Opportunity

It begins with my parents' divorce and its dramatic effect on me. I ran away and suddenly found myself a teenager alone in the world. I had to grow up very quickly and become very creative in order to survive. But what started out as survival became more and more of a game. I was an opportunist, so when I saw an opening I asked myself, "Could I get away with that?" Then there was the satisfaction of actually getting away with it. The more I got away with, the more of a game it became -- a game I knew I would ultimately lose, but a game I was going to have fun playing until I did.
~ Frank William Abagnale, Jr., Broadway Books (1 August 2000). Catch Me If You Can

Energy makes its own opportunities.
~ William Henry ("W.H.") Davenport Adams, The Secret of Success; or, How to Get on in the World (1879). Chapter IX. Reasonable Service and True Success

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?
~ William Rounseville (W.R.) Alger, from The Poetry of the East (1856). Metrical Specimens ... Swift Opportunity

If you trap the moment before it's ripe,
The tears of repentance you'll certainly wipe;
But if once you let the ripe moment go
You can never wipe off the tears of woe.
~ William Blake, from The Rossetti Manuscript (aka MS. Book; c. 1793-1811).

I am earnest in my desire to see the trusts exterminated, root and branch, that the door of opportunity may be open to every American citizen.
~ William Jennings Bryan, from The Real Bryan: Being Extracts from the Speeches and Writings of "A Well-rounded Man" (1908). Socialism (Speech in New York, 30 August 1906)

The meaning of democracy is opportunity. Democracy means that society at its best, in every worthy art, craft, and calling, shall set lessons for the children of the people, shall make paths for the children of the people which lead to society at its best.
~ William Lowe Bryan, Presidential Inaugural Address at Indiana University (1902). Faith in Education

There never was a day that did not bring its own opportunity for doing good that never could have been done before, and never can be done again.
~ William Henry Burleigh

I thought it was an opportunity to go for it all. I never thought in any vein or any context that it was too big. I never felt that. Never sensed that. But I did know that I had nothing to lose.
~ Bill Callahan (on moving to Raiders head coach), The San Francisco Chronicle (26 January 2003). In search of Wild Bill Callahan

I know this is a big challenge. I feel that I'm ready for it.
~ Bill Cartwright, The Associated Press (29 December 2001). Cartwright man in the middle for the Bulls again

Capacity never lacks opportunity. It cannot remain undiscovered because it is sought by too many anxious to use it.
~ W. Bourke Cockran

Deep down in every heart is the desire to be somebody, to get somewhere. But so often we sit waiting for the opportunity. I have found opportunities do not come to those who wait. They are captured by those who attack.
~ William H. Danforth, I Dare You! (1931).

You have a four-fold life to live: a body, a brain, a heart and a soul ... these are your living tools. To use and develop them is not a task. ... It is a golden opportunity.
~ William H. Danforth, I Dare You! (1931).

A rainbow and a cuckoo's song
May never come together again;
May never come
This side the tomb.
~ William Henry (W.H.) Davies, from New Poems (1907). A Great Time

They say opportunity's only got one hair on its head and you got to grab it while its going by.
~ William Demarest

You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything.
~ William (W.) MacNeile Dixon, from The Human Situation: The Gifford lectures delivered in the University of Glasgow, 1935-1937 (1937).

I think there has to be a great strengthening of opportunities for individual activity. Otherwise, we will produce no eccentrics. I do not know of any salvation for society except through eccentrics, misfits, dissenters, people who protest. Otherwise, you don't get the spark.
~ William Orville Douglas, in Two Faces of Federalism (1961).

The great values of freedom are in the opportunities afforded man to press to new horizons, to pit his strength against the forces of nature, to match skills with his fellow man.
~ William Orville Douglas (dissenting opinion), Barsky v. Board of Regents of Univ. of NY, 347 U.S. 442 (1954).

