Quotes Tagged "odds"

REMEMBER YOUR GREATNESS Before you were born, And were still too tiny for The human eye to see, You won the race for life From among 250 million competitors. And yet, How fast you have forgotten Your strength, When your very existence Is proof of your greatness. You were born a winner, A warrior, One who defied the odds By surviving the most gruesome Battle of them all. And now that you are a giant, Why do you even doubt victory Against smaller numbers, And wider margins? The only walls that exist, Are those you have placed in your mind. And whatever obstacles you conceive, Exist only because you have forgotten What you have already Achieved. Poetry by Suzy Kassem

I think of Gould and his essay every time I have a patient with a terminal illness. There is almost always a long tail of possibility, however thin. What’s wrong with looking for it? Nothing, it seems to me, unless it means we have failed to prepare for the outcome that’s vastly more probable. The trouble is that we’ve built our medical system and culture around the long tail. We’ve created a multitrillion-dollar edifice for dispensing the medical equivalent of lottery tickets—and have only the rudiments of a system to prepare patients for the near certainty that those tickets will not win. Hope is not a plan, but hope is our plan.

Persistent endeavour is the grace to keep you going towards the pursuit of your goals against the great odds.

The one that’s different often has the odds stacked against them but usually ends up with the biggest rewards so it’s always worth it.

Quitting is never an option on the road to success. Find the way forward. If you have a positive mindset and are willing to persevere, there is little that is beyond your reach. The attitude of being ready to work even in the face of challenges and despite odds is what will make all the difference in your life.

You were born a winner, a warrior, one who defied the odds by surviving the most gruesome battle of them all - the race to the egg. And now that you are a giant, why do you even doubt victory against smaller numbers and wider margins? The only walls that exist are those you have placed in your mind. And whatever obstacles you conceive, exist only because you have forgotten what you have already achieved.

Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt faced adversities that, in their times, seemed impregnable. Great presidents overcome great odds.

I was determined to play my horn against all odds, and I had to sacrifice a whole lot of pleasure to do so.

I've never been at odds with the world of contemporary artists. If there is any animosity, it's one-sided.

The odds were against me when I arrived at Central Arkansas. I was barely 6-foot-2 and didn't have a scholarship. But I always felt I could make it to the NBA; it was as if I had foreseen my future, and I knew I would make it.

And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?

What are the odds that a nuclear emergency like the one at Fukushima Dai-ichi could happen in the central or eastern United States? They'd have to be astronomical, right?

Disclosure and transparency are the currency of the Internet, and they are at odds with authoritarianism.

The odds of having films made which star women... Everyone still references one movie: 'Bridesmaids!'

Scientists and creationists are always at odds, of course.

What if the slowdown in merger activity isn't cyclical, but secular? What if corporations have learned the lessons of so many companies before them that the odds of a successful merger are no better than 50-50 and probably less? Is it possible that the biggest deals have already been done?

I've been defying the odds my entire life.

It's undeniable that what we are taught as a culture to believe about disability is at odds with traditional notions of masculinity.

Anybody who is an entrepreneur is a person who essentially has impaired judgment. The odds of success are zilch.

The logic of collective security is flawless, provided it can be made to work under the conditions prevailing on the international scene... The odds, however, are strongly against such a possibility.