I long ago come to the conclusion that all life is 6 to 5 against.

Runyon’s line casts life as a wager with the odds slightly stacked against you—“6 to 5” being a bookmaker’s way of saying the house has the edge. The phrasing suggests a hard-earned, streetwise fatalism typical of Runyon’s gamblers and hustlers: you can play, you can hope, but you should not expect fairness. Yet the odds are not hopelessly long; they imply that effort, nerve, and luck can still win on a given day. The quote’s appeal lies in its compressed realism: it acknowledges persistent disadvantage while leaving room for the stubborn human impulse to keep betting on oneself.