No one need be anxious about the lack of opportunities in civilized life for the display of heroic qualities.
~ Charles William Eliot, in The Oxford Book of American Essays, Chapter XX (1914), Five American Contributions to Civilization

Remember that if the opportunities for great deeds should never come, the opportunities for good deeds are renewed day by day. The thing for us to long for is the goodness, not the glory.
~ Frederick William Faber

Opportunity for distinction lies in doing ordinary things well and not in erratically striving to perform grandstand plays.
~ William Feather

For you can say no, but I will continue to say yes, the light is near, the night has gone, now come my friend we shall take the day.
~ William Robert Fenton

I'm just a lucky slob who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
~ (William) Clark Gable

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities -- brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.
~ John William Gardner, quoted in Reader's Digest (March 1966).

The frontiers were sort of wide open. It was that sense of excitement that we really wanted to spark in everybody else wherever we went.
~ Bill Gates

Let us tread fast and joyfully the open trail before us!
~ William Gilpin, from Mission of the North American People, Geographical, Social, and Political (1873). Chapter XII: The North American Mission -- Continued

What is the blue road anyway but an opportunity to poke at the unseen and a hoping the unseen will poke back?
~ William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982).

I have no doubt that the leadership wave is coming in this country, and each of us can decide if we have the ability and the will to ride its crest. Those who choose to ride the wave will have opportunities never before dreamed of and those who do not had better get out of the water. Surfs up!
~ William N. "Bill" Hodges, The Next Wave, Want To Lead? This Is What It Takes (1996).

Take any picture you can. One out of four will be good, one out of ten will be very good, and one out of fifteen will get you an Academy Award.
~ William Holden (William Franklin Beedle, Jr.)

If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance.
~ Billy Idol, in Don't Stop (1981 album). Dancing With Myself

He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.
~ William James, An Address to the Philosophical Clubs of Yale and Brown Universities (published in the New World; June 1896). The Will to Believe

No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one's sentiments may be, if one has not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, one's character may remain entirely unaffected for the better.
~ William James, in The Popular Science Monthly (February 1887). The Laws of Habit

Never neglect an opportunity of improvement.
~ Sir William Jones

Work on, Watch on,
Good hands, good heart,
And some day you will see
Out of your effort rising, --
Opportunity.
~ William James Lampton, Opportunity

A great occasion is worth to a man just what -- and no more than-- his antecedents have qualified him to make of it.
~ William Mathews, Conquering Success, Or, Life in Earnest (1903). XXXVII. No Chance To Get On

Harvesting more opportunities into 24 hours than the next guy is one of the challenges that thrills me; and that energy is focused on building something new or better in a variety of ways. Always expecting to make a difference.
~ Billy Joe "Red" McCombs, Commencement Address, McCombs School of Business (18 May 2001). Making a Difference

We praise or blame as one or the other affords more opportunity for exhibiting our power of judgment.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human (1878).

Opportunities should never be lost, because they can hardly be regained.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Personal Cautions

Have courage, be positive, and don't ever give up. Great opportunities occur every year in America. Get yourself prepared and go for it. You'll find that little acorns can grow into giant oaks. Anything is possible with persistence and hard work. It can be done, and your own determination to succeed is the most important element.
~ William J. O'Neil, How to Make Money in Stocks (1988 edition).

Never pass up a chance to do something nice, no matter how small.
~ Bill Purdin, Legend, Inc. (accessed May 2003). Quote Archives.

I haven't had the rice pudding of my life today. But I guess I lost that opportunity with the end of my childhood.
~ William Rice (on the First Ever Great Rice Pudding Tasting sponsored by the Rice Council of America), New Yorker (2 July 1984).

Every man gets an opportunity once in a lifetime.
~ Will Rogers, Daily Telegrams (31 March 1933).

