There is a famous saying often attributed to Thomas Edison that reads, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” It’s possible that wiser words have never been spoken in this and other ‘opportunity’ quotes.
Opportunity doesn’t often present itself on a silver platter–a disheartening fact, we know. Instead, it masquerades as many different things (such as hard work). It’s also hidden beneath failures, challenges, risks, missteps and even losses. The power of opportunity is not merely in its presence, but in our ability to spot it and act on it.
This inevitably takes courage. It’s typically not the easy route to take a gamble and put yourself out there. However, taking that chance will help you explore a different path, build resilience and foster more growth than you ever thought possible.
This assembled list of life-changing opportunity quotes discusses all of the above, from seizing opportunities at work to learning from missed opportunities. Let them be your inspiration to recognize and embrace all of life’s possibilities.
Powerful Quotes on Opportunities in Life
Life is full of opportunities–if you know where to look for them and how to find them.
Opportunity All Around Us
Many times, we think about opportunities in the context of our careers. We seek out ways to move up the ladder, make more money or even give life to our own business ideas. But it’s also important to look beyond the workplace. Opportunities may arise for you to travel, volunteer, learn a new skill or meet new people. These endeavors all help you to create a more well-rounded, fulfilling life and to grow in ways that aren’t measured monetarily.
- “I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon — if I can. I seek opportunity — not security.” —Dean Alfange, Who’s Who in America
- “Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.” —Tony Robbins
- “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” —Francis Bacon
- “If opportunity doesn’t knock…build a door.” —Milton Berle
- “Opportunities are like buses – there’s always another one coming.” —Richard Branson
- “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” —Henry David Thoreau
- “Maybe there isn’t such a thing as fate. Maybe it’s just the opportunities we’re given, and what we do with them.” —Marissa Meyer, Cress
- “If you have the opportunity to play this game of life, you need to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don’t appreciate their moment until it’s passed.” —Kanye West
Opportunity and Growth
The following new opportunity quotes discuss different ways life presents us with these chances for personal development. They also teach us how to carve out our own opportunities when they don’t just pop up conveniently on our doorstep.
- “There is always the opportunity to learn something. What is in you will always be bigger than whatever is around you.” —John L. Mason, “An Enemy Called Average”
- “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again.” —Bob Feller
- “Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your God-given talent.” —Nolan Ryan, Nolan Ryan’s Pitcher’s Bible
- “Instead of using the word problem, try substituting the word opportunity.” —H. Jackson Brown Jr., Life’s Little Instruction Book
- “He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had tried and failed.” —William James, The Will to Believe and Other Essays
Related: Life Lesson Quotes to Inspire and Motivate You
Motivational Quotes About Seizing Opportunities
Even when opportunity hits us right in the face, it can be scary to take the leap. We might be resistant to change and stepping outside of our comfort zone. We might feel unprepared, or that the timing isn’t quite right. But the reality is that the timing will never feel perfect, and you may never feel thoroughly ready.
You may be familiar with the quote “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” It’s often attributed to Stoic philosopher Seneca, though it is difficult to trace back to its original origin. What it means, though, is you have to trust that hard work will get you to where you need to be. Then, when opportunities arise, you can seize them and figure things out along the way.
- “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!” —Richard Branson
- “To attract good luck to oneself, it is necessary to take advantage of opportunities.” —George G. Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon
- “The best men are not those who have waited for chances but who have taken them; besieged the chance; conquered the chance; and made chance the servitor.” —E.H. Chapin
- “When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things.” —Taylor Jenkins Reid, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”
- “It’s when ordinary people rise above the expectations and seize the opportunity that milestones truly are reached.” —Mike Huckabee
Related: 30 Inspiring Quotes About Never Giving Up
Quotes to Encourage Us to Grab Opportunities in Front of Us
Continuing on from the theme above,, these ‘Grab the opportunity’ quotes can give you the courage to take a chance. They remind us that with a positive and open mindset, support and a bit of ambition, we can reach our full potential and even change our lives for the better.
- “Sometimes the course of our lives depends on what we do or don’t do in a few seconds, a heartbeat, when we either seize the opportunity, or just miss it. Miss the moment and you never get the chance again.” —Aidan Chambers, Dying to Know You
- “Although we are never glad when tragedy visits, we can be aware and seize the opportunity to do good in this world, even in the midst of tragedy.” —Jim Rohn
- “Never waste a crisis. It can be turned to joyful transformation.” —Rahm Emanuel
- “Be brave enough to be bad at something new.” —Jon Acuff
- “Not knowing when the dawn will come / I open every door.” —Emily Dickinson
- “Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment would you capture it or just let it slip?” —Eminem, Lose Yourself
- “There are no lost opportunities in Divine Mind, as one door shut another door opened.” —Florence Scovel Shinn, Your Word Is Your Wand
Exclusive SUCCESS® Quotes for New Opportunities
Quotes about opportunity and success can help when it comes to career advancement and finding fulfillment in your work. The workplace is often teeming with opportunity. Whether it be a new project, a meeting with a potential client, an innovative business idea or a solution to a problem, they are sprinkled throughout the day-to-day minutiae.
The following pieces of advice from business minds like Jim Rohn and even TV host and former NFL player Michael Strahan help to point you in the right direction of these opportunities. They might even teach you how to take full advantage when you stumble upon them.
Opportunities in Life and Work
Stay open, and you may find opportunities all around you in life and work.
