Opportunity Quotes

"The market system requires that people be committed and willing to work hard. Inherent with that is what I call a merit system, which I think gives people the greatest opportunity"

Lee R. Raymond, Businessman

"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

"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

"The international community should treat this as a window of opportunity to ramp up preparedness and response"

Margaret Chan, Public Servant

"Going to Peru is, well, if you ever have an opportunity in your life to go there, you should do it because it is absolutely mind boggling"

Dean Stockwell, Actor

"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

"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

"I think it's very clear that the American people are frustrated with this move toward socialism. And so whether you're back or white, if you believe that the conservative construct is in the best interest of our future, than you too would be voting with Republicans, and if you had the opportunity to run you'd join us as well"

Tim Scott, Politician

"Education is not only a ladder of opportunity, but it is also an investment in our future"

Ed Markey, Politician

"What does it mean to be an American? While each of us may have our own specific answer to that question, we likely can agree on the basic principles of America: freedom, equal opportunity, and rights accompanied by responsibilities"

Ben Nelson, Politician

"We shall probably never attain the power of measuring the velocity of nervous action; for we have not the opportunity of comparing its propagation through immense space, as we have in the case of light"

Johannes P. Muller, Scientist

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting"

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher

"Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity"

George Bernard Shaw, Dramatist

"A man must make his opportunity, as oft as find it"

Francis Bacon, Philosopher

"While we stop to think, we often miss our opportunity"

Publilius Syrus, Poet

"We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets"

Benjamin Disraeli, Statesman

"One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes"

Benjamin Disraeli, Statesman

"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty"

Winston Churchill, Statesman

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty"

Winston Churchill, Statesman

"Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity"

Kahlil Gibran, Poet

"Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others"

Samuel Johnson, Author

"It pays to know the enemy - not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend"

Margaret Thatcher, Leader

"When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity"

John F. Kennedy, President

"Sometimes failure isn't an opportunity in disguise, it's just you"

Doug Coupland, Author

"For age is opportunity no less Than youth itself, though in another dress, And as the evening twilight fades away The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poet