I knock unbidden once at every gate—
If sleeping, wake—if feasting, rise before
I turn away—it is the hour of fate.
And they who follow me reach every state
Mortals desire, and conquer every foe
Save death, but those who doubt or hesitate,
Condemned to failure, penury and woe,
Seek me in vain and uselessly implore,
I answer not, and I return no more.
They do me wrong who say I come no more,
When once I knock and fail to find you in;
For every day I stand outside your door
And bid you wait, and rise to fight and win.
Not by appointment do we meet delight
Or joy; they heed not our expectancy;
But round some corner of the streets of life
They of a sudden greet us with a smile.
Danger will wink on opportunity.
Zeal and duty are not slow
But on occasion's forelock watchful wait.
Nostra sine auxilio fugiunt bona. Carpite fiorem.
Our advantages fly away without aid. Pluck the flower.
Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus.
Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit.
Opportunity is ever worth expecting; let your hook be ever hanging ready. The fish will be in the pool where you least imagine it to be.
Oh! Who art thou so fast proceeding,
Ne'er glancing back thine eyes of flame?
Mark'd but by few, through earth I'm speeding,
And Opportunity's my name.
What form is that which scowls beside thee?
Repentance is the form you see:
Learn then, the fate may yet betide thee.
She seizes them who seize not me.
He that would not when he might,
He shall not when he wolda.
Occasio prima sui parte comosa, posteriore calva
Quam si occupasis, teneas elapsum
Non isse possit Jupiter reprehendre.
Opportunity has hair on her forehead, but is bald behind. If you meet her seize her, for once let slip, Jove himself cannot catch her again.
Why hast thou hair upon thy brow?
To seize me by, when met.
Why is thy head then bald behind?
Because men wish in vain,
When I have run past on winged feet
To catch me e'er again.
There's place and means for every man alive.
Who seeks, and will not take when once 'tis offer'd,
Shall never find it more.
A staff is quickly found to beat a dog.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
Urge them while their souls
Are capable of this ambition,
Lest zeal, now melted by the windy breath
Of soft petitions, pity and remorse,
Cool and congeal again to what it was.
King John. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 475.
O opportunity, thy guilt is great!
'Tis thou that executest the traitor's treason;
Thou set'st the wolf where he the lamb may get;
Whoever plots the sin, thou 'point 'st the season;
'Tis thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason.
Occasio ægre offertur, facile amittitur.
A good opportunity is seldom presented, and is easily lost.
Deliberando ssepe perit occasio.
The opportunity is often lost by deliberating.
Crespe hà le chiome e d'oro,
E in quella guisa appunto,
Che Fortuna si pinge
Ha lunghi e folti in sulla fronte i crini;
Ma nuda hà poi la testa
Agli opposti confini.
