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Success Quote by Clive Davis

"You've got to seize the opportunity if it is presented to you"

About this Quote

In Clive Davis's world, opportunity isn't a vague inspirational poster; it's a door that cracks open for half a second, and you either push through or you spend the next decade telling yourself it was locked. Coming from a record-industry kingmaker who built a career on timing, taste, and leverage, the line reads less like motivational advice and more like an operating manual for power. "Presented to you" is the tell: opportunities are framed as scarce invitations handed out by systems, gatekeepers, and moments of cultural readiness. You don't manufacture the moment so much as recognize when the moment chooses you.

The phrasing is blunt, almost transactional. "Seize" turns chance into something physical, a thing you grab before someone else does. It's a verb of competition and urgency, not contemplation. Davis is speaking from a business context where hesitation looks like risk management but functions as self-sabotage. In creative industries especially, the cost of waiting isn't just a missed deal; it's a missed narrative. Someone else becomes the story of discovery, the one who "saw it first."

There's also a subtle moral claim hiding inside the pragmatism: you owe it to yourself to act when the window opens. That can sound empowering, but it also quietly shifts responsibility onto the individual, downplaying how often access depends on proximity, networks, and luck. Davis isn't wrong; he's just revealing the rules of a game where the chance to play is itself a privilege, and the winners are trained to move before the opportunity has time to cool into regret.

Quote Details

TopicMotivational
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Davis, Clive. (2026, January 15). You've got to seize the opportunity if it is presented to you. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/youve-got-to-seize-the-opportunity-if-it-is-163202/

Chicago Style
Davis, Clive. "You've got to seize the opportunity if it is presented to you." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/youve-got-to-seize-the-opportunity-if-it-is-163202/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"You've got to seize the opportunity if it is presented to you." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/youve-got-to-seize-the-opportunity-if-it-is-163202/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.

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Clive Davis Quote on Seizing Opportunity
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About the Author

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Clive Davis (born April 4, 1932) is a Businessman from USA.

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