Give a man a chance, and he’ll be so casual that he won’t bathe, shave, or comb his hair. He’ll just depend on his animal magnetism to get him by.
Luck always favours the brave. And you must remember that brave are the people who follow their heart; brave are the people who take chances in life. Which also means you have to say no sometimes. I believe the power of no is greater than yes.
I tend to be a person who starts with the presumption that I should trust you until you abuse the privilege, and then our relationship is forever changed. That’s a very big line, and chances are it’s not going to work if it’s crossed. I warn people that this is how I’m going to deal with it.
If you knew that your life was merely a phase or short, short segment of your entire existence, how would you live? Knowing nothing ‘real’ was at risk, what would you do? You’d live a gigantic, bold, fun, dazzling life. You know you would. That’s what the ghosts want us to do – all the exciting things they no longer can.
One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honor or observation.
I must learn to love the fool in me – the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries.
I think people who are not rich can be extremely happy. And I think the chances to be happy in this new world – with many more opportunities to be creative, to be online, to educate yourself – there’ll be a lot more chances to be happy. It’s not to say everyone will take them, but there will be a lot of new paths to opportunity.
Creative risk taking is essential to success in any goal where the stakes are high. Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity.
‘Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream’ is an intentionally angry film. How could it not be when the chance of an infant dying is five times greater on the Bronx Park Avenue than on Manhattan’s Park Avenue just across the Harlem River?
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
My favorite fruit is grapes. Because with grapes, you always get another chance. ‘Cause, you know, if you have a crappy apple or a peach, you’re stuck with that crappy piece of fruit. But if you have a crappy grape, no problem – just move on to the next. ‘Grapes: The Fruit of Hope.’
The Special Olympics motto, ‘Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt,’ really speaks to me because it embodies exactly what I have pursued in my life. Really, that’s all any of us can hope for – a chance to be brave and to pursue a dream.
We have created a society where individual rights and freedoms, compassion and diversity are core to our citizenship. But underlying that idea of Canada is the promise that we all have a chance to build a better life for ourselves and our children.
You pity the fool because you don’t want to beat up a fool! You know, pity is between sorry and mercy. See, if you pity him, you know, you won’t have to beat him up. So that’s why I say fools, you gotta give another chance because they don’t know no better. That’s why I pity them!
There are good people who are dealt a bad hand by fate, and bad people who live long, comfortable, privileged lives. A small twist of fate can save or end a life; random chance is a permanent, powerful player in each of our lives, and in human history as well.
At the end of the day, having a partner in crime for life is so amazing and special, when it’s real and genuine, that it’s worth taking the risk. And you are going to get hurt; trust me – I know! I’ve been hurt a couple times – maybe more than a couple times. But you gotta pick yourself back up and give it another chance.
Your wardrobe can be your passport for success. What you wear to a new job interview or an audition can be of great impact and open doors for you. If you possess talent and faith in yourself, and wear clothing that enhances your personality, you have a 50 percent better chance of winning or gaining whatever you’re seeking.
There’s no reason why children in inner cities or rural areas do not receive the same quality education or opportunities as those in suburbs or wealthy neighborhoods. If we truly believe in giving all citizens a chance to pursue happiness and pursue their goals, then we cannot continue to marginalize entire groups of people.
The world is like a reverse casino. In a casino, if you gamble long enough, you’re certainly going to lose. But in the real world, where the only thing you’re gambling is, say, your time or your embarrassment, then the more stuff you do, the more you give luck a chance to find you.
The use of chance operations opened out my way of working. The body tends to be habitual. The use of chance allowed us to find new ways to move and to put movements together that would not otherwise have been available to us. It revealed possibilities that were always there except that my mind hadn’t seen them.
Oscar Charleston was the Willie Mays of his day. Nobody ever played center field better than Willie Mays. Suppose they had never given Willie a chance, and we said that, would anybody believe there was a kid in Alabama who was that good? Or there was a black guy in Atlanta who might break Babe Ruth’s home run record? No.
I am delighted to be joining ‘Guardian U.S.’s team as a weekly columnist, and to have the chance to address American and global current events on its distinguished platform. ‘Guardian U.S.’ brings the ‘Guardian’s hard-hitting investigative brand to a new focus on American news and opinion.
When you come to Denmark, you have the chance to live in a free, peaceful country with access to free education, free medical aid and the opportunity to work. To benefit from that requires responsibility. If you don’t assume that responsibility, it is a breach in trust.
Trajectories aren’t linear. Life’s just a roller coaster. If you’re getting a chance to do cool stuff, and it’s varied stuff, just enjoy it. I guess I’m a believer in the randomness of life rather than it being a linear trajectory or an arc, a consistent smooth arc, towards anything.
Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and chance the future.
