Finally, his persistence paid off, when the book company, desperate for sales, decided to give him a suitcase full of Bibles and sent him out on the streets, figuring he would have an easier time selling Bibles than the usual line of books.
The next day the severely stuttering man returned with an empty suitcase a handful of money and an equal number of subscriptions to other books.
Thinking it a fluke, they sent him out again only this time he returned with twice the money and twice the number of orders.
The sales manager, rather perplexed had to ask him how he was able to sell so many more books in two days than any of the other salesmen could in two weeks.
"Well," he began "the f-first d-day it t-took me a wh-while to g-get up my c-c-c-confidence that's w-why I d-didn't s-sell as m-m-many. B-b-but all I d-d-do is w-w-walk up t-t-to the d-d-door knock on th-the d-d-door and wh-when s-s-someone c-c-comes t-t-to the d-door I ask th-them. "D-d-do you w-w-want t-t-t-to b-buy a B-bible from m-m-me or sh-sh-should I r-r-r-read it t-t-to you?
From: Jokes4
People wait for opportunity to come along...yet it is there every morning.
~ Dennis the Menace ~
Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; whenever there is opportunity, there
lurks danger. The two are inseparable. They go together.
~ Earl Nightingale ~
When the sun rises, it rises for everyone.
~ Cuban Proverb ~
Some men go through a forest and see no firewood.
~ English Proverb ~
Where one door closes, another opens.
~ Don Quijote ~
Even a blind dog can find a bone every so often.
~ Alexi Sayle ~
The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.
~ George Bernard Shaw ~
There is only one optimist. He has been here since man has been on this earth, and that is " himself." If we hadn't had such a magnificent optimism to carry us through all these things,we wouldn't be here. We have survived it on our optimism.
~ Edward Steichen ~
People think that at the top there isn't much room. They tend to think of it as an Everest. My message is that there is tons of room at the top.
~ Margaret Thatcher ~
Born often under another sky, placed in the middle of an always moving scene, himself driven by the irresistible torrent which draws all about him, the American has no time to tie himself to anything, he grows accustomed only to change, and ends by regarding it as the natural state of man. He feels the need of it, more he loves it; for the instability; instead of meaning disaster to him, seems to give birth only to miracles all about him. ~ Alexis De Tocqueville ~
Opportunities are never lost; they are taken by others.
~ Source Unknown ~
One of the earliest lessons I learned as a child was that if you looked away from something, it might not be there when you looked back.
~ John Edgar Wideman ~
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
~Winston Churchil
The bookseller in the story represents each one of us. We all have our disabilities, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. But the bookseller shows us the way to overcome them. How? By turning obstacles into opportunities.
Jean Huston (A Mythic Life) tells us that people too often are walking blind and deaf through a garden of possibilities. And some of these possibilities are telling us, "Hey, dummy, listen! Here's a new friend for you! There's a new road for you to take, a fresh role for you to master. C'mon, pay attention!"
Do we ever hear this whisper? Or see these possibilities? Are we brave enough to take the risk? Do we actively seek out adventure? Let's not wait until our sunset years to say to ourselves, "If I have my life to live over again, I would do things differently
Be more aware of your surroundings. Drop your prejudice. Then you will know if opportunity is staring squarely at you
Tsinoy
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
~ Francis Bacon ~
Opportunities are everywhere. The recession might be drawing to a close, but its continuing legacy is employers' reliance on short-term staff. There may be fewer jobs for life, but there are more jobs in a lifetime.
~ Lucy Benington ~
Opportunity dances with those who are ready on the dance floor.
~ H. Jackson Brown Jr. ~
If you view all the things that happen to you, both good and bad, as opportunities, then you operate out of a higher level of consciousness.
~ Les Brown ~
Subtract from the great man all that he owes to opportunity, all that he owes to chance, and all that he gained by the wisdom of his friends and the folly of his enemies, and the giant will often be seen to be a pygmy.
~ Charles Caleb Colton ~
The same fence that shuts others out shuts you in.
~ William Taylor Copeland ~
A good deal happens in a man's life that he isn't responsible for. Fortunate openings occur; but it is safe to remember that such "breaks" are occurring all the time, and other things being
equal, the advantage goes to the man who is ready.
~ Lawrence Downs ~
Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting -- a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
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.
~ Gloria Estefan ~
Sometimes only a change of viewpoint is needed to convert a tiresome duty into an interesting opportunity.
~ Alberta Flanders ~
If you want to succeed in the world you must make your own opportunities as you go on. The man who waits for some seventh wave to toss him on dry land will find that the seventh wave is a long time a-coming. You can commit no greater folly than to sit by the road side until someone comes along and invites you to ride with him to wealth or influence.
~ John B. Gough ~
You can't wait for the phone to ring. You have to ring them.
~ Lord Lew Grade ~
Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us daily.
~ Sally Koch ~
Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them.
~ Ann Landers ~
What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all.
You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live -- with your self-respect alive and growing.
~ Maxwell Maltz
Animations from Harry and Dorret Goodwin's Homepage; and Animatedgifs.net
Background music "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins from Davecat's Midi Site