- “The great thing about these jobs is you get the opportunity the next day to get up and be better. You don’t have to wait a week. When you have bad days, you don’t let them stick with you. You have to get back on the horse and make sure the next day is the best you can do.” —Michael Strahan
- “It’s all well and good to be 100% right, but there’s an opportunity gain far more significant in being kind.” —Fiona Grinwold
- “Be open to everything around you. Help can—and will—come from the most unexpected places.” —Michael Strahan
- “You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself and take advantage of opportunity when it comes.” —Jim Rohn
- “To me, two key things separate good from great business opportunities: Does it make you want to stay up until 3 a.m. for an endless amount of days? Can you directly drive and see success in the short term—think nine to 12 months?” —Humphrey Ho
- “When you find something you want to do and you’re passionate about doing it and you have the opportunity to do it, that’s my definition of success.” —Howie Mandel
- “Clarity of purpose makes it easy to identify a good opportunity.” —John C. Maxwell
Quotes on Opportunities and Success
Recognizing and taking opportunities often pave the way for success.
- “I always thought opportunities and success were something you went after. Then I found out that I needed to turn it around. Opportunities and success are not something you go after necessarily but something you attract by becoming an attractive person.” —Jim Rohn
- “There’s a phenomenon I call “success momentum”—the ability to see an opportunity, seize it, capitalize on the success and then jump at the next chance.” —John C. Maxwell
- “Opportunity loves growth, so if you are doing the same things, thinking about the same things and pursuing the same things day after day, opportunity isn’t likely to come knocking.” —Gemma Hartley
- “If you can develop your skills, keep refining all the parts of your character and yourself, your health, your relationships so that you become an attractive person—you’ll attract opportunity. Opportunity will probably seek you out.” —Jim Rohn
- “The open doors of opportunity are all around you, but they won’t do you much good unless you learn to see them and recognize when to walk through them.” —John C. Maxwell
‘Missed Opportunity’ Quotes to Remind Us to Take Action
This section of quotes reminds us just how consequential it is to take advantage of opportunities when you have the chance. But they can also help you cope when you feel that you’ve missed the boat. Some people believe that these overlooked opportunities may somehow find their way back to you. And if not, they are still a great learning opportunity that will set you up with a new perspective and sense of renewed motivation.
- “When there’s an opportunity, some people pass it by. I’ve been lucky enough to recognise opportunities and every day, in my business, there’s an opportunity somewhere – to buy, expand, design. Some people let them go by because they do not see them.” —Laurence Graff
- “How much I missed simply because I was afraid of missing it.” —Paulo Coelho, Brida
- “Each minute we spend worrying about the future and regretting the past is a minute we miss in our appointment with life—a missed opportunity to engage life and to see that each moment gives us the chance to change for the better, to experience peace and joy.” —Thich Nhat Hanh, Savor
- “A good opportunity is seldom presented, and is easily lost.” —Publilius Syrus
- “Our priorities are most visible in how we use our time. Someone has said, “Three things never come back—the spent arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity.” We cannot recycle or save the time allotted to us each day. With time, we have only one opportunity for choice, and then it is gone forever.” —Dallin H. Oaks
- “I wonder what becomes of lost opportunities. Perhaps our guardian angel gathers them up as we drop them, and will give them back to us in the beautiful sometime when we have grown wiser, and learned how to use them rightly.” —Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
- “Missed opportunities were never superficial wounds; they cut straight to the bone.” —Jodi Picoult, Salem Falls
- “Some of our important choices have a time line. If we delay a decision, the opportunity is gone forever.” —James E. Faust
- “Opportunity is coy, is swift, is gone, before the slow, the unobservant, the indolent, or the careless can seize her.” —Orison Swett Marden, An Iron Will
‘Challenges Are Opportunities’ Quotes
Though typically they’re not comfortable or pleasant, challenges present us with the greatest opportunity of all. It’s hard to see it in the moment, but overcoming trials and tribulations transforms us into stronger, more adaptable individuals. They force us to develop problem-solving skills, new ways of thinking and a more resilient mindset. This heightened sense of perspective can open doors for us that we never even saw before.
If you’re going through a tough time, use these inspirational quotes about opportunities from the SUCCESS® team to remind you that this is a chance to come out of it even stronger.
- “Hidden in every dark moment is the light of opportunity.”
- “Every challenge is a grand opportunity to prove yourself and come back even stronger.”
- “What doesn’t kill you gives you another chance to get it right.”
- “All the trials are simply preparing you for what’s next, so that when your opportunity comes, you’ll be ready.”
- “Today’s tests are tomorrow’s triumphs.”
- “True success doesn’t come easily. Embrace the discomfort and strain of climbing your way to the top.”
- “Opportunities are rarely ever handed to you wrapped in a bow. They’re often buried under hard work and hope.”
- “Challenges force us to be creative, resourceful, and resilient.”
- “The things you’ve been avoiding may just hold the key to your success.”
- “Ask yourself, ‘Is it a roadblock? Or a hurdle?’”
- “Adversity and opportunity are one in the same.”
- “Our lives change when we start seeing mountains as a staircase.”
The Power of Acting on Opportunity
At the end of the day, many of us will regret the risks we didn’t take more than the risks we did. In all honesty, it’s easy to pass up opportunities. Sometimes they’re fleeting and float on by before we even have a chance to react. To prevent this, it’s important to always be present, aware and consistently curious. Be flexible and willing to act boldly and quickly.
The future belongs to those who see opportunity in every corner of life. Even when it’s not obvious, it’s out there. It’s lying just beyond that mile-long to-do list, that layoff from work or that invitation to move abroad. The quotes in this article are a powerful reminder that with the right mindset, any situation can be turned into a stepping stone for growth. Be bold enough to seize the opportunities thrown your way. Be strong enough to bounce back from missed opportunities. And be smart enough to always view challenges as a new possibility to get it right.
Photo by Zivica Kerkez/Shutterstock
