Opportunity Quotes: Inspiring Words to Seize the Moment

"The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding"

Chris Van Allsburg, Author

"I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one"

Mark Twain, Author

"All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual"

Albert Einstein, Physicist

"Opportunity makes a thief"

Francis Bacon, Philosopher

"Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength"

Betty Friedan, Activist

"America is another name for opportunity"

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher

"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough"

Abraham Lincoln, President

"Education is not a problem. Education is an opportunity"

Lyndon B. Johnson, President

"Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so"

Doris Lessing, Writer

"The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car... a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little"

Ben Sweetland, Author

"Ability is nothing without opportunity"

Napoleon Bonaparte, Leader

"Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity"

Seneca the Younger, Statesman

"We must open the doors of opportunity. But we must also equip our people to walk through those doors"

Lyndon B. Johnson, President

"Opportunity knocks for every man, but you have to give a woman a ring"

Mae West, Actress

"Living in this manner also gave them the opportunity to locate targets and develop methods of attack that would make the most impact on the population, infrastructure, and governments of these areas"

Jo Bonner, Politician

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

Thomas Edison, Inventor

"Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity"

H. Jackson Brown, Jr., Author

"From these inconsiderable attempts, some idea may be formed with what success, should Fortune afford an opportunity, I am likely to treat matters of greater importance"

Giraldus Cambrensis, Clergyman

"And also I assert our interest in respecting all our obligations and implementing all our commitments. And will save no effort whatever to protect this newborn opportunity of peace, that is provided through what we have already declared here today"

Mahmoud Abbas, Statesman

"I thank Marc Jacobs so much for giving me the opportunity to design a shoe for Louis Vuitton, but the thing that broke my heart most was when they said, 'You're finished. The shoe's finished.'"

Kanye West, Musician

"If you are not egotistical, you will welcome the opportunity to learn more"

John Templeton, Businessman

"You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved. They go together"

Earl Nightingale, Writer

"A person like myself, born and raised in the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia, to lower-middle-class parents. But I had the opportunity to get an education, to go and earn a commission in the United States Army, to serve for 22 years, to lead men and women in combat"

Allen West, Politician

"We respect the role of the Senate. We respect the authority of the Senate to look at the qualifications of Judge Roberts, and at the end of the day I'm optimistic that if given a fair hearing and a fair opportunity, that he will be confirmed"

Alberto Gonzales, Public Servant

"The perfection of our union, especially our commitment to equality of opportunity, has been a story of constant striving to live up to our Founding principles. This is what Abraham Lincoln meant when he said, 'In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve.'"

Paul Ryan, Politician

"We think there's a huge opportunity in smaller vehicles. Smaller vehicles done in an American way"

Freeman Thomas, Designer

"I'll work overtime to open the doors of opportunity to industry and commerce"

Alan Autry, Actor

"Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty"

John D. Rockefeller, Businessman

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity"

Irving Kristol, Editor

"I think the value of venues like CNBC is that they give investors an opportunity to reevaluate the situation minute by minute, but maybe we don't need to follow the market so closely"

Maria Bartiromo, Journalist

"Our citizens and those who have gone before us charted the broad outlines of where we need to go, and they would envy our opportunity to translate those dreams into action. And I believe they will judge us very harshly should we fail to act"

Dave Freudenthal, Politician

"Perhaps that is why the novel flourished in England. You had these communities that would stay put and people would see one another all the time and cause one another to change and have the opportunity to observe the changes over time"

Tobias Wolff, Writer

"Anything that gives us new knowledge gives us an opportunity to be more rational"

Herbert Simon, Scientist

"Not houses finely roofed or the stones of walls well builded, nay nor canals and dockyards make the city, but men able to use their opportunity"

Alcaeus, Poet

"I think a lot of developments start with the desire of the developer to get what he really wants so that he can use it. It's not just the technical fascination or the business opportunity"

Ray Dolby, Inventor

"Historic changes and challenges. Breakthroughs in human knowledge and opportunity. And yet, for vast numbers across the globe, the daily realities have not altered"

Abdallah II

"I was more excited than scared, at the opportunity to work in an English movie"

Aishwarya Rai, Actress

"Right-wing media and politicians are looking for any opportunity to be critical of the reporters who are here. Some reporters make judgments, but that is not my style. I present both sides and report what I see with my own eyes"

Peter Arnett, Journalist

"I was just absolutely exhausted. The media said I've been treated for a nervous breakdown. All that stuff I just took as people taking the opportunity when you're down to give you a kick"

John Hewson, Politician

"If you knew the upward mobility that South Dakota's kids have gotten from the opportunity to intern and to work and to be employed and to have upward mobility in that company and move on, it's been phenomenal for South Dakota"

Bill Janklow, Politician

Page 1 of 21