Originally posted on Quora, in an answer to Does anyone else in their 30/40s still have the hope of becoming a big shot in the future?

Dreams come without an expiry date, and you should never accept the notion that you can’t do what you’d like to do.

Here are some examples of people who didn’t.

Sylvester Stallone was 30 years old and broke. Then his script for Rocky sold.
Leonard Cohen released his first album at 30.
J.K. Rowling was 32 years old when she published the first Harry Potter book.
Andrea Bocelli began singing opera seriously after the age of 34.
Harrison Ford was a carpenter, until he became Han Solo, at the age of 35.
Ian Fleming wrote the first James Bond book at 43.
Alan Rickman got his first movie role at 46.
Susan Boyle made her first appearance on television, aged 47.
Julia Child was just shy of 50 when she wrote her first book.
Charles Darwin was 50 when he wrote Origin of Species.
Ray Kroc bought and transformed McDonald’s at the age of 59.
Colonel Harland Sanders began franchising his KFC business at the age of 65.
Bhaktivedanta Swami’ started the hare krishna movement at 67.
Peter Roget created the first Thesaurus at 73.

Heck, even Jesus was a carpenter, before he began performing miracles at the age of 30.

Although my favourite example comes from nature:
Some oak trees don’t produce acorns until they’re about 50 years old.