Forethought Quotes

He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them. ~ Sun Tzu

If then virtue is something in the soul, and necessarily good, it must be a matter of
mindfulness. For all other qualities of soul are in themselves neither good nor harmful.
As accompanied by forethought or thoughtlessness, they become good or harmful. This
argument shows that virtue, being good, must be a kind of mindfulness. ~ Plato

The habit of saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind. ~ Thornton T. Munger

The great majority of men and women, in ordinary times, pass through life without ever contemplating or criticising, as a whole, either their own conditions or those of the world at large. They find themselves born into a certain place in society, and they accept what each day brings forth, without any effort of thought beyond what the immediate present requires. Almost as instinctively as the beasts of the field, they seek the satisfaction of the needs of the moment, without much forethought, and without considering that by sufficient effort the whole conditions of their lives could be changed. A certain percentage, guided by personal ambition, make the effort of thought and will which is necessary to place themselves among the more fortunate members of the community; but very few among these are seriously concerned to secure for all the advantages which they seek for themselves. It is only a few rare and exceptional men who have that kind of love toward mankind at large that makes them unable to endure patiently the general mass of evil and suffering, regardless of any relation it may have to their own lives. ~ Bertrand Russell

Though the house itself was a fortress, still, Isaac Penn had thought to make sure that anyone who did manage to break in would be kept busy. Thus the vault was not a vault but rather a solid plug of molybdenum steel which extended into the wall for five feet. ~ Mark Helprin

Another little-known favorite of mine takes some forethought in the early summer. We've all seen ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) in fields and on roadsides; maybe you even grow it in your garden. As long as you can properly identify it, and as long as you can pick some from a safe, pesticide-free area (without secreting it from your neighbor's garden, even if she does grow a ton), snag handfuls of blooms and dry them well before storing them in a clean, dry jar with a tight-fitting lid. When a stuffy nose comes along, make a mug of tea with a heaping teaspoon of dried blooms. In about 30 minutes or less, a stuffed nose will be clear, and it should stay that way effectively for 4 to 6 hours, same as any cold capsule -- without the side effects. This works best with swollen nasal passages or a drippy nose. Drink a cup of the tea up to 4 times a day. ~ Diane Kidman

One day,' Orest said, looking at him comically, 'you will say something that is less than practical and sensible, something that is driven by no forethought and nothing but passion, and I will probably collapse with shock. ~ Mercedes Lackey

Every time you decide to do one thing, you decide not to do another. Keep this in mind when deciding what to do next. What is the consequence of what you are about to do? Will this action, or inaction help or harm you? Stay mindfully present! Empower yourself in the now. ~ Akiroq Brost

It's unfortunate when an athlete's talent comes with so little forethought or leadership [ ... ] The Falcons need to start over. If next year's team ends up being young and hungry but fairly average, the last thing you want as a general manager or coach is to have a blowhard cornerback whining about his contract leading the charge, no matter how good he is. ~ Jeff Schultz

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Your mind constantly seeks proof that will confirm your beliefs. If you have negative beliefs, your mind will seek to prove those negative thoughts. If you have positive beliefs, your minds will seek to prove those positive thoughts. Therefore, it is important to be mindful of our beliefs. ~ Akiroq Brost

Do what is right, not what is easy. Think about the future your action will help create. ~ Akiroq Brost

Change takes time, forethought and knowledge, as well as an envisioned goal. ~ Obiora Embry

Courage, for
example, when not based on forethought, is mere recklessness; when a man is
thoughtlessly confident, he gets hurt; but when he is mindful of what he does, things go
well. ~ Plato

Bravery without forethought, causes a man to fight blindly and desperately like a mad bull. Such an opponent, must not be encountered with brute force, but may be lured into an ambush and slain. ~ Sun Tzu

The point is that by exercising your capacity for forethought and planning, you strengthen your prefrontal cortex and its connection to the ventral striatum. ~ Anonymous

Chores are easier if forethought is given to them and they are looked upon as little pleasures to perform instead of inconveniences that steal time and try the patience. ~ Richard Proenneke

