Robert Cormier Quotes

Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day.

If you do not take advantage of your chances, you can pay for it.

Or is there no such thing as 'too late'? Is there only 'late' and is 'late' always better than 'never'? I don't know.

That was the one thing she knew now. Some chances came and went, and if you missed them, you could spend the rest of your life standing alone, waiting for an opportunity that had already passed you by.

I thought that if the right time gets missed, if one has refused or been refused something for too long, it's too late, even if it is finally tackled with energy and received with joy. Or is there no such thing as "too late"? Is there only "late," and is "late" always better than "never"? I don't know.

If you trap the moment before it's ripe, The tears of repentence you'll certainly wipe; But if once you let the ripe moment go You can never wipe off the tears of woe.

Tennis is a small window. You're not going to have unlimited chances, unlimited opportunities. You can't waste time.

Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is time. If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be wiped off the board by time. You are playing against a partner who will not tolerate indecision!

The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.

Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it.

We all know of people who thought they could to it (whatever “it” is) tomorrow. We have all procrastinated on such a way, and often to our personal regret. It happens time and again, putting off things that we convince ourselves might be better, more meaningful, more appropriate for another time. So often that better time either never comes or really isn’t better or more appropriate after all. And then, sadly, the window of opportunity -to do something great- closes.

The person who takes no chances generally has to take whatever is left when others are through choosing.

What's your hurry?" Because now is the only time there ever is to do a thing in," said Miss Ophelia.

Come, dear, [Gwendolen rises] we have already missed five, if not six, trains. To miss any more might expose us to comment on the platform.

If I had done this, if I had said that, in the end you are always more tormented by what you didn't do than what you did, actions already performed can always be rationalized in time, the neglected deed might have changed the world.

Indecision is the greatest thief of opportunity.

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well. It were done quickly.

Usually you regret the things you say no to.

Young people in general - and young women in particular - need to understand that they cannot retrieve in their forties the opportunities they threw away in their twenties.

Postpone joy, it will diminish. Postpone a problem, it will grow.

You will have more regrets for the things you didn't try than the ones you tried and didn't succeed at.

You are young and have the world before you; stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard bumps.

We are faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words ‘Too Late’.

The sad truth is that opportunity doesn't knock twice. You can put things off until tomorrow but tomorrow may never come. Where will you be a few years down the line. Will it be everything you dreamed of. We seal our fate with the choices we take, but don't give a second thought to the chances we take.

The right decision is the wrong decision if it's made too late.