Life only avails, not the having lived. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Against the flying ball no valor avails. [ Luther ]

When gold speaks, no reason the least avails. [ Proverb ]

What avails it that indulgent Heaven
From mortal eyes has wrapt the woes to come,
If we, ingenious to torment ourselves.
Grow pale at hideous fictions of our own?
Enjoy the present; nor with needless cares
Of what may spring from blind misfortune's womb,
Appal the surest hour that life bestows.
Serene, and master of yourself, prepare
For what may come; and leave the rest to Heaven. [ Armstrong ]

Falsehood avails itself of haste and uncertainty. [ Tacitus ]

The thing done avails, and not what is said about it. [ Emerson ]

God grant you fortune, my son, for knowledge avails you little. [ Spanish Proverb ]

What avails it me, to draw one foot out of the mire, and stick the other in? [ Proverb ]