Quotations about Opportunities

Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along. ~Hugh Allen


When I look back now over my life and call to mind what I might have had simply for taking and did not take, my heart is like to break. ~William Hale White


Opportunity is often difficult to recognize; we usually expect it to beckon us with beepers and billboards. ~William Arthur Ward


Opportunity is a bird that never perches. ~Claude McDonald


Opportunity is as scarce as oxygen; men fairly breathe it and do not know it. ~Doc Sane


Opportunities do not come with their values stamped upon them. ~Maltbie Babcock


Nothing is so often irretrievably missed as a daily opportunity. ~Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach


It is often hard to distinguish between the hard knocks in life and those of opportunity. ~Frederick Phillips


Seize the opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind. ~Bulgarian Proverb


I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one. ~Mark Twain


Seize every opportunity along the way, for how sad it would be if the road you chose became the road not taken. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com


Ability is of little account without opportunity. ~Napoleon


The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. ~Benjamin Disraeli


If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. ~Milton Berle


A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. ~Francis Bacon, Essays, 1625


Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss. ~Author Unknown


Opportunity is a parade. Even as one chance passes, the next is a fife and drum echoing in the distance. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com


A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. ~Harry Truman


Summing up, it is clear the future holds great opportunities. It also holds pitfalls. The trick will be to avoid the pitfalls, seize the opportunities, and get back home by six o'clock. ~Woody Allen, "My Speech to the Graduates," Side Effects, 1980


[I]f one wants to get a boat ride, one must be near the river. ~Anchee Min, Becoming Madame Mao


As you seek new opportunity, keep in mind that the sun does not usually reappear on the horizon where last seen. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com


I held a moment in my hand, brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour. I dripped it carelessly, Ah! I didn't know, I held opportunity. ~Hazel Lee


Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending. ~Author Unknown


The follies which a man regrets most in his life are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity. ~Helen Rowland


All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen. ~Sidney Lumet


When written in Chinese the word "crisis" is composed of two characters - one represents danger and the other represents opportunity. ~John F. Kennedy, address, 12 April 1959


Problems are only opportunities with thorns on them. ~Hugh Miller, Snow on the Wind


Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers. ~Author Unknown


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


Opportunities fly by while we sit regretting the chances we have lost, and the happiness that comes to us we heed not, because of the happiness that is gone. ~Jerome K. Jerome, The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, 1889


If I were Opportunity, I wouldn't just knock, you'd have to sign. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com


Grasp your opportunities, no matter how poor your health; nothing is worse for your health than boredom. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966