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Reading Time: 4 minutes

First published: 30 May 2022 @ 6:00 pm

When visiting Chinese restaurants, you might find these little fortune cookies just near the entrance door. However, the actual fortune is usually the least interesting part of these fortune crackers. After all, what’s inside is just a series of words or numbers that tell you something about your future.

But for those who enjoy dissecting their paper fortunes, there’s a hidden gem in every fortune cookie: the sentence. Sentences are the core of every piece of paper in the fortune cookie, and many fortune cookies are quite lengthy.

1. “Fate Is Not on Your Side”

three fortune cookies on a tray

Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash.

This phrase sounds like an insult, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that fate will never be on your side. It just means that you should take advantage of every opportunity you have to make things happen for yourself because there are things beyond your control.

In other words, you shouldn’t let things go to waste! It’s very common to find this phrase on the strip of paper, especially those that mention “luck.” You’ll find many different variations of this saying.

RELATED: 5 Interesting Facts about Tarot Reading

2. “It’s All in the Cards”

This saying basically means that things are not always as they seem. You may have a good hand, but you could also be dealt a bad one. This can mean that the people you meet, the jobs you get, and even the weather can be out of your control.

3. “It’s in the Stars”

The saying “it’s in the stars” is a common fortune cookie saying that means that fate is a random occurrence. In other words, your life is not always dictated by your actions.

The usual fortune cookie will even tell you to follow your heart because if you do, you’ll get what you want. The saying also applies to luck, so be careful not to count on anything too much!

One specific fun fact might resemble this sentence more appropriately. For example, while you can find fortune cookies in many Chinese restaurants, fortune cookies are not actually from China.

These Americanized fortune cookies actually have Japanese origins. They were brought by Japanese immigrants. However, it didn’t produce a well-enough result and many Japanese bakers closed their businesses.

The plot twist though: Chinese businessmen created contemporary fortune cookies and made them popular again! Now, the modern fortune cookie industry is owned by Chinese people. They even become the largest manufacturer of these so-called fortunate cookies.

Just like “it’s in the stars”, we don’t know what might happen to certain things in our lives!

Click on the next page to learn more about the 7 sentences you might’ve encountered in your fortune cookies!