Men Quote by George Eliot
“But what is opportunity to the man who can't use it?”
About This Quote
Source Novel: Middlemarch, 1871
Opportunity is meaningless to those unable to act on it.
In simple terms: Opportunity needs ability to use it.
Key Takeaway
Develop skills to seize chances.
Themes
opportunity
ability
inequality
Mood
reflective
hopeful
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- education
- career advancement
- entrepreneurship
- policy making
Key Concepts
agency
social mobility
potential
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you help others become able to use opportunities?
- What skills do you need to develop?
A Different Perspective
Systemic barriers can prevent access.
![“[W]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range of music, and will not vibrate in the least under a touch that fills others with tremulous rapture or quivering agony.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9be/george-eliot-84_agony_w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves_12409.jpg)
![“That country [Carthage] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws; and every step of intestine discord was marked by some deplorable victory of savage man over civilized society.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/70c/edward-gibbon-710_barbarism_that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinkin_393.jpg)