If our sides were unequal our angles might be unequal. Instead of its being sufficient to feel, or estimate by sight, a single angle in order to determine the form of an individual, it would be necessary to ascertain each angle by the experiment of Feeling. But life would be too short for such a tedious groping. The whole science and art of Sight Recognition would at once perish; Feeling, so far as it is an art, would not long survive; intercourse would become perilous or impossible; there would be an end to all confidence, all forethought; no one would be safe in making the most simple social arrangements; in a word, civilization would relapse into barbarism. ~ Edwin A. Abbott

Sir," he said calmly, "that was the worst line I've ever heard, not only insulting but showing a severe lack of forethought. You're obviously bothering the young woman. You should leave before she does permanent damage to you. ~ Kim Harrison

Bees... by virtue of a certain geometrical forethought, knew that the hexagon is greater than the square and the triangle and will hold more honey for the same expenditure of material. ~ Pappus

Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery. ~ Octavia E. Butler

I dream of a true husband - a good man, not a brute, nor a champion of men on the battlefield; I dream but of a gentle man, one who neither speaks too loud nor ignores evil. I pray for such a like-minded mate, who will be ever for me like harmony to music, virtue to the soul, prosperity to the state, and forethought to the universe. ~ A.A. Attanasio

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing ~ Thomas A. Edison

Rashness in a leader causes failure; the sailor of a ship is calm, wise at the proper time. Yes, and forethought: this too is bravery. ~ Euripides

Greeley knew no language but his, but of that, he possessed a most extraordinary mastery. An employee ~ Harold Holzer

The first essential character [of civilization], I should say, is forethought. This, I would say, is what distinguishes men from brutes and adults from children. ~ Bertrand Russell

She leaned forward, her gaze so intense that Helen wanted to look away. "And I love him more for it. Do you hear me? He was a good man when he went away to the Colonies. He came back an extraordinary man. So many think that bravery is a single act of valor in a field of battle - no forethought, no contemplation of the consequences. An act over in a second or a minute or two at most. What my brother has done, is doing now, is to live with his burden for years. He knows that he will spend the rest of his life with it. And he soldiers on." She sat back in her chair, her gaze still locked with Helen's. "That to my mind is what real bravery is."
-Sophia to Helen about Alistair. ~ Elizabeth Hoyt

A dog creates, transcribes, a new landscape for you. A dog like Colter sharpens your joy of all the seasons, and for a while, sometimes a long while, such a dog seems capable, by himself alone, of holding time in place--of pinning it, and holding it taught. And then when he is gone, it is as if the world is taken away.

Dogs like that are young for what seems like a very long time....

One you have lost a dog--especially the first you trained from a pup, the one you first set sail into the world with--you can never fully give of yourself to another dog. You can never again look at a dog you love without hedging a tiny bit, if only subconsciously, against the day when that dog, too, must leave. You can never again hunt or enter the future so recklessly, so joyously, with that weight of forethought....

As I sleep restlessly, night after night, or more often, as I lie there awake, I can see him running and I feel guilty that I am not there to honor the birds he is finding... One way or the other, he is still out there running. He will never rest.... I will always want him to know a moment's rest, and peace, and he will always know in his hot heart that the only peace to be gotten is by never resting, by always pushing on.

He is my Colter.... I am still his, and he is still mine. ~ Rick Bass

The Second Rule is that the greatest harm can result from the best intentions. It sounds a paradox, but kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm. The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule. Even then, that is not always enough. ~ Terry Goodkind

Evil presupposes a moral decision, intention, and some forethought. A moran or a lout, howeverm doesn't stop to think or reason. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A warm breeze scudded through the crowd, perfumed with celebration: burnt sugar, the sourness of beer, the warm, golden scent of hay. Here was life in all its sweetness, surprising her when she least expected it, twisting forethought into revelation, reminding her that plans sometimes proved unnecessary, that occasionally everything came together spontaneously, as though the universe were an ever-resolving pattern that wanted to please her in the end. ~ Meredith Duran

The people who hire all these things done for them never know what they lose, for the homeliest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them, and Meg found so many proofs of this that everything in her small neatness from the kitchen roller to the silver vase on her parlor table was eloquent of home love and tender forethought. ~ Louisa May Alcott

