Preparation Quotes

Millennials in the workplace have been called "orchids"2 (can't survive outside the greenhouse) and "teacups"3 (chip easily and then are ruined), but to me the most prescient metaphor for young adults sent out into the world after being overparented is "veal" - a term coined by Massachusetts educator Joe Maruszczak - meaning they're raised in controlled environments and led, metaphorically, to slaughter. None of us took a course called "how to hold your kid back," but overparenting appears to be seriously poor preparation for life in the work world. In 2014, interested ~ Julie Lythcott-Haims

I try to prepare for everything beyond the extent of preparation. ~ Taylor Swift

It's all about the three P's of presenting: preparation, practice, and performance. Never forget that, Sweetie. ~ Auntie Brie

It takes personal sacrifice to communicate when conditions are right for the other person-during the meal preparation, after a date, a hurt, a victory, a disappointment, or when someone wants to share a confidence. One must be willing to forego personal convenience to invest time in establishing a firm foundation for family communication. When communication in the family seems to be bogging down, each individual should look to himself for the remedy. ~ Marvin J. Ashton

The problem with preparing for the worst is that that has the power to attract the worst. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

In whatever sport of field of endeavor you are interested, you should do whatever is necessary to compliment your God-given talent with proper mental preparation so as to do "the best you can." The criterion should be to fully exploit your potential rather than to win at any cost. What more could anyone ever ask of you than to be the best you possibly can? ~ Bob Cousy

When you are designing your plan, think not in terms of what you need to do, think in term of what you need to achieve. ~ T. Jay Taylor

To be the name on somebody's shirt that they've made themselves in preparation for one of your shows - it doesn't get much cooler than that. ~ Hunter Hayes

Little things make the difference. Everyone is well prepared in the big things, but only the winners perfect the little things. ~ Bear Bryant

No matter how potent your talents are, they remain to be out of use until you take time to develop them to their optimum level. This calls for preparation. Through preparation, personal branding, consistent exposure and productive connections, you set up a condition for your dreams to flourish and bear fruits! ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Your first impressions will often occur within a limited window of opportunity - and if you blow it - the opportunity may be lost forever. ~ Susan C. Young

You have to be simultaneously well-prepared and spontaneous. You don't really know for sure what percentage of the preparation you are going to use, and you don't know exactly where it will apply. So you have to be prepared, but not locked into that preparation. ~ Bob Costas

It has been written that so much of life is preparation, so much is routine, and so much is retrospect that the purest essence of anyone's genius contracts itself to a precious few hours. ~ James D Hornfischer

Contextualization is a good dance partner, but she should never be allowed to lead. Put her before the exegetical steps in your sequence of preparation, and problems will quickly emerge. ~ David R. Helm

Preparations are good in life, prologues ruinous. ~ Margaret Fuller

Faith is not an art. Faith is not an achievement. Faith is not a good work of which some may boast while others can excuse themselves with a shrug of the shoulders for not being capable of it. It is a decisive insight of faith itself that all of us are incapable of faith in ourselves, whether we think of its preparation, beginning, continuation, or completion. In this respect believers understand unbelievers, skeptics, and atheists better than they understand themselves. Unlike unbelievers, they regard the impossibility of faith as necessary, not accidental ... ~ Karl Barth

Recollection of death also serves as a useful preparation for the time when one actually has to face death. As the concluding exercise among the body contemplations, a regular recollection of death can lead to the realization that death is fearful only to the extent to which one identifies with the body. With the aid of the body contemplations one can come to realize the true [impermanent] nature of the body and thereby overcome one's attachment to it. Being free from attachment to the body, one will be freed from any fear of physical death. ~ Analayo

For me, when working on a film or play or television show, everything for me starts with the screenplay and I am devoted to that and that is what I work from. Any research I do or any preparation I do on my own is all ultimately in service of that. ~ James Spader

I recall vividly the night before one of my own early surgeries, an eight-hour affair that would alter my body permanently. I was twenty-seven and unmarried at the time. Late in the evening a pleasant elderly woman, a technical aide, had come to my hospital room to shave my abdomen in preparation for the procedure. As she went about this humble task with great skill, she had asked me about the next day's surgery. Filled with resentment, self-pity, and a sense of victimhood, I told her what was planned and burst into tears. She had seemed quite surprised. "How would YOU feel if they were going to do this to YOU tomorrow?" I asked her angrily. she had taken my question literally and had thought it over. Then, patting me gently, she had said, "If I needed it to live, I would be glad for the help." Her answer had changed everything. ~ Rachel Naomi Remen

