— Attributed to Edison; exact wording unverified, first printed decades after his death
About this quote
हिन्दी में
अवसर अधिकतर लोगों के हाथ से निकल जाता है, क्योंकि वह मज़दूर के कपड़ों में आता है और मेहनत जैसा दिखता है।
What it means
The subject of this sentence is perception, not diligence. Opportunity is not called rare, and nobody is said to be hiding it — it is missed because it arrives looking like a dull job while we are scanning for something that looks like luck.
The overalls carry the argument: the disguise is our own expectation of what a chance ought to look like. Read closely it is a warning rather than an exhortation, and the popular use of it as a general call to work harder loses the actual point, which is that you have probably already turned one of these down.
What it teaches you
The next time an unglamorous task is offered — the tedious migration, the customer nobody wants to call, the minute-taking — ask what you would learn or whom you would meet by doing it, before you ask whether it is beneath you. That is the precise moment this line is about, and it usually passes without ever feeling like a decision.
अर्थ और सीख
यह पंक्ति मेहनत की नहीं, पहचान की बात कर रही है। अवसर छिपा नहीं होता, वह बस एक उबाऊ काम की शक्ल में आता है, और हम किस्मत जैसी दिखने वाली चीज़ ढूँढ़ते रहते हैं, इसलिए उसे मना कर देते हैं। सीख यह है कि अगली बार कोई नीरस काम सामने आए तो पहले यह देखिए कि उससे क्या सीखने या किससे मिलने को मिलेगा, यह बाद में कि वह आपके स्तर का है या नहीं।
Where it comes from
Attributed to Thomas Edison; the earliest print appearances are decades after his death, quoting his son’s recollection of the sentiment. Quote researchers class the exact wording as unverified but the spirit as authentically Edisonian — he did say ‘genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.’
