Good or Bad
Omens may be considered either good or bad depending on their interpretation. The same sign may be interpreted differently by different people or different cultures.
For example, a superstition in the United States and other countries across Europe indicates that a black cat is an omen of bad luck.
Comets also have been considered to be both good and bad omens. The best-known example is probably Halley's Comet, which was a "bad omen" for King Harold II of England but a "good omen" for William the Conqueror.
Read more about this topic: Omen
Famous quotes containing the word bad:
“Every nation ... have their refinements and grossiertes.... There is a balance ... of good and bad every where; and nothing but the knowing it is so can emancipate one half of the world from the prepossessions which it holds against the other—that [was] the advantage of travel ... it taught us mutual toleration; and mutual toleration ... taught us mutual love.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)