"To hell with circumstances. I create opportunities."

Introduction 

Wargamer, https://www.wargamer.com/articles/napoleonic-war-games/

I read the following quote, and as you might expect, it tripped my radar. Bruce Lee supposedly said:

"To hell with circumstances. I create opportunities."

My question: what are the true origins of this quote? The image above provides a hint, if you're a military history fan.

The Authority

The most recent "authoritative" source for this quote appears to be the Bruce Lee podcast, episode 74, with notes published on 28 November 2017.

Bruce Lee Podcast 74, https://brucelee.com/podcast-blog/2017/11/28/74-to-hell-with-circumstances

The Oldest Online Version

My next question is: what is the earliest source we have for Bruce Lee saying this quote, if it indeed exists?

The oldest version with the same words that I could retrieve online, with a reliable date, appears in a German language forum, dated 17 February 2007. The person making the post uses it as his signature:

"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.“ – Bruce Lee"

While there may be older versions online, I could not retrieve them.

(Archive.org link)

I found "quote site" versions here and here with the same wording, both dating from 2012.

The Robert Clouse Version

My online research soon turned up a similar version dating from 1988, the year Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse published his book Bruce Lee: The Biography.

Google Books, Bruce Lee: The Biography, by Robert Clouse

Here we see Clouse say that Bruce had told Linda "To hell with circumstances! I'll make my own circumstances!"

The Striking Thoughts Version

I next turned to print resources, with the thought that Linda said a version of the quote to Robert Clouse.

The book Striking Thoughts by John Little, from the Bruce Lee Library series, tends to be the origin for a lot of quotable Bruce Lee material. The book was published in 2002, and sure enough, in the preface Linda Lee wrote the following:

Striking Thoughts, 2002

It reads: "'Circumstances?' he would say with a smile, 'Hell, I make circumstances.'"

The Earliest Linda Lee Version

I then wondered if similar words appeared in Linda Lee's book The Life and Tragic Death of Bruce Lee, published in 1975.

I checked my copy and found the following on page 88:

"For instance, when the Green Hornet ended and he didn't have a job -- at least, wasn't making enough to support his family in the style he wanted them to have -- he would become annoyed if someone suggested that 'circumstances' were holding him back.

'To hell with circumstances.' Bruce almost yelled, 'I will make the circumstances.'"

This appears to be the definitive version of the quote. The question is, did Bruce invent it?

The Likely Origin

I am a military history major, with a specialization in European military history. When I read the double-use of the word "circumstances" in Linda's book, it reminded me of a similar quote.

If one visits the Goodreads quote page, one finds the following:

Napoleon Quote on Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/278597-circumstances-what-are-circumstances-i-make-circumstances

It reads: "Circumstances -- what are circumstances? I make circumstances."

How about that -- it looks like Napoleon Bonaparte said something very similar first.

If you're wondering why Napoleon may look unfamiliar, the image is from his 1796-1797 campaign in Italy, and not from his campaigns a few years later.

Other Versions of Napoleon's Quote

I would not be surprised if Bruce was familiar with Napoleon. Once you start looking for this quote, you find it in many forms and places.

For example, here is a version from an 1884 book of quotes titled Treasury of Thought: Forming an Encyclopedia of Quotations from Ancient and Modern Authors by Maturin Murray Ballou.

Treasury of Thought, 1884

It reads "Circumstances! I make circumstances!

The same version appears in similar quote compilations published later.

Here is a slightly different version from a book published in 1882 titled The Life of Faith:

The Life of Faith, 1882

It reads "'Other men,' said he, 'are made by circumstances. I make circumstances.'"

Here's an even older version from an 1862 edition of the Atlantic Monthly:

Atlantic Monthly, 1862

It reads: "Circumstances! I make circumstances!"

I did not find examples older than this. I did look for evidence of the quote in the English translations of Napoleon's memoirs and his letters to Josephine, but I did not find anything. I also tried a few French translations but didn't find the quote either. If anyone does fit it, I'm interested.

Transmission to Bruce Lee

The question becomes, how did Bruce Lee learn this quote?

In the popular 1930 book The Magic Ladder to Success, written by Napoleon Hill, the author says the following:

The Magic Ladder to Success, 1930

It reads: "Those who are inclined to attribute all their failures to 'circumstances' or luck, should remember the blunt injunction laid down by Napoleon, who said, 'To hell with circumstances! I create circumstances." (emphasis added)

Given the size of Bruce Lee's library, and his devotion to self-improvement, and the popularity of Napoleon Hill's book, I assess the Bruce Lee learned this quote from Napoleon Hill's book.

Conclusion

I assess that it is probable that Bruce Lee read Napoleon Bonaparte's quote as rendered by Napoleon Hill and incorporated it into his personality.

He later told Linda "To hell with circumstances. I will make the circumstances."

It's also possible, but less likely, that Linda read the book and the quote herself, and thought it applied to Bruce.

At some point that version was modified into "To hell with circumstances. I create opportunities." There is no evidence he said something about "opportunities."

That "opportunities" version appears to be the result of someone's creative interpretation of what Bruce said.

It's possible that there is a version of this quote that appears in a volume like the collection of Bruce Lee letters, but I do not have access to it.  If anyone does and cares to search, please let me know what you find.

I also did not find a reference to the quote in Matthew Polly's biography of Bruce Lee, which is the authoritative source in my opinion.

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Update: 27 May 2020

A friend on Facebook, Ronald Rodriguez, shared pictures from the alternatively titled version of Linda Lee's book: Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, (Warner Paperback Library 1975), page 96. The quote is the same as the one I cited earlier, from The Life and Tragic Death of Bruce Lee.

Page 96