He who would be happy should stay at home.
—Greek Proverb
No man’s abilities are so remarkably shining as not to stand in need of a proper opportunity.
—Pliny the Elder (23–79CE) Roman Statesman, Scholar
The lesson which life repeats and constantly enforces is ‘look under foot.’ You are always nearer the divine and the true sources of your power than you think. The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are. Do not despise your own place and hour. Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world.
—John Burroughs (1837–1921) American Naturalist, Writer
Misfortunes come to all men.
—Chinese Proverb
If I were given a change of life, I’d like to see how it would be to live as a mere six-footer.
—Wilt Chamberlain (1936–99) American Basketball Player
The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room, each believing himself in mortal peril from the other, whom he assumes to have perfect vision.
—Henry Kissinger (b.1923) American Diplomat, Academician
The man with toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Those things that are not practicable are not desirable. There is nothing in the world really beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed understanding and a well protected pursuit. There is nothing that God has judged good for us that he has not given us the means to accomplish, both in the natural and the moral world. If we cry, like children, for the moon, like children we must cry on.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Diogenes was asked what wine he liked best, and he answered, “Somebody else’s”.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Ambition, having reached the summit, longs to descend.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
There is no man in this world without some manner of tribulation or anguish, though he be king or pope.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers.
—Unknown
No one is content with his own lot.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
I don’t like my voice. I don’t like the way I look. I don’t like the way I move. I don’t like the way I act. I mean, period. So you know, I don’t like myself.
—Elizabeth Taylor (b.1932) English Actor, Activist
We must dream of an aristocracy of achievement arising out of a democracy of opportunity.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Opportunity is often difficult to recognize; we usually expect it to beckon us with beepers and billboards.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
Grasp your opportunities, no matter how poor your health; nothing is worse for your health than boredom.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
There is hook in every benefit, that sticks in his jaws that takes that benefit, and draws him whither the benefactor will.
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
I think luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it. Everyone has bad breaks, but everyone also has opportunities. The man who can smile at his breaks and grab his chances gets on.
—Samuel Goldwyn (1879–1974) Polish-born American Film Producer, Businessperson
Nobody’s problem is ideal. Nobody has things just as he would like them. The thing to do is to make a success with what material I have. It is a sheer waste of time and soul-power to imagine what I would do if things were different. They are not different.
—Frank Hall Crane (1873–1948) American Stage and Film Actor, Director
Try as we may, none of us can be free of conflict and woe. Even the greatest men have had to accept disappointments as their daily bread…. The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them. Man and society must grow together. Each individual’s efforts to discipline himself must be matched by society’s struggle to enforce the rules of law and of justice under the law.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
Comparison, more than reality, makes men happy or wretched.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
The only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well.
—Alfred Adler (1870–1937) Austrian Psychiatrist
Opportunity has hair in front; behind she is bald; if you seize her by the fore lock, you may hold her, but, if suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again.
—Latin Proverb
It is common to overlook what is near by keeping the eye fixed on something remote. In the same manner present opportunities are neglected and attainable good is slighted by minds busied in extensive ranges, and intent upon future advantages. Life, however short, is made shorter by waste of time.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
It is not irritating to be where one is. It is only irritating to think one would like to be somewhere else.
—John Cage (1912–92) American Composer
No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending.
—Unknown
The majority of America’s colossal fortunes have been made by entering industries in their early stages and developing leadership in them…. Think of what opportunities the present and the future contain in such fields as ship-building and ship-owning, aircraft, electrical development, the oil industry, different branches of the automotive industry, foreign trade, international banking, invention, the chemical industry, moving pictures, color photography, and, one night add, labor leadership.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
The greatest secret of success in life is for a person to be ready when their opportunity comes.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly often attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.
—Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian-American Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities; an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
Most of us don’t recognize opportunity until we see it working for a competitor.
—Jay Huenfeld
None of us is ever satisfied with what we are.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
The problem with beauty is that it’s like being born rich and getting poorer.
—Joan Collins (b.1933) English Actress
Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Pale death with impartial tread beats at the poor man’s cottage door and at the palaces of kings.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
When blocked or defeated in an enterprise I had much at heart, I always turned immediately to another field of work where progress looked possible, biding my time for a chance to resume the obstructed road.
—Charles William Eliot (1834–1926) American Educationalist
If it exists, it’s possible.
—Dero A. Saunders (1914–2002) American Journalist, Scholar
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.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
No one wearies of benefits received.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
When every blessed thing you have is made of silver, or of gold, you long for simple pewter.
—W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) English Dramatist, Librettist, Poet, Illustrator
I hate myself on the screen. I want to die… my voice is either too high or too gravelly. I want to dive under the carpet… I’ll love to be tall and willowy… I’m short.
—Elizabeth Taylor (b.1932) English Actor, Activist
Ability is of little account without opportunity.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
There is no man in any rank who is always at liberty to act as he would incline. In some quarter or other he is limited by circumstances.
—Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Scottish Preacher, Scholar, Critic
All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen.
—Sidney Lumet (1924–2011) American Film Director
I never admired another’s fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Acorns were good till bread was found.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
I am not much an advocate for traveling, and I observe that men run away to other countries because they are not good in their own, and run back to their own because they pass for nothing in the new places. For the most part, only the light characters travel. Who are you that have no task to keep you at home?
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher