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OPPORTUNITY --- OPPRESSION --- OPTIMISM
ORATORS --- ORGANIZATION

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OPPORTUNITY

see "SUCCESS" for related links


FELON, n. A person of greater enterprise than discretion,
who in embracing an opportunity has formed an unfortunate
attachment.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842—1914)
American newspaperman, wit, and satirist.
_The Cynic's Word Book_ [1906]
(Retitled in 1911 as _The Devil's Dictionary_.)

A pessimist sees the difficulty in
every opportunity; an optimist sees
the opportunity in every difficulty.
--Winston Churchill (1874—1965)
British Conservative statesman and
Prime Minister [1940—1945, 1951—1955].

Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in
yonder seas; they are in your own backyard, if you
but dig for them.
--Russell H. Conwell (1843—1925)
American lawyer, author, clergyman, and educator.

Opportunity is missed by most people because
it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
--Thomas Alva Edison (1847—1931)
American inventor.

The Chinese call luck opportunity, and they say it
knocks every day at your door. Some people hear
it; some do not. It's not enough to hear opportunity
knock. You must let him in, greet him, make friends
and work together.
--Bernard Gittelson

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
--Robert Herrick (1591—1674)
English poet and clergyman.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often
we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one
which has been opened for us.
--Helen Keller (1880—1968)
American author and educator who was blind and deaf.

Democracy does not guarantee equality of
conditions — it only guarantees equality of
opportunity.
--Irving Kristol (1920— )
American founder of the neoconservative movement.

Democracy gives every man
A right to be his own oppressor.
--James Russell Lowell (1819—1891)
American poet, critic, essayist, and diplomat.
_The Biglow Papers_ Second Series, # 7 [1867].

I cannot join the space program and restart my life
as an astronaut, but this opportunity to connect my
abilities as an educator with my interests in history
and space is a unique opportunity to fulfill my early
fantasies.
--Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986)
American teacher.
From her winning essay in NASA's nationwide search for the
first teacher to travel in space, released after her death with
six others aboard the space shuttle Challenger [28 January 1986].

Suppose Bobby Jones or Mozart had not been allowed to
begin his music or his golf until the other children
did, or to practice or progress faster, or had only
the instruction of a school class in music or physical
education. Suppose they had been kept from playing with
older children or adults in the fear that they might
become socially maladjusted, kept from associating much
with older musicians or golfers because that would be
narrowing and undemocratic. Kept from public performance
or tournaments because that would be exploiting the child!
It surely may be questioned whether they would then have
reached the prominence they did. Abuses in the afore-
mentioned directions are, of course, possible. But, it
is also an abuse to withhold opportunities from precocious
youngsters who are eager to advance and excel.
--Sidney L. Pressey,
"Scientific Monthly" [September 1955]

While we stop to think, we often miss our opportunity.
--Publilius Syrus (85—43 B.C.)
Latin writer of mimes who was originally a slave.

An evil-speaker differs from an evil-doer
only in the want of opportunity.
--Quintilian (c. 35—100)
Roman rhetorician.

I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
American screenwriter.
"On the Waterfront" [1954 film], spoken by Marlon Brando.

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Brutus: 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.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Julius Caesar_ [1599]


Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Hamlet_ [1601], act v, sc. i

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The beauty of a democracy is that you never can tell
when a youngster is born what he is going to do with
himself, and that no matter how humbly he is born,
no matter where he is born, no matter what circum-
stances hamper him at the outset, he has a chance
to master the minds and lead the imagintions of
the whole country.
--Woodrow Wilson (1856—1924)
American Democratic statesman and President [1913—1921].
In a speech to the Chamber of Commerce,
Columbus, Ohio [10 December 1915].



OPPRESSION

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see "EVIL" for related links
see "HURTING (SOMEONE)" for related links


People seem good while they are oppressed, but they only
wish to become oppressors in their turn: life is nothing but
a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
--Bertrand Russell (1872—1970)
British philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel laureate.
Letter to Ottoline Morrell [17 December 1920],
in Nicholas Griffin {ed.} _The Selected Letters of
Bertrand Russell: The Public Years, 1914-1970_ [2001].

Good chap, that Hitler! He showed how to deal
with political opponents.
--Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (1879—1953),
Soviet Communist leader and head of the USSR from
the death of V. I. Lenin (1924) until his own death.
(On the 1934 "Night of the Long Knives") in
Christopher Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky
_KGB: The Inside Story_ [1990].




OPTIMISM

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see "THE MIND" for related links
see "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for related links


One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't
pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a
way of life can restore your faith in yourself.
--Lucille Ball (1911—1989)
American actress, producer, and star of "I Love Lucy."

Got no checkbooks, got no banks,
Still I'd like to express my thanks;
I've got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.
--Irving Berlin (1888—1989)
American songwriter.

It ain't over till it's over.
--Yogi Berra (1925— )
American baseball player and manager;
elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972.

OPTIMISM, n. The doctrine, or belief, that everything
is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good,
especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong.
It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842—1914)
American newspaperman, wit, and satirist.
_The Cynic's Word Book_ [1906]
(Retitled in 1911 as _The Devil's Dictionary_.)

The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in His heaven—
All's right with the world!
--Robert Browning (1812—1889)
English poet.
"Pippa Passes" [1841]

Every time it rains, it rains
Pennies from heaven.
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven?
--Johnny Burke (1908—1964)
American lyricist.
"Pennies from Heaven" [1936 song]

There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover
Tomorrow, just you wait and see.
There'll be love and laughter
And peace ever after
Tomorrow, when the world is free.
--Nat Burton
American songwriter
Nat Burton [1941 song].
(Music by Walter Kent.)

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best
of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears
that this is true.
--James Branch Cabell (1879—1958)
American novelist and essayist.
_The Silver Stallion_ [1926], ch. 26

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I am an optimist. It does not seem too
much use being anything else.
--Winston Churchill (1874—1965)
British Conservative statesman and
Prime Minister [1940—1945, 1951—1955].


A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
--Winston Churchill (1874—1965)
British Conservative statesman and
Prime Minister [1940—1945, 1951—1955].

-

I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail. He
is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an
inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit
capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
--William Faulkner (1897—1962)
American novelist.
Nobel Prize Speech [10 December 1950].

If I never had a cent
I'd be rich as Rockefeller
Gold dust at my feet
On the sunny side of the street
--Dorothy Fields (1905—1974)
American lyricist.
"On the Sunny Side of the Street" [1930 song]
(Jimmy MuHugh, composer.)

It's always darkest just before the day dawneth.
--Thomas Fuller (1654—1734)
English writer and physician.

I got plenty of nothing and nothing's plenty for me
I got my gal, got my song, I got heaven the whole day long
Got my gal, got my love, got my song
--Ira Gershwin (1896—1983)
American songwriter.

Here's to a fellow who smiles,
When life runs along like a song,
And here's to a lad who can smile,
When everything goes dead wrong.
--Irish toast

Cheer up! the worst is yet to come!
--Philander Chase Johnson (1866—1939)
American journalist, humorist, and dramatic editor.
In "Everybody's Magazine" [1920].

Keep your face to the sunshine and you
cannot see the shadow.
--Helen Keller (1880—1968)
American author and educator who was blind and deaf.

The boys will be home by Christmas.
--Douglas MacArthur (1880—1964)
American general.
[November 1950.] In Harry S Truman
_Memoirs: Years of Trial and Hope, Ch. 24 [1956]

You've got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
Elim-my-nate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-between.
--Johnny Mercer (1909—1976)
American songwriter.
"Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" [1944 song]

A lament in one ear, maybe; but always a
song in the other. And to me life is simply
an invitation to live.
--Sean O'Casey (1880—1964)
Irish dramatist and memorist.
In David A. Wilson
_Ireland, a Bicycle, and a Tin Whistle_, p. 1 [1995].

Stick with the optimists. It's going to be tough
enough even if they're right.
--James Barrett "Scotty" Reston (1909—1995)
Scottish-born American journalist; two-time
winner of the Pulitzer Prize for reporting.

Don't duck. Ha, they couldn't hit
an elephant at this dis--
--General John B. Sedgwick (1813—1864)
The most senior officer from either side to be
killed during the American Civil War.
He was shot by a Confederate sniper at the Battle of Spotsylvania [9 May 1864].

Make sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful; make
prudence a habit and reckless profligacy will become revolting . . .
Even happiness itself can become habitual. There is a habit of
looking at the bright side of things, also of looking at the dark
side. Dr. Johnson has said that the habit of looking at the best
side of a thing is worth more to a man than a thousand pounds
a year . . . . And to bring up men and women with a genial nature
of this sort, a good temper, and a happy frame of mind, is perhaps
of even more importance, in many cases, than to perfect them in
much knowledge and many accomplishments.
--Samuel Smiles (1812—1904)
Scottish author.

Everything's coming up roses.
--Stephen Sondheim (1930— )
American musical theater lyricist and composer.
[Title of 1959 song.]

They are able because they think they are able.
--Virgil (70—19 B.C.)
Roman poet.

The pessimist complains about the wind;
The optimist expects it to change;
The realist adjusts the sails.
--William Arthur Ward (1921—1994)
American college administrator and author.

As long as there is a chance of the world getting through its troubles,
I hold that a reasonable man must behave as though he were sure of
it. If at the end your cheerfulness was not justified, at any rate you will
have been cheerful.
--H.G. Wells (1866—1946)
English novelist.
In Larry Chang
_Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions_, p. 70 [2006].

If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very
seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such
is the astounding stupidity of optimism.
--Oscar Wilde (1854—1900)
Anglo-Irish dramatist and poet.
Lord Darlington, in _Lady Windermere's Fan_ [1892], act 1.

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panglossian (adj.) [pζn-'glah-si-κn]
Blindly and naively optimistic.
panglossism (noun)
Etymology: The word is based on the name of Pangloss,
the tutor in Voltaire's 'Candide' [1759] who believes, in
Candide's words, "that all is right when all goes wrong."

sanguine (adj.)
Confident: cheerfully optimistic



ORATORS

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see "COMMUNICATION" for related links


In that oration there were some things that were true,
and some things that were trite: but what was true was
trite, and what was not trite was not true.
--Arthur James Balfour (1848—1930)
British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister [1920—1925].
In Winston Churchill "Arthur James Balfour" _Great Contemporaries_ [1937].

In order to convince it is necessary to speak with spirit
and wit; to advise, it must come from the heart.
--Henri-Franηois d' Aguesseau (1668—1751)
French jurist.

Oratory is the cunning of the tongue over the ear, but
eloquence is the joining of the heart with the soul.
--Kahlil Gibran (1883—1931)
Lebanese poet.
_The Kahlil Gibran Reader_ [2005], "Sayings"

Where Judgment has Wit to express it,
there's the best Orator.
--William Penn (1644—1718)
Quaker leader and advocate of religious
freedom who oversaw the founding of
the American Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers
and other religious minorities of Europe {E.B.}.
_Some Fruits of Solitude_ [1693]

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exhort [ig-ZORT], transitive verb:
To incite by words or advice; to urge strongly; hence,
to advise, warn, or caution.
intransitive verb:
To make urgent appeal; to give warning or advice.
Ex.: How many children are exhorted to taste a new food
(which they have decided is bad on sight) and even after a
taste continue to protest?
--Richard Pillsbury,
_No Foreign Food_

perorate [PUR-uh-rayt], intransitive verb:
1. To conclude or sum up a long discourse.
2. To speak or expound at length; to declaim.



ORGANIZATION

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A place for everything and everything
in its place.
--Mrs Beeton (1836—1865)
English writer.
_The Book of Household Management_ [1861]

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desultory [DES-uhl-tor-ee], adjective:
1. Jumping or passing from one thing or subject to another
without order or rational connection; disconnected; aimless.
2. Moving disconnectedly without focus; lacking enthusiams,
sluggish.
Ex.: One way or the other, his once voluminous exchanges
with Mrs. Swanson dwindled to almost nothing. For a year
or two, they consisted of the odd, desultory postcard, then
the store-bought Christmas greeting, and then, by 1976,
they had stopped altogether.
--Paul Auster, _Timbuktu_

expeditious [ek-spuh-DISH-uhs], adjective:
Characterized by or acting with speed and efficiency.

marshal (verb) ['mah(r)-shκl]
To arrange in order (troops), to bring
together and organize (facts).


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