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Who really said it

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity

Not Albert Einstein — coined by physicist John Archibald Wheeler John Archibald Wheeler 1911–2008 · American theoretical physicist
Disputed In copyright

The precise wording first appears in a 1979 tribute by physicist John Archibald Wheeler, who listed it as one of the “rules of Einstein’s work” — his own paraphrase of Einstein’s approach, not a quotation from Einstein. Later writers dropped Wheeler’s name and credited the line directly to Einstein.

Last verified 7 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed — copy with the correction

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” — John Archibald Wheeler

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by John Archibald Wheeler estate). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of John Archibald Wheeler — American theoretical physicist. Theme: "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source

Quote
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity
Popularly credited to
Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
Earliest exact wording
John Archibald Wheeler, “The Outsider,” Newsweek, 1979
Status
Misattributed to Einstein

There are three additional rules of Einstein’s work that stand out for use in our science, our problems, our times … In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. ↑ Wheeler’s words about Einstein — not a quotation from Einstein

In his 1979 Newsweek tribute, physicist John Archibald Wheeler distilled what he saw as Einstein’s working philosophy into three “rules.” The third rule is the line now universally hung on Einstein himself.

Quote Investigator: full chronology

How we verified this

  • 1903 — the underlying idea circulates: a Christian Science newsletter carries A. P. Barton’s “Suggest to yourself an opportunity in every difficulty,” per Quote Investigator ↗.
  • 1979 — the exact wording first appears in physicist John Archibald Wheeler’s Newsweek tribute “The Outsider,” as one of his “rules of Einstein’s work,” documented by Quote Investigator ↗.
  • 1980 — a Hartford Courant column repeats the three rules but credits them straight to Einstein, dropping Wheeler; this is where the misattribution takes hold, per Quote Investigator ↗.
  • Today — the line is a fixture of Einstein quote collections such as Goodreads ↗, with no primary Einstein source ever cited.
In copyright

The exact 1979 wording is the work of John Archibald Wheeler and is not public domain. There is no verified Einstein original text to reproduce.

Fact-check

The attribution problem

This is one of the most reproduced “Einstein” lines online, but the trail leads to another physicist entirely.

Albert Einstein

No letter, essay, interview, or speech by Einstein — in German or English — has ever been produced containing this line. The wording first surfaces in 1979, decades after his death, as physicist John Archibald Wheeler’s paraphrase of Einstein’s method, per Quote Investigator ↗.

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity” variant

A common inserted-word variant still credited to Einstein; it shares the same broken chain of custody and no primary source, as shown by Quote Investigator ↗.

The exact phrasing is best credited to John Archibald Wheeler (1979), who wrote it while describing Einstein — and the broader “difficulty is opportunity” sentiment predates them both, appearing as early as 1903, per Quote Investigator ↗.

Context

Why it stuck to Einstein

The line rings true as “Einstein” because it was literally written about Einstein — Wheeler was characterizing the mind of the man he admired. Once a 1980 newspaper column reprinted the three rules and attached them directly to Einstein, the attribution snowballed through motivational books and, later, the internet.

The sentiment itself is older and more diffuse than either physicist. Versions of “every difficulty is an opportunity” circulated in the early twentieth century, which is why the idea feels timeless even though this exact sentence has a traceable 1979 origin.

It was written about Einstein — which is exactly why it got mistaken for Einstein.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Hope Resilience

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Origin: In the Middle of Difficulty Lies Opportunityquoteinvestigator.com

The definitive chronology tracing the wording to Wheeler (1979) and the misattribution to a 1980 column.
Albert Einstein quote indexquoteinvestigator.com

Quote Investigator’s collected research on lines commonly misattributed to Einstein.
John Archibald Wheeleren.wikipedia.org

Biography of the physicist who authored the exact 1979 phrasing.
Einstein quote as popularly circulatedgoodreads.com

Example of the uncredited-to-Einstein form that dominates the web, with no source given.

The author

About John Archibald Wheeler

John Archibald Wheeler

1911–2008 · American theoretical physicist

John Archibald Wheeler was a leading American theoretical physicist known for work on general relativity, nuclear fission, and quantum information, and for popularizing the term “black hole.” A younger colleague and admirer of Einstein at Princeton, Wheeler distilled Einstein’s working style into three “rules” in a 1979 tribute — the source of the phrase now misremembered as Einstein’s own.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Quote Investigator

Garson O’Toole (Quote Investigator), “In the Middle of Difficulty Lies Opportunity,” QuoteInvestigator.com, October 7, 2021, tracing the wording to John Archibald Wheeler, “The Outsider,” Newsweek, 1979.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity’?” Last verified 7 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/in-the-middle-of-difficulty-lies-opportunity

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