Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“Right occasion and opportunity have their privileges, and often hold out to ordinary folk what they deny to kings.”
- Date
- 1581
- English wording
- W. G. Waters — Translator · from French
Meaning of “Right occasion and opportunity have their privileges, and…”
Montaigne observes that access and success do not follow rank mechanically: timing, circumstance and temperament can open an ordinary person’s path even when status or power fails to secure the same result.
Where does it come from?
The Journal of Montaigne’s Travels in Italy, Volume II, entry for March 6, 1581 during his visit to the Vatican Library, W. G. Waters translation, Project Gutenberg #70839. The sentence follows Montaigne’s surprise that he gained access where the French ambassador had failed; it is first-person journal reflection, not a general law that opportunity always defeats privilege.
