"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities"
About this Quote
The subtext is immigrant grit meeting media gatekeeping. Lee moved between Hong Kong and the US, building a hybrid identity at a time when Asian men were routinely flattened into caricature or erased altogether. “I create opportunities” reads as a direct answer to an industry that offered few: if the system won’t open doors, you build a new room. That’s not abstract self-help; it’s entrepreneurial defiance. It’s also a performer’s line - opportunity, in acting, is often permission. Lee sidesteps permission and replaces it with practice, self-invention, and sheer force of persona.
There’s a subtle risk embedded in the bravado: the fantasy of total control. Circumstances do matter - racism, money, politics, injury. Lee’s genius is that he doesn’t deny those realities; he denies their finality. The quote works because it turns agency into an aesthetic: not just doing, but doing with attitude, as if willpower itself is choreography.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|---|
| Source | Bruce Lee — quote listed on his Wikiquote page: “To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.” |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lee, Bruce. (n.d.). To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-hell-with-circumstances-i-create-opportunities-5280/
Chicago Style
Lee, Bruce. "To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-hell-with-circumstances-i-create-opportunities-5280/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-hell-with-circumstances-i-create-opportunities-5280/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.