Why leave your success up to dumb luck or accident when you can take a stand, make a plan, and be proactive in your pursuits and possibilities? ~ Susan C. Young

Be prepared to say "no" to some things. That is the key. When you say "yes" to every invitation, event and call, you will come back to meet you plans on the paper in the same state you left them. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Saul of Tarsus. The young man's face was aflame with the same fiery vengeance that filled Ezra's heart. The elders dropped their cloaks of office by Saul's feet and moved forward as the crowd unfolded. That was how it seemed to Ezra. They were a human fist, cloaked not in their robes but in rage, and they flexed their fingers in preparation of doing away with the man who dared offend the Sanhedrin. ~ Janette Oke

An oyster has hardly any more reasoning power than a scientist has; and so it it is reasonably certain that this one jumped to the conclusion that the nineteen million years was a preparation for him; but that would be just like an oyster, which is the most conceited animal there is, except man. And anyway, this one could not know, at that early date, that he was only an incident in a scheme, and that there was some more in the scheme yet. ~ Mark Twain

The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today. ~ Elbert Hubbard

If it wasn't for her literally doing my homework for me, I would not have even graduated high school. Guaranteed ... My mom always said, 'Luck is nothing but preparation and opportunity.' I think because I've had that history of not really being great in school, I probably try to overcompensate. That's why I try to read so many books. Just so I don't feel ... uneducated. ~ Channing Tatum

Math test tomorrow.
Check.
Complete lack of preparation for test.
Check. ~ Rick Riordan

I remember when I first encountered anthropocentrism. I was in primary school and, in preparation for our confirmation, the class was learning about the afterlife. ~ John Burnside

If, when the prodigal came back to his father, there was the preparation of the fatted calf, and the music and dancing, and the gold ring and the best robe, what will be the preparation when we do not come home as prodigals, but as the bride prepared for her husband, or as the beloved children, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, coming home to the Father who shall see his own image in us, and rejoice over us with singing? ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Discover an interest, a passion, a preference or need your client has, and take the time to give them some small item related to it. By making the extra effort to learn about the person and their business, you become very appealing and much more memorable. ~ Susan C. Young

Everyone has a few little quirks in their preparation - I just tend to do the same sort of things as I did in previous competitions - but there's nothing too weird, sticking with lucky knickers or socks! For instance, I'll see my family the day before a fight but won't see them on the day. ~ Jade Jones

God does not work in all hearts alike, but according to the preparation and sensitivity He finds in each. ~ Meister Eckhart

We've reached a point in American history when death has become almost the last obscenity. Have you noticed how many of us refuse to say 'he or she died'? We're far more likely to say 'she passed away,' as though death were a sterile process of modest preparation, followed by shrink-wrapping, then rapid transit - where? Well, elsewhere. In short, it's the single thing we're loath to discuss in public. ~ Will Schwalbe

What steps can you take to prepare before meeting others to ensure that when you do show up, you are bringing your very best to the table? ~ Susan C. Young

No man not inspired can make a good speech without preparation. ~ Daniel Webster

I think about how a guy mentally prepared himself to do battle, to go out and face the pitcher. I think so many hitters do not know how to get themselves prepared to play or hit against a pitcher. You have to mentally be prepared to hit against all pitchers. ~ Hank Aaron

Experts generally agree that taking all opportunities to read books and other material aloud to children is the best preparation for their learning to read. The pleasures of being read to are far more likely to strengthen a child's desire to learn to read than are repetitions of sounds, alphabet drills, and deciphering uninteresting words. ~ Lilian Katz

Because the materials selected for a specific purpose such as food preparation are set on a tray in order and sequence of use, from left to right and top to bottom, the child mentally incorporates this precise order it becomes part of his functional intelligence ~ Paula Polk Lillard

While God can work through us in spite of our mistakes, incompetence, and lack of preparation, he commends skill and uses it for his glory. ~ Bob Kauflin