Never miss a good chance to shut up.
~ Will Rogers

There will never cease to be opportunity. It's all a matter of attitude, of determining what you want. There's always room for new ideas or even taking old ideas and making them succeed.
~ William Rosenberg, in Restaurants and Institutions magazine (1 March 2002). William Rosenberg: On never taking success for granted

I'm not the kind of guy to knock at a door and then when the door is opened not go in.
~ William Saroyan

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act II, scene ii

Delay leads impotent and snail-paced beggary.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III. Act IV, scene iii

If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act V, scene ii

[I]f money go before, all ways do lie open.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act II, scene ii

Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act I, scene ii

Make use of time, let not advantage slip.
~ William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis (1593).

[T]here's a time for all things.
~ William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors. Act II, scene ii

This is the night
That either makes me or fordoes me quite.
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act V, scene i

[W]e must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
~ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Act IV, scene iii

I saw a little spot and decided to take a chance on getting through. One, two, three, boom! I made it.
~ William Lee (Willie) "The Shoe" Shoemaker (on winning the 1986 Kentucky Derby)

I use every misleading opportunity I can.
~ Will Shortz (as editor of The New York Times crossword), CBS TV "60 Minutes" (2003). The New York Times' Master Puzzler

He who risks nothing loses everything.
~ William Gilmore Simms, Egeria: Or, Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside (1853).

Will always masters opportunity.
~ William Gilmore Simms, Egeria: Or, Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside (1853).

One of the most valuable qualities of a commander is a flair for putting himself in the right place at the vital time.
~ Sir William Joseph Slim, Unofficial History (1959).

Never have I found the limits of the photographic potential. Every horizon, upon being reached, reveals another beckoning in the distance. Always, I am on the threshold.
~ William (W.) Eugene Smith, from W. Eugene Smith, His Photographs And Notes (1969).

Ah! no man knows his strength or his weakness, till occasion proves them.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Henry Esmond (1852). Book II. Chapter I: I Am In Prison, And Visited, But Not Consoled There

Nothing slips by more easily than an opportunity, and, once gone, it is gone forever. The same opportunity comes but once in a lifetime. If not improved when it appears, it becomes a lost opportunity, leaving disappointment and pain behind, as loss always does.
~ William Makepeace Thayer, Success: Oracle of the Age (1892). LXXV. Letting Opportunities Slip

There never was so much room for the best as there is to-day.
~ William Makepeace Thayer, Tact, Push, And Principle (1880). Chapter I. Success

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
~ Wim Triesthof

Another fresh new year is here ...
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest ...
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!
~ William Arthur Ward, A New Year

Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.
~ William Arthur Ward

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

The winner asks, "May I help?" The loser asks, "Do you expect me to do that?"
~ William Arthur Ward

When opportunities do not seem to come to us, it is entirely possible to make them for ourselves. I certainly do not believe in waiting for them. I think they come to all of us, sooner or later.
~ William C. Whitney

[I]f you show a genuine interest in learning about how others became successful, you can open up a world of opportunities.
~ Armstrong Williams, (10 June 2005).

When the time comes to perform, I want to be there and be one of the key guys contributing to the success of the team.
~ Bernie Williams, in Seattle Times (23 October 2001). Two-run shot turns New York clincher into rout

Every temptation is an opportunity to triumph over evil.
~ Marc Williams

Everything will change. You will never be the same. All this will happen just as soon as you're ready.
~ Paul Williams, Das Energi (1973).

Ya gotta be ready for the fastball.
~ Theodore Samuel ("Ted") Williams

Having the opportunity to represent your country is such an honor. I'm looking forward to some great competition and hope to bring home a victory for the U.S.
~ Venus Williams, The Associated Press (3 February 2004). Williams Sisters to Play in Fed Cup

This was my opportunity, I should take it.
~ Venus Williams

He's got the whole world at his feet and he can't find his shoes.
~ John Williamson

If I could only remember that the days were not bricks to be laid row on row, to be built into a solid house, where one might dwell in safety and peace, but only food for the fires of the heart.
~ Edmund Wilson, I Thought of Daisy (1929).

Turning, for them who pass, the common dust
Of servile opportunity to gold.
~ William Wordsworth, Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820 (1822). XXXVII. Desultory Stanzas