A couple of times a day I sit quietly and visualize my body fighting the AIDS virus. It’s the same as me sitting and seeing myself hit the perfect serve. I did that often when I was an athlete.
—Arthur Ashe (1943–93) American Tennis Player
A feeble man can see the farms that are fenced and tilled, the houses that are built. The strong man sees the possible houses and farms. His eye makes estates as fast as the sun breeds clouds.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there.
—Indira Gandhi (1917–84) Indian Head of State
You can vitally influence your life from within by auto-suggestion. The first thing each morning, and the last thing each night, suggest to yourself specific ideas that you wish to embody in your character and personality. Address such suggestions to yourself, silently or aloud, until they are deeply impressed upon your mind.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
He robs present ills of their power who has perceived their coming beforehand.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
A genius is one who shoots at something no one else can see—and hits it.
—Unknown
You can only predict things after they’ve happened.
—Eugene Ionesco (1909–94) Romanian-born French Dramatist
He, who foresees calamities, suffers them twice over.
—Beilby Porteus (1731–1809) Anglican Bishop of London
Fantasies are more than substitutes for unpleasant reality; they are also dress rehearsals, plans. All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination.
—Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1934–2002) American Writer, Essayist, Critic
In conditions of great uncertainty people tend to predict the events that they want to happen actually will happen.
—Roberta Wohlstetter (1912–2007) American Military Policy Analyst
We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.
—Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) German Statesman
There is nothing certain except the unforeseen.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Activist, Advocate
Dearth foreseen never came.
—Italian Proverb
Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them. They make the impossible happen.
—Robert Jarvik (1946–2025) American Scientist, Researcher, Inventor
Man can only receive what he sees himself receiving.
—Florence Scovel Shinn (1871–1940) American Illustrator, Spiritual Writer
Plan ahead or find trouble on the doorstep.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
—Ralph Vaull Starr
Dreams
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
—Langston Hughes (1902–67) American Poet, Fiction Writer, Dramatist
We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
—Dan Quayle (b.1947) American Head of State, Politician, Elected Rep
The republic is a dream.
Nothing happens unless first a dream.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
The one characteristic more essential than any other is foresight… It should be the growing nation with a future which takes the long look ahead.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
In life so wretched? Isn’t it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddied? You are the one who must grow up.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm to avoid a shipwreck.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all.
—Henri Poincare (1854–1912) French Mathematician
It may be that those who do most, dream most.
—Stephen Leacock (1869–1944) Canadian Humorist, Writer
When we can’t dream any longer, we die.
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Lithuanian-American Anarchist, Feminist
Neither gods nor men can foresee when an evil deed will bear its fruit.
—Unknown
Where did you go to, if I may ask? said Thorin to Gandalf as they rode along. “To look ahead,” said he. “And what brought you back in the nick of time?” “Looking behind,” said he.
—J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) British Scholar, Author
Leave a Reply