someone seems to be in charge of a situation, people say that they are “holding all the cards.”

Some days many people say “the cards have been stacked against me” when nothing they try works out or something seems to be blocking their efforts or from achieving their goals.

If someone doesn’t seem to know what they are doing, people often say, “They’re not playing with a full deck!”

When someone is confused about a particular situation, they ask, “What’s the deal?”

“Your ace in the hole is …” is another expression using card terminology to indicate a way to win or make something happen.

We have also heard people say, “I need to play my cards right to …” when they want to make the most of certain opportunities present in their life.

There are others who love to tell us that we need to “learn to play the hand we’ve been dealt” when things are not going our way. For some who can do everything and they say that they’re “the Jack of all trades!” or they’re “the Jack of all Spades!”

Many times we see people being secretive about their plans, thoughts, or feelings. We say they are “playing their cards close to their chest” like many card players do.

When people want someone to openly reveal what their plans or intentions are, they usually ask them to “put (or lay) your cards on the table.”

At times, when someone has tried everything and has now given up, they say, “Let the cards fall where they may.”

For some, when they are not surprised by how certain events have unfolded, they say, “It was all in the cards.”

Other Card Quotes:

♦  “Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.”   ~ Josh Billings  (1856-1950)

♦  “He is such a card!” (a witty, entertaining, or eccentric person)

♦  “Don’t get lost in the shuffle!”

♦  “When you find a King, keep him. When you find a Queen, love and protect her. Don’t reshuffle your cards because you may end up with a Joker!”

♦  “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.”   ~ Oscar Wilde (Irish poet, novelist, dramatist and critic, 1854-1900)

♦  “Marriage is like a deck of cards. In the beginning, all you need is two hearts and a diamond. By the end, you wish you had a club and a spade.”

♦  “Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well"  ~ Jack London, American novelist, journalist, and social activist

♦  “Every Queen deserves a King who understands when her crown gets too heavy.”

♦  “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em. Know when to fold ’em….” ~ lyrics from The Gambler by Kenny Rogers

♦  “Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.”  ~ Jawaharlal Nehru (Former Prime Minister of India)

♦  “Men are like a deck of cards. You’ll find the occasional king, but most are jacks.”  ~ Laura Swenson

♦  “There will soon be only five kings in the world — the King of England and the four kings in a pack of cards.”  ~ Farouk I, King of Egypt and the Sudan (1920 – 1965)

♦  "Seek above all a game worth playing. Such is the advice of the oracle to modern man. Having found the game, play it with intensity -- play as if your life depended on it...it does."  ~  Robert Sylvester de Ropp, English biochemist

♦  “I looked at the cards in my hand, the queen of hearts nestled between the king of clubs and the king of spades. No wonder she was smiling.” ~ Megan Hart, New York Times Best-Selling American author

♦  "It's the niceties that make the difference fate gives us the hand, and we play the cards." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher  (1788-1860)

♦  “I am the king and you could’ve been my Red Queen. Now you are nothing.” ~ Victoria Aveyard, American writer of young adult and fantasy fiction, screenplays and author of “Red Queen”

♦  “Life is like a game of cards. Reliability is the ace, industry the king, politeness the queen, thrift the jack. Common sense is playing to best advantage the cards you draw. And every day, as the game proceeds, you will find the ace, king, queen, jack in your hand and an opportunity to use them.”  ~ Edgar Watson Howe, American author and editor (1853-1937)

♦  “You don’t have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt with. You have an obligation to play the hell out of the ones you’re holding and my dear one, you and I have been granted a mighty generous one.”  ~ Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

♦  “God and death play cards while they wait for an old man to die.”  ~ imgur.com

♦  “God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a dealer who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.” ~ Terry Pratchett, author of “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch”

♦  “In our twenties, when there is still so much time ahead of us, time that seems ample for a hundred indecisions, for a hundred visions and revisions—we draw a card, and we must decide right then and there whether to keep that card and discard the next, or discard the first card and keep the second. And before we know it, the deck has been played out and the decisions we have just made will shape our lives for decades to come.”  ~ Amor Towles, author of “Rules of Civility”

♦  “Destiny plays its cards in a way that no one can comprehend.” ~ Anurag Shourie, author of “Half A Shadow”

♦  “We are no more free agents than the queen of clubs when she victoriously takes prisoner the knave of hearts.” ~ Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English aristocrat, letter writer, and poet

♦  “I looked at the cards in my hand, the queen of hearts nestled between the king of clubs and the king of spades. No wonder she was smiling.” ~ Megan Hart

♦  “The key to success is playing the hand you were dealt like it was the hand you wanted.” ~ Kaitlyn Walsh, author

 Enjoy the following quotes from Regina E. Diamond aka “Queen of Cardology”:

“Fate is the cards you were given when you were born; destiny is what you do with them.”

“The script doesn’t make the actor; the actor makes the script. Their attitude toward the role they are playing is everything.”

“No matter which cards in life you have been dealt, there is ALWAYS something good in each one!”

“The cards never lie. People lie but the cards of life never do.”

“Everything that we feel, we think, we value, and we experience is in divine order and so are the cards of our lives.”

“Don’t judge someone for the choices they have made when you don’t know the cards they have been dealt in life and the choices they had to choose from at the time.”

“Lighten up! We’re just souls playing roles and some of us are taking our roles way too seriously.”

“Some people come into your life as a blessing and others as a lesson to teach you something.  It’s magical when you know who they are and when they will show up and know why they are in your life!”

“You know that you know too much about the cards of life when you can no longer get mad. You can’t get mad because you understand the reason why people do what they do and oftentimes when they are going to do it.”

“If you want the movie of your life to have a happily-ever-after ending, doesn’t it make sense to read your script all the way through?”

“Keep calm and play your cards of life well.”

“Learn your cards. Live your cards. Love your cards. For they are what the rest of your life is all about.”

“Life mirrors everyone’s attitude, their role in life, and their cards too. What does your reflection show about you?”

“Life is God’s movie so play your part well!”

“Know your cards of life, know the cards of your dreams, know the gifts you have to offer the world…before it’s too late.”

“To know thyself, know thy cards.”

“Life isn’t about making you happy. Life is about waking you up and remembering who you are inside this illusion, in this movie, called Life!”

“The magic formula for happiness is simple. Your Attitude + Your Cards = Your Life!”

“The MAGIC for your life is in the cards you were given the day you were born…and so is your DESTINY.”

“There is real magic in the message of every card in life; each one removing the confusion within the illusion of reality.”

“No matter how much you try to figure things out and learn about yourself, your life and your future, the universe is still going to surprise and delight you!”

“We are the i-MAGI-nation of the Creator, the I-MAGI.”

“You are the main character in the greatest story ever written. It’s up to you if your story is a comedy or a tragedy.”

“Your life is a movie and you’re the star. But just how well can you play your role if you haven’t read your script or don’t even know who the supporting characters are?”

“I’m a magical card in the hand of God, playing my part sharing higher values to the world as his Queen of Diamonds.”

“In life, there are no real villains or victims, just souls playing roles. Nothing in life is done to you, merely for you, for the experience.”

“How can you expect to win in life if you don’t look at your cards?”

“There are no new cards to play because they have already been played. There is nothing to do because it has already been done. There is nothing new under the sun.”

“It’s your ‘free will’ to either deny your destiny, face your destiny, or live your destiny. The choice is yours to make but choose carefully as each one has karmic consequences.”

“The hardest, yet most rewarding, thing you will ever do in this lifetime is play the cards you were dealt the day you were born.”

"12 months of happiness, 52 weeks of joy, 365.24 days of abundance, 8,760 hours of love, and 525,600 minutes of pure magic are secretly packed into each year.  All we have to do is find them."

(Quotes are copyrighted material of Regina E. Diamond and Scene the Light Entertainment, LLC. These quotes may not be copied or reprinted in whole or in part unless permission in writing is granted.)

He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn’t play for the money he wins
He don’t play for respect

He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance

I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that’s not the shape of my heart

He may play the jack of diamonds
He may lay the queen of spades
He may conceal a king in his hand
While the memory of it fades

I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that’s not the shape of my heart
That’s not the shape
The shape of my heart

If I told her that I loved you
You’d maybe think there’s something wrong
I’m not a man of too many faces
The mask I wear is one

But those who speak know nothing
And find out to their cost
Like those who curse their luck in too many places
And those who fear are lost

I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war

I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that’s not the shape of my heart
That’s not the shape of my heart
That’s not the shape
The shape of my heart

Songwriters: Dominic Miller / Gordon Sumner
Shape of My Heart lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

How was I to know?

It’s a crazy thing 

I showed you my hand 

And you still let me win 

Who was I to say 

That this was meant to be? 

The road that was broken brought us together

And I know you could fall for a thousand kings 

And hearts that could give you a diamond ring 

When I fold you see the best in me 

The joker and the queen

I was upside down from the outside in

You came to the table and you went all in

With a single word and a gentle touch

You turned a moment into forever

And I know you could fall for a thousand kings

And hearts that could give you a diamond ring

When I fold you see the best in me

The joker and the queen 

And I know you could fall for a thousand kings

And hearts that could give you a diamond ring

When I folded, you saw the best in be

The joker and the queen 

The joker and the queen

Song: The Joker And The Queen 

Artist: Ed Sheeran 

Album: The Joker And The Queen

Songwriters: Edward Christopher Sheeran / Fred Gibson / Johnny McDaid / Samuel Elliot Roman

WMG (on behalf of East West Records UK Ltd); UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA - UBEM, SOLAR Music Rights Management, Sony ATV Publishing, LatinAutor - SonyATV, UMPG Publishing, Global Music Rights LLC, BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., and 5 Music Rights Societies

Sleight of hand
Hands of fate
Chance you take
Life’s a snake

And it’s all in the draw of the cards

Lightnin’ strike
Breath of life
Red black or white
Watch ’em fall

And it’s all in the draw of the cards
And it’s all in the draw of the cards

Drop the cards
Watch the eyes
Down and dirty
Let ’em ride

Boulevard
Small cafe
Cavaliers
Pass the day

The joker laughs
From the street
Weaves his web
Bittersweet

Ace is high
Deuce is low
Take the first
The rest should go

And it’s all in the draw of the cards
And it’s all in the draw of the cards

Draw of the Cards lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management

On a warm summer’s eve
On a train bound for nowhere
I met up with the gambler
We were both too tired to sleep
So we took turns a-starin’
Out the window at the darkness
The boredom overtook us,
And he began to speak

He said, “Son, I’ve made a life
Out of readin’ people’s faces
Knowin’ what the cards were
By the way they held their eyes
So if you don’t mind me sayin’
I can see you’re out of aces
For a taste of your whiskey
I’ll give you some advice”

So I handed him my bottle
And he drank down my last swallow
Then he bummed a cigarette
And asked me for a light
And the night got deathly quiet
And his faced lost all expression
He said, “If you’re gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done

Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin’
Is knowin’ what to throw away
And knowin’ what to keep
‘Cause every hand’s a winner
And every hand’s a loser
And the best that you can hope for is to die
in your sleep

And when he finished speakin’
He turned back toward the window
Crushed out his cigarette
And faded off to sleep
And somewhere in the darkness
The gambler he broke even
But in his final words
I found an ace that I could keep

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em (when to hold ’em)
Know when to fold ’em (when to fold ’em)
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done

Writer: Don Schlitz
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind