Decision Quotes
For Clarity And Direction

Decision quotations

Below are some decision quotes in various categories such as life decisions, work decisions, general decision making and so on.

A quotation is a saying or written piece that resonates with people in such a way that they remember it and use it in their communication with others.

Hopefully you will find some of these quotes useful in your own life or for those around you.

 

Decision quotes - the importance of decision making

"Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. "

Napoleon Bonaparte

"The roads we take are more important than the goals we announce. Decisions determine destiny. "

Frederick Speakman

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."

Ben Stein

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach."

Tom Robbins

"A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion"

Chinese proverb

"To get anywhere, or even to live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer. "

Robert Heinlein

"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other."

Eric Hoffer

"If you had one shot,
one opportunity,
to seize everything you ever wanted,
one moment,
would you capture it,
or just let it slip..."

Eminem

"Sir, What is the secret of your success?" a reporter asked a bank president.
"Two words."
"And, sir, what are they?"
"Good decisions."
"And how do you make good decisions?"
"One word."
"And sir, what is that?"
"Experience."
"And how do you get Experience?"
"Two words."
"And, sir, what are they?"
"Bad decisions."

Anon

"It is the theory that decides what can be observed. "

Albert Einstein

"Whether you decide you can or you can't, you're right!"

Anon

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently."

Agnes de Mille

Decision quotes - indecision

As a decision, this is a poor choice. So some decision quotes about indecision as a decision!

"Indecision is like a stepchild. If he does not wash his hands, he is called dirty, if he does, he is wasting water.."

African Proverb

"Indecision and delays are the parents of failure."

George Canning

"Too often, the opportunity knocks, but by the time you push back the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the burglar alarm, it's too late."

Rita Coolidge

"The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes."

Benjamin Disraeli

"It's much better to prepare and not have the opportunity than to have the opportunity and not be prepared."

Anon

"Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor."

H. Jackson Brown Jr.

"In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do. The worst thing you can do is nothing."

Theodore Roosevelt

"When a decision has to be made, make it. There is no totally right time for anything."

General George Patton

"Decision is a sharp knife that cuts clean and straight; indecision, a dull one that hacks and tears and leaves ragged edges behind it."

Gordon Graham

"Indecision becomes decision with time."

Anonymous

And a few older decision quotes along the same lines...

"Be willing to make decisions. That's the most important quality in a good leader. Don't fall victim to what I call the 'ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome'. You must be willing to fire."

T. Boone Pickens

"There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision."

The Principles of Psychology 1890

"If someone tells you he is going to make a 'realistic decision', you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad."

Mary McCarthy

"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over."

Aneurin Bevan

Decision quotes - against reason

And some decision quotes that undermine the idea that rationale and logic is the best way to go.

"One of the saddest lines in the world is, 'Oh come now - be realistic.' The best parts of this world were not fashioned by those who were realistic. They were fashioned by those who dared to look hard at their wishes and gave them horses to ride."

Richard Nelson Bolles

"When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature."

Sigmund Freud

"He that leaveth nothing to chance will do few things ill, but he will do very few things."

George Savile

"Most decisions are seat-of-the-pants judgments. You can create a rationale for anything. In the end, most decisions are based on intuition and faith."

Nathan Myhrvold in "The Microsoft Provocateur"

"The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions."

Mike Krzyzewski

"As soon as questions of will or decision or reason or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss."

Noam Chomsky

More decision quotes about work, career and time, about mistakes in decision making, intuition and about those 'hard decisions'.

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