The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well. ~ William Osler

An illusion has three stages.
"First there is the setup, in which the nature of what might be attempted at is hinted at, or suggested, or explained. The apparatus is seen. volunteers from the audience sometimes participate in preparation. As the trick is being setup, the magician will make use of every possible use of misdirection.
"The performance is where the magician's lifetime of practice, and his innate skill as a performer, cojoin to produce the magical display.
"The third stage is sometimes called the effect, or the prestige, and this is the product of magic. If a rabbit is pulled from a hat, the rabbit, which apparently did not exist before the trick was performed, can be said to be the prestige of that trick. ~ Christopher Priest

If a person accepts that she will stumble, fall, and even be struck down every now and then, then that is a constructive view because the person will be prepared. Preparedness is not the same as fatalism. ~ Gudjon Bergmann

The only industries that function well are the industries that take responsibility for training. The Japanese, you know, assume that when you first come to work you know absolutely nothing. School isn't preparation for work and never was. ~ Peter Drucker

It's never too soon to worry. Worry spurs preparation. ~ Laini Taylor

But to me the bottom line is the more education you can give yourself, and the more preparation you can do, the less chance of failing. ~ Stuart Pearce

When you're acting you always want to come across as if you're not acting. For me, my take is always to have it feel like you're watching someone on film and that comes with a lot of preparation time. ~ Vince Vaughn

You have to understand, in this fight, the physical condition and technical preparation are not as important as character and will. The one who's willing to go until the end will win the match. ~ Ruslan Provodnikov

Be prepared before you begin. You save yourself from delay if you are fully prepared. Preparation sets you for excellence. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

You'll never know everything about the person you've chosen to marry. But the more information you have before entering into this commitment, the less chance you will be confronted with unfulfillable expectations. ~ Jerry Hardin

The most prepared are the most dedicated. ~ Raymond Berry

Decrying the mismanagement that led to the summer's catastrophic wildfires: The Clinton administration didn't cause these fires, but their policies have left the Forest Service under-funded and under-prepared for this crisis. I don't think it's a conspiracy, but it's a philosophy they have that leads to explosive fires that destroy everything. ~ Marc Racicot

Practice is simply preparation for success. ~ Zig Ziglar

If you will be humble and ask God what to do, I promise you that he will always prepare a way for your deliverance. ~ Henry B. Eyring

Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none. ~ Albert Einstein

Food is art, I believe. If you are going to be serving a living thing, you have to honor that living thing with some kind of care and thought and preparation to rationalize the taking of that life in some way. ~ Bryan Fuller

Women have to be a lot smarter and brighter and have to work a lot harder to prepare themselves. They have to watch what they do and how they behave. It's not a free world yet. ~ Letitia Baldrige

I automate some tasks and delegate many others. Doing research, job organization, data processing, field surveys, and plan preparation can be tedious, detailed work. ~ Mark Mason

When people ask me what qualifies me to be a writer for children, I say I was once a child. But I was not only a child, I was, better still, a weird little kid, and though I would never choose to give my own children this particular preparation for life, there are few things, apparently, more helpful to a writer than having once been a weird little kid. ~ Katherine Paterson

The way to be successful is through preparation. It doesn't just happen. You don't wake up one day and discover you're a lawyer any more than you wake up as a pro football player. It takes time. ~ Alan Page

I believe that people make their own luck by great preparation and good strategy. ~ Jack Canfield

I don't think we'll understand Advent correctly until we see it as a preparation for a revolution. ~ Robert Barron

Communications requires study, preparation, and a special attention to truth, goodness and beauty. ~ Pope Francis

I've always considered myself to be just average talent and what I have is a ridiculous insane obsessiveness for practice and preparation. ~ Will Smith

We cannot bank our hopes on possibilities. We must put our trust in ourselves, in our capabilities and efforts and strength and preparations not only for our success but even to avoid our own defeat. ~ Aung San

An apple a day might have kept the doctor away prior to the industrialization of food growing and
preparation. But, according to research compiled by the United States Drug Administration (USDA) today's apple contains residue of eleven different neurotoxins - azinphos, methyl chloripyrifos, diazinon, dimethoate, ethion, omthoate, parathion, parathion methyl, phosalone, and phosmet - and the USDA was testing for only one category of chemicals known as organophosphate insecticides. That doesn't sound too appetizing does it? The average apple is sprayed with pesticides seventeen times before it is harvested. ~ Michelle Schoffro Cook

Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance, as they say in the army - and I always, always want to be ready. Just like Bigfoot. ~ Anthony Bourdain

Yes, winning the gold medal was undoubtedly the biggest day of my career - mostly because I won the way I had prepared to run it. It was a totally satisfying experience. ~ Frank Shorter

Mountains are both journey and destination. They summon us to climb their slopes, explore their canyons, and attempt their summits. The summit, despite months of preparation and toil, is never guaranteed though tastes of sweet nectar when reached. If my only goal as a teacher and mountaineer is the summit, I risk cruel failure if I do not reach the highest apex. Instead, if I accept the mountain's invitation to journey and create meaning in each step, success is manifest in every moment. ~ T.A. Loeffler

Preparation for the future was necessary, and he was willing to admit that the great change would perhaps come in the upheaval of a revolution. But he argued that revolutionary propaganda was a delicate work of high conscience. It was the education of the masters of the world. It should be as careful as the education given to kings. ~ Joseph Conrad

Condom," she gasped.
A movement stopped.
"What?"
Phoebe felt the earth open up in preparation of swallowing her. How could she have not mentioned this before?
"I'm not on anything right now," she whispered. "Birth control. I'm not on the Pill." She gestured helplessly.
"Shit, fuck, damn."
Disappointment tied her in knots. "I was really only interested in that middle part," she joked.
There was a second of silence, followed by a low chuckle. "You're never predictable, Phoebe. I'll give you that. Cross your fingers."
"What?"
"Cross your fingers. I might have a condom in my shaving kit."
There was movement and rustling, then the sound of a zipper being opened.
"I'm going to have to put on the light."
She briefly debated being polite and closing her eyes, but who was she kidding? She wanted to see Zane naked. In preparation, she raised up on one elbow and stared in his general direction. When the light came on, she saw all she wanted and more.
He was kneeling at the end of the sleeping bag. Naked, aroused and more physically perfect than any man had a right to be. She saw the definition in his arms, the broad strength of his chest and his flat stomach before lowering her attention to his large, hard penis.
The physical proof of his desire for her made her so happy, she nearly cried. Her other instinct was to part her legs, tell him never mind with birth control and protection and demand he take her right there ~ Susan Mallery

While I think it's very important that Marco Rubio and Senator [Ted] Cruz have contributed as senators ... there's no doubt in my mind that being a governor is far, far better preparation for the ultimate responsibility as president of the United States. ~ Tom Ridge

Just as foreplay is the key to good sex, preparation is essential to achieving victory in battle. Right, lieutenant? ~ Natalia Marx

Be disciplined and disciple to thrive in every situation and keep cleaved to your plans. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Riley Bay wasn't human.
But if he wasn't human, then what was he? An alien, sent to Earth to learn about humanity in preparation for an invasion? Riley was certainly weird enough to be an alien, but I didn't see why the mother ship would send him to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in the guise of a high schooler. ~ Serra Elinsen

The four-week period of Advent before Christmas - and the six-week period of Lent before Easter - are times of penance and life change for Christians. In our book The Last Week, we suggested that Lent was a penance time for having been in the wrong procession and a preparation time for moving over to the right one by Palm Sunday. That day's violent procession of the horse-mounted Pilate and his soldiers was contrasted with the nonviolent procession of the donkey-mounted Jesus and his companions. We asked: in which procession would we have walked then and in which do we walk now? ~ Marcus J. Borg

There are only three requirements for success. First, decide exactly what it is you want in life. Second, determine the price that you are going to have to pay to get the things you want. And third, and this is most important, resolve to pay that price. ~ H. L. Hunt

Thorough preparation must lead to success. Neglect nothing. ~ Arthur Currie

In Ethiopia, food is often looked at through a strong spiritual lens, stronger than anywhere else I know. It's the focal point of weddings, births and funerals and is a daily ceremony from the preparation of the meal and the washing of hands to the sharing of meals. ~ Marcus Samuelsson