Wisdom, prudence, forethought, these are essential. But not second to these that noble courage which adventures the right, and leaves the consequences to God. ~ Robert Dale Owen

And in Kandahar he was taught about survival, about fighting and killing and hunting, and he learned much else without being taught, such as looking out for himself and watching his tongue and not saying the wrong thing, the thing that might get him killed. About the dignity of the lost, about losing, and how it cleansed the soul to accept defeat, and about letting go, avoiding the trap of holding on too tightly to what you wanted, and about abandonment in general, and in particular fatherlesness, the lessness of fathers, the lessness of the fatherless, and the best defenses of those who are less against those who are more: inwardness, forethought, cunning, humility and good peripheral vision. The many lessons of lessness. The lessening from which growing could begin. ~ Salman Rushdie

The Providence that watches over the affairs of men works out of their mistakes, at times, a healthier issue than could have been accomplished by their wisest forethought. ~ James Anthony Froude

Worry is forethought gone to seed. ~ William George Jordan

Failure means that you would not, or could not, pay for success. Success is a matter of sale. It can (most often) be bought by a large outlay
of hard forethought
of pains
of steadiness
of the golden wisdom coined from experience. But the figure is too high for most of us. We are too poor, or too slothful, to bring the price. ~ Charles Buxton

And there are those who talk, and without knowledge or forethought reveal a truth which they themselves do not understand. ~ Kahlil Gibran

The essentials," I answered, "are to learn to shape God with forethought, care, and work; to educate and benefit their community, their families, and themselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny. ~ Octavia E. Butler

I want you to know that farmers are not going to be secondary thoughts to a Bush administration. They will be in the forethought of our thinking. ~ George W. Bush

All this intelligent and careful work revealed a man of great forethought. Yet you could see in Mr. Wicks's eyes
as he stood in the shade of the terminal awning, all that tweed and education waving to us, as one by one each bus pulled out for the noisy drive into the city
that he had failed. ~ Bill Buford

Making a dream come true is like taking control of an airplane high up in the stratosphere and landing it safely on the ground – a measure of forethought, skill and courage is definitely required. ~ Silvia Hartmann

A victim of God may, Through learning adaption, Become a partner of God, A victim of God may, Through forethought and planning, Become a shaper of God. Or a victim of God may, Through shortsightedness and fear, Remain God's victim, God's plaything, God's prey. ~ Octavia Butler

Marriage, I have always held, is a serious affair, to be entered into only after long deliberation and forethought, and suitability of tastes adn inclinations is the most important consideration. ~ Agatha Christie

Destructive organizational habits can be found within hundreds of industries and at thousands of firms. And almost always, they are the products of thoughtlessness, of leaders who avoid thinking about the culture and so let it develop without guidance. There are no organizations without institutional habits. There are only places where they are deliberately designed, and places where they are created without forethought, so they often grow from rivalries or fear. ~ Charles Duhigg

In life, as in chess, forethought wins. ~ Charles Buxton

The memory should be specially taxed in youth, since it is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in choosing the things that should be committed to memory the utmost are and forethought must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are never forgotten. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

To all of you alive people walking around, taking your multivitamins and busy being Lutheran or getting colonoscopies, you need to invest in a good-quality, long-lasting wristwatch with day and date functions. Don't count on getting any cell phone reception in Hell, and don't think for a second you'll have the forethought to die with your charger cord in hand or even find yourself locked inside a rusted jail cell with a compatible electrical outlet. ~ Chuck Palahniuk

Whoever fails to turn aside the ills of life by prudent forethought, must submit to fulfill the course of destiny. ~ Friedrich Schiller

The present moment is ever the critical time. The future is merely for intelligent forethought. ~ Robert Barr

I haven't written a novel or something that long, because I really am improvising all along and the story is growing new limbs to do what it needs to do. So there's very little planning. There's a little planning where I say, "Well, it looks like I'm going in this direction, ok, good." But there's very little forethought or intellectual justification: "Oh, look, I'm putting in a theme park because that represents dystopian America!" ~ George Saunders

