For though dying be long delayed, coming at last death would find the soldier's task unfulfilled.

From "It might have been," and "It is too late," God save us all! For not Infinity himself can reverse the wheel of events and bring back lost opportunities.
The genius of opportunity lies in its strategic element.

In every opportunity two or more forces meet in such a way that the one force so lends itself to the other as momentarily to yield plasticity.

Nature is full of these strategic times.

Iron passes into the furnace cold and unyielding; coming out it quickly cools and refuses the mold; but midway is a moment when fire so lends itself to iron, and iron so yields its force to flame as that the metal flows like water.
This brief plastic moment is the inventor's opportunity, when the metal will take on any shape for use or beauty.