Opportunity

"I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon—if I can. I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, this I have done. All this is what it means to be an American."

"A thousand years a poor man watched Before the gate of Paradise: But while one little nap he snatched, It oped and shut. Ah! was he wise?"

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds."

"I took over the Moran and Mack spot and wowed them. The theater owner's report to the booker of the entire circuit was a glowing review. A week later I was booked on a bigger circuit. I kept working and polishing my act until the GIANT door opened for me and there was the big time ... the Palace Theater [sic] on Broadway. P.S. If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."

"The individual who tries to plot his position by reference to our society finds no fixed points, but only the vaunted absence of them, "freedom" and "opportunity"; freedom for what, opportunity to do what, is nowhere indicated. The only positive he is given is "get and spend" ("get and spend—if you can" from the Right, "get and spend—you deserve it" from the Left) and he did not need society to tell him that.""

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

"Never waste a crisis. It can be turned to joyful transformation."

"Sometimes, you need a door slammed in your face before you can hear opportunity knock."

"To attract good luck to oneself, it is necessary to take advantage of opportunities."

"When there's an opportunity, some people pass it by. I've been lucky enough to recognise opportunities and every day, in my business, there's an opportunity somewhere – to buy, expand, design."

"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word "crisis". One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger — but recognize the opportunity."

"Variant: In the Chinese language, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters, one representing danger and the other, opportunity."

"You can never find a lost opportunity."

"History repeats itself, opportunity doesn't."

"Opportunity has hair in front, but behind she is bald; if you seize her by the forlock, you may hold her, but if suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again."

"Danger will wink on opportunity."

"Zeal and duty are not slow But on occasion's forelock watchful wait."

"Playing poker in the Army and as a young lawyer honed my business skills. What you have to learn is to fold early when the odds are against you, or if you have a big edge, back it heavily because you don't get a big edge often. Opportunity comes, but it doesn't come often, so seize it when it does come."

"There's place and means for every man alive."

"Who seeks, and will not take when once 'tis offer'd, Shall never find it more."

"A staff is quickly found to beat a dog."

"There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries."

"Urge them while their souls Are capable of this ambition, Lest zeal, now melted by the windy breath Of soft petitions, pity and remorse, Cool and congeal again to what it was."

"O opportunity, thy guilt is great! 'Tis thou that executest the traitor's treason; Thou set'st the wolf where he the lamb may get; Whoever plots the sin, thou 'point'st the season; 'Tis thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason."

"Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not lie ready to their hand, they will make them."

"Opportunity is like a bald-headed man with only a patch of hair right in front. You have to grab that hair, grasp the opportunity while it's confronting you, else you'll be grasping a slick bald head."

"There is an hour in each man's life appointed To make his happiness, if then he seize it."

"This could but have happened once, And we missed it, lost it forever."

"He that will not when he may, When he will he shall have nay."

"There is a nick in Fortune's restless wheel For each man's good."

"Holding occasion by the hand, Not over nice 'twixt weed and flower, Waiving what none can understand, I take mine hour."

"Who lets slip fortune, her shall never find: Occasion once past by, is bald behind."

"Rem tibi quam nosces aptam dimittere noli; Fronte capillata, post est occasio calva."

"Observe the opportunity."

"Seek not for fresher founts afar, Just drop your bucket where you are; And while the ship right onward leaps, Uplift it from exhaustless deeps. Parch not your life with dry despair; The stream of hope flows everywhere— So under every sky and star, Just drop your bucket where you are!"

""Oh, ship ahoy!" rang out the cry; "Oh, give us water or we die!" A voice came o'er the waters far, "Just drop your bucket where you are." And then they dipped and drank their fill Of water fresh from mead and hill; And then they knew they sailed upon The broad mouth of the Amazon."

"Der den Augenblick ergreift, Das ist der rechte Mann."

"Man's extremity is God's opportunity."

"I beseech you not to blame me if I be desirous to strike while the iron is hot."

"Rapiamus, amici, Occasionem de die."

"The actual fact is that in this day Opportunity not only knocks at your door but is playing an anvil chorus on every man's door, and then lays for the owner around the corner with a club. The world is in sore need of men who can do things. Indeed, cases can easily be recalled by every one where Opportunity actually smashed in the door and collared her candidate and dragged him forth to success. These cases are exceptional, usually you have to meet Opportunity half-way. But the only place where you can get away from Opportunity is to lie down and die. Opportunity does not trouble dead men, or dead ones who flatter themselves that they are alive."

"I knock unbidden once at every gate— If sleeping, wake—if feasting, rise before I turn away—it is the hour of fate, And they who follow me reach every state Mortals desire, and conquer every foe Save death, but those who doubt or hesitate, Condemned to failure, penury and woe, Seek me in vain and uselessly implore, I answer not, and I return no more."

"They do me wrong who say I come no more, When once I knock and fail to find you in; For every day I stand outside your door And bid you wait, and rise to fight and win."

"Not by appointment do we meet delight Or joy; they heed not our expectancy; But round some corner of the streets of life They of a sudden greet us with a smile."

"Nostra sine auxilio fugiunt bona. Carpite florem."

"Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus. Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit."

"Oh! Who art thou so fast proceeding, Ne'er glancing back thine eyes of flame? Mark'd but by few, through earth I'm speeding, And Opportunity's my name. What form is that which scowls beside thee? Repentance is the form you see: Learn then, the fate may yet betide thee. She seizes them who seize not me."

"He that would not when he might, He shall not when he wolda."

"Occasio prima sui parte comosa, posteriore calva Quam si occupasis, teneas elapsum Non isse possit Jupiter reprehendre."

"Why hast thou hair upon thy brow? To seize me by, when met. Why is thy head then bald behind? Because men wish in vain, When I have run past on wingèd feet To catch me e'er again."

"Occasio ægre offertur, facile amittitur."

"Deliberando sæpe perit occasio."

"Crespe hà le chiome e d'oro, E in quella guisa appunto, Che Fortuna si pinge Ha lunghi e folti in sulla fronte i crini; Ma nuda hà poi la testa Agli opposti confini."

"An opportunity well taken is the only weapon of advantage."

"L'occasion de faire du mal se trouve cent fois par jour, et celle de faire du bien une fois dans l'année."

"Turning for them who pass, the common dust Of servile opportunity to gold."