We can't ignore the fact that ahead of us is a great war and this war is going to need significant preparation. ~ Ahad Ha'am

With sincerity, courage, & honesty, one can face death, extreme physical pain, & even extreme psychological pain. One can resist persecution from individuals, society, or government. To live in preparation of adversity & finding ways to preserve your core values --this is what it means to learn "how to live. ~ Qiu Miaojin

ached, until his head throbbed, all of that preparation comes down to today. It's finally here! He quickly brushes his teeth and puts on his Halloween costume. He picks up the trombone case and his school backpack and heads downstairs quietly, not wanting to wake his mother. He rips open the cellophane and drops two Pop-Tarts into the toaster and pours himself a glass of milk. He drinks the milk but doesn't touch the pastries. ~ James Patterson

Writing is like running a marathon. One needs stamina and perseverance. The right preparation and pacing get results. ~ K.J. Kilton

We look on past ages with condescension, as a mere preparation for us ... but what if we are a mere after-glow of them? ~ J.G. Farrell

But youth has a future. The closer he came to graduation, the more his heart beat. He said to himself: This is still not life, this is only the preparation for life. ~ Nikolai Gogol

It doesn't hurt to ask Actually, it does hurt. It does hurt to ask the wrong way, to ask without preparation, to ask without permission. It hurts because you never get another chance to ask right. ~ Seth Godin

A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success. ~ Joyce Brothers

Make preparations in advance ... you never have trouble if you are prepared for it. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

As soon as a thought darts, I write it down. ~ Thomas Hobbes

I've always been interested in foreign relations. It's my belief that study of history should be our preparation for understanding the present rather than an escape from it. ~ Elizabeth Kostova

The history of mankind before his birth must be viewed as a preparation for his coming, and the history after his birth as a gradual diffusion of his spirit and progress of his kingdom. ~ Philip Schaff

What is happening is not ideal. Sometimes nothing goes smoothly in the preparation for fights, and that is when you have to show what kind of champion you are and deal with whatever is put in front of you. This is just another obstacle, and if it does go to court then I will be as equally determined to overcome it. ~ Ricky Hatton

All of us, I suppose, like to believe that in a moral emergency we will behave like the heroes of our youth, bravely and forthrightly, without thought of personal loss or discredit. Certainly that was my conviction back in the summer of 1968. Tim O'Brien: a secret hero. The Lone Ranger. If the stakes ever became high enough - if the evil were evil enough, if the good were good enough - I would simply tap a secret reservoir of courage that had been accumulating inside me over the years. Courage, I seemed to think, comes to us in finite quantities, like an inheritance, and by being frugal and stashing it away and letting it earn interest, we steadily increase our moral capital in preparation for that day when the account must be drawn down. It was a comforting theory. It dispensed with all those bothersome little acts of daily courage; it offered hope and grace to the repetitive coward; it justified the past while amortizing the future. ~ Tim O'Brien

Tell me what it's like. The race." "What it's like is a battle. A mess of horses and men and blood. The fastest and strongest of what is left from two weeks of preparation on the sand. It's the surf in your face, the deadly magic of November on your skin, the Scorpio drums in the place of your heartbeat. It's speed, if you're lucky. It's life and it's death or it's both, and there's nothing like it. ~ Maggie Stiefvater

There's only one way to assure consistently good work. That is consistently thorough preparation. ~ Andrew Loomis

everything is interim. Every season that I thought was stable and would be just how it was for a long time ended up being a preparation or a path to the next thing. When you decide to be on this journey with God, everything is interim. ~ Shauna Niequist

I don't know secret to success, but I'm pretty sure the closest thing is preparation ~ Michelle Kwan

When you get to that level, it's not a matter of talent anymore - because all the players are so talented - it's about preparation, about playing smart and making good decisions. ~ Hakeem Olajuwon

Everyone wants to win, but not everyone is willing to prepare to win. ~ Bobby Knight

At thirty a man steps out of the darkness and wasteland of preparation into active life it is the time to show oneself, the time of fulfillment. ~ Thomas Mann

Luck is opportunity plus preparation plus luck. ~ Jane Espenson

Academic intelligence offers virtually no preparation for the turmoil - or opportunity - life's vicissitudes bring. ~ Daniel Goleman