Quotes About Decision-making

There is the grand truth about Nathaniel Hawthorne. He says NO! in thunder; but the Devil himself cannot make him say yes. For all men who say yes, lie; and all men who say no,why, they are in the happy condition of judicious, unincumbered travellers in Europe; they cross the frontiers into Eternity with nothing but a carpet-bag,that is to say, the Ego. Whereas those yes-gentry, they travel with heaps of baggage, and, damn them! they will never get through the Custom House.

You can't understand command till you've had it. It's the loneliest, most oppressive job in the whole world. It's a nightmare, unless you're an ox. You're forever teetering along a tiny path of correct decisions and good luck that meanders through an infinite gloom of possible mistakes.

It's all too easy to fall hostage to the urgent over the important.

Every single one of our acts is ruled by the laws of economy.

Haste in every business brings failures.

[The Persians] deliberate about the gravest matters when they are drunk.

If an important decision is to be made, they [the Persians] discuss the question when they are drunk, and the following day the master of the house where the discussion was held submits their decision for reconsideration when they are sober. If they still approve it, it is adopted; if not, it is abandoned. Conversely, any decision they make when they are sober, is reconsidered afterwards when they are drunk.

I've been thinking with my guts since I was fourteen years old, and frankly speaking, between you and me, I have come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains.

I urge you both, undertake no course without deep thought: but learn to think very fast.

the wise prince is not always the most popular prince;

I can't divide Camille's loyalties. Who knows? He might make the wrong choice.

I believe in delegating power.

I fought all my life for women to make their own choices, in their personal and professional lives. I made mine.

Acting on my own, I ordered the mayor of the town of Lubang to supply us with fifty sacks of polished rice. When the Suehiro and Ã…Å'saki outfits found out about this, without saying anything to me they ordered the mayor to supply them with rice too. The mayor came weeping and said that if the islanders supplied all our demands, they would starve.

But no one chooses a future. You choose a path without being certain where it leads.

Instead, it just reminded her that sometimes there were no good choices.

A well-seasoned strategist waits for the right opportunity.

no one chooses a future. You choose a path without being certain where it leads.

I had to face it - there were warning signs I chose to ignore when I first fell in love with him

Power is action, and the elective principle is discussion.There is no policy, no statesmanship possible where discussion is permanent.

If we were not provided with the knack for being wrong, we could never get anything useful done. We think our way along by choosing between right and wrong alternatives, and the wrong choices have to be made as frequently as the right ones.

The risk of upsetting Stan outweighed the risk of upsetting Amy. The risk of upsetting Stan had always outweighed the risk of upsetting any of the children. Nearly always.

There would be no point asking Sarah because she was incapable of making a decision. If Cecilia asked her if she wanted tea or coffee, she would sit for a full minute, her forehead furrowed as she agonized over the pros and cons of each beverage, before finally saying, "Coffee! No, wait, tea!" A decision like this one would give her a seizure.

Love is a decision.