Necessity relieves us from the embarrassment of choice.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
He that has a choice has trouble.
—Dutch Proverb
All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
The person who in shaky times also wavers only increases the evil, but the person of firm decision fashions the universe.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.
—Thomas Sowell (b.1930) American Conservative Economist, Political Commentator
Where bad’s the best, bad must be the choice.
—Unknown
Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
The last, if not the greatest, of the human freedoms: to choose their own attitude in any given circumstance.
—Bruno Bettelheim (1903–90) Austrian-born Psychoanalyst, Educational Psychologist
There is nothing more to be esteemed than a manly firmness and decision of character. I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it; who sees at once what, in given circumstances, is to be done, and does it.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
A man without decision can never be said to belong to himself.
—John W. Foster
Human foresight often leaves its proudest possessor only a choice of evils.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Wherever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
No country can act wisely simultaneously in every part of the globe at every moment of time.
—Henry Kissinger (b.1923) American Diplomat, Academician
Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied; he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything cannot be equally considered; in a word, he must be able to simplify his duties, his business and his life.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Some persons are very decisive when it comes to avoiding decisions.
—Brendan Behan (1923–64) Irish Poet, Novelist, Playwright
Form the habit of making decisions when your spirit is fresh … to let dark moods lead is like choosing cowards to command armies.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
It is the nature, and the advantage, of strong people that they can bring out the crucial questions and form a clear opinion about them. The weak always have to decide between alternatives that are not their own.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–45) German Lutheran Pastor, Theologian
Some people, however long their experience or strong their intellect, are temperamentally incapable of reaching firm decisions.
—James Callaghan (1912–2005) British Labour Statesman, Prime Minister
To do nothing is also a good remedy.
—Hippocrates (460–370 BCE) Ancient Greek Physician
Dare to begin! He who postpones living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
We don’t have enough time to premeditate all our actions.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Our danger is not too few, but too many options … to be puzzled by innumerable alternatives.
—Richard Livingstone (1880–1960) British Scholar, Educator, Academic
When one bases his life on principle, 99 percent of his decisions are already made.
—Unknown
Between two stools one sits on the ground.
—French Proverb
Shelving hard decisions is the least ethical course.
—Adrian Cadbury (1929–2015) British Businessman
The soul of dispatch is decision.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
All we see of someone at any moment is a snapshot of their life, there in riches or poverty, in joy or despair. Snapshots don’t show the million decisions that led to tht moment.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
What must be shall be; and that which is a necessity to him that struggles, is little more than choice to him that is willing.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian