“Opportunities, like eggs, must be hatched when they are fresh” is an American proverb that has been cited in print since at least 1859. The saying means that opportunities don’t last long; like eggs, they spoil quickly.
A somewhat similar American proverb is “Opportunities, like eggs, come one at a time.”
Google Books
Here and Beyond: or, The new man, the true man
By Hugh Smith Carpenter
New York, NY: Mason Brothers
1859
Pg. 138:
Opportunities, like eggs, must be hatched when they are fresh.
20 June 1863, New-York (NY) Ledger, pg. 3, col. 5:
WIT AND WISDOM.
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED—PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR THE LEDGER BY GEO. D. PRENTICE.
(...)
OPPORTUNITES, like eggs, must be hatched when they are fresh.
10 September 1863, Wooster (OH) Republican, pg. 4, col. 2:
Opportunities, like eggs, must be hatched when they are fresh.
22 October 1863, Berkshire County Eagle (Pittsfield, MA), “Pithy, Witty and Pat,” pg. 1, col. 2:
Opportunities, like eggs, must be hatched when they are fresh.
Chronicling America
27 April 1866, Fremont (OH) Journal, pg. 1, col. 7:
Opportunities, like eggs, must be hatched when they are fresh.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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