Repartee of the Wise
One day, Alexander the Great visited the studio of an Athenian sculptor renowned for his wisdom and art. He found it full of little chiselled figures. He looked at them with keen interest and finally his attention was arrested by a figure with a covered face and winged feet.
“And what have you named this little statue?” he questioned.
“Opportunity,” came the smug reply.
“But why have you covered its face?” he asked.
“Because men live so foolishly that they rarely notice it, as it passes them by.”
“Well then, why does it have wings on its feet?”
“Because once it flies away, opportunity has flown by, never to return again.”
A man was going on a pilgrimage to a holy place in Rajasthan. His friend asked him why he was going there. The man replied: “By bathing in the holy waters one gets a human birth.” Astonished at the man’s reply, the friend asked: “Well, brother, are you not in a human form now? Why not accomplish in this life what you hope to do in the next one?”