opportunity makes the thief. (13th century)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Circumstances can lead people to do wrong things
Literally: opportunity creates the thief
Examples
The store's lax security proved that opportunity makes the thief
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “opportunity makes the thief. (13th century)” mean?
Circumstances can lead people to do wrong things Literally: opportunity creates the thief
Is “opportunity makes the thief. (13th century)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.