Not evil. Moronic, which isn't quite the same thing. Evil presupposes a moral decision, intention, and some forethought. A moron or a lout, however, doesn't stop to think or reason. He acts on instinct, like a stable animal, convinced he's doing good, that he's always right, and sanctimoniously proud to go around f***ing up ... anyone he perceives to be different from himself, be it because of skin color, creed, language, nationality, or ... leisure habits. What the world needs is more thoroughly evil people and fewer borderline pigheads. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Look and see which way the wind blows before you commit yourself. ~ Aesop

To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. ~ Octavia Butler

You seem to forget that you wished to purchase the moon for me!'
'Nay, I don't forget that! The thing is I can't purchase it, so there was no harm in saying it. Now, if I'd said I'd like to give you a diamond necklace, or some such thing, you might have taken me up on it. I remembered that just in time to stop myself,' he explained, apparently priding himself on his forethought.
'I should like very much to have a diamond necklace,' said Anthea pensively.
'Wouldn't a paste one do as well?' he asked, in a voice of great uneasiness. She had been so sure that he would fall into the trap that she was taken, for an instant, off her guard, and looked up at him with such a startled expression on her face that his deep chuckle escaped him, and he lifted her quite off her feet, and kissed her. ~ Georgette Heyer

You are not responsible for your parents' mistakes."
The words emerged from her mouth without forethought, inspired by the young man's miserable face. But were they true? Hadn't she taught her own children to accept their father's heroism as part of their inheritance? So wouldn't this also be true in the reverse? ~ Jessica Shattuck

I almost wish I'd had the forethought to eat a tree myself. ~ Robin McKinley

I have always had people to propound how essential it is to dream,
but never do they tell what you should do when these dreams, out
of the blue, flux into reality. One thing is pretty clear to me now and
I'll say this
put forethought into what you wish for. What if it is
really granted? ~ Mansi Soni

Avoid having to pump your brakes by keeping your flow on cruise control. ~ T.F. Hodge

Forethought and prudence are the proper qualities of a leader.
[Lat., Ratio et consilium, propriae ducis artes.] ~ Tacitus

Men are in a restless pursuit after satisfaction and earthly things. They have no forethought for their eternal state, the present hour absorbs them. They turn to another and another of earth's broken cisterns, hoping to find water, where not a drop was ever discovered yet. ~ Charles Spurgeon

If they had given in to passion, throwing caution to the wind,they would have lost everything. ~ Anuradha Bhattacharyya

Your intentions will be good. Without consideration and forethought, however, your actions could still be evil. That is the problem, of course, evil is always easy and resisting it is never so. Evil is relentless; and anyone, if they tire, if they are not vigilant, can fall prey to it. ~ Michael A. Stackpole

... In this way that he sought to control the very passage of his life, deftly and without forethought, yet precisely and with enormous care. Part of it was to allow what was enormous, what was profound, without limiting it. ~ Jesse Ball

Cowl's apprentice was tough and competent, but no amount of training or forethought can prepare you for the sight of an angry dinosaur coming to eat your ass. ~ Jim Butcher

As a man without forethought scarcely deserves the name of a man, so forethought without reflection is but a metaphorical phrase for the instinct of a beast.
- (1772-1834) ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Biggest dream?" I was proud of this one because I knew it would stump him. It required forethought.
"Kiss you."
"That's not funny," I said, holding his eyes, grateful I didn't stutter.
"No, but it made you blush. ~ Becca Fitzpatrick

In perseverance, in self command, in forethought, in all virtues which conduce to success in life, the Scots have never been surpassed. ~ Thomas B. Macaulay

You can be an Olympic champion in 9.5 secs, but to be the greatest, there's more to it. It takes a bit of forethought and a lot of mental application. ~ Daley Thompson

For still I see that forethought spares afterthought and after-sorrow. ~ Amelia Barr

He was too young to know that, in any novel with a reasonable amount of forethought, there were no coincidences. ~ John Irving

Treasures are not won by care and forethought
but by swift slaying and reckless attack. ~ Michael Moorcock

A resignation is a grave act; never performed by a right minded man without forethought or with reserve. ~ Salmon P. Chase