Leadership & Management: Decision-Making Quotes

Discover insightful quotes that illuminate how effective leaders make choices under uncertainty, balance risks, and align actions with purpose. These selections highlight judgment, prioritization, and the courage to commit. Use them to spark discussion, guide team retrospectives, or frame personal reflection as you refine your decision processes. From strategic trade-offs to day-to-day calls, each quote offers a concise lens on clarity, accountability, and momentum.

Similar topics:Leadership Management Servant Leadership Team Building Vision & Strategy

"But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy"

Nancy Pelosi, Politician

Nancy Pelosi

"A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers"

Plato, Philosopher

Plato

"If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it"

Charles F. Kettering, Inventor

Charles F. Kettering

"Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in"

Napoleon Bonaparte, Leader

Napoleon Bonaparte

"Not to decide is to decide"

Harvey Cox, Theologian

"Votes should be weighed not counted"

Friedrich Schiller, Dramatist

Friedrich Schiller

"Finance is a gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger"

Mario Puzo, Novelist

Mario Puzo

"The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Thomas Sowell

"If you see a snake, just kill it - don't appoint a committee on snakes"

Ross Perot, Businessman

Ross Perot

"If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theologian

"I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over"

Warren Buffett, Businessman

Warren Buffett

"You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run"

Kenny Rogers, Musician

"When in doubt, don't"

Benjamin Franklin, Politician

Benjamin Franklin

"Delay is preferable to error"

Thomas Jefferson, President

Thomas Jefferson

"Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed altogether"

Thomas Carlyle, Writer

Thomas Carlyle

"I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations - one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it - you will regret both"

Søren Kierkegaard, Philosopher

Søren Kierkegaard

"The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake"

Meister Eckhart, Philosopher

Meister Eckhart

"Statistics are no substitute for judgment"

Henry Clay, Statesman

Henry Clay

"I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also"

Theodore Roosevelt, President

Theodore Roosevelt

"Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot"

Niccolo Machiavelli, Writer

Niccolo Machiavelli

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week"

George S. Patton, Soldier

George S. Patton

"Who shall decide when doctors disagree, And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?"

Alexander Pope, Poet

Alexander Pope

"In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield"

Warren Buffett, Businessman

Warren Buffett

"He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious"

Sun Tzu, Philosopher

Sun Tzu

"Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides"

Margaret Thatcher, Leader

Margaret Thatcher

"The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise"

Colin Powell, Statesman

Colin Powell

"Indecision and delays are the parents of failure"

George Canning, Statesman

George Canning

"Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late"

Branch Rickey, Athlete

Branch Rickey

"Strike, if you will, but listen"

Themistocles, Soldier

Themistocles

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice"

Neil Peart, Musician

"Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win"

Jonathan Kozol, Writer

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing"

Theodore Roosevelt, President

Theodore Roosevelt

"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future"

John F. Kennedy, President

John F. Kennedy

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him"

J. R. R. Tolkien, Novelist

J. R. R. Tolkien

"I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause"

Abraham Lincoln, President

Abraham Lincoln

"Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked. 'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat. 'I don't know,' Alice answered. 'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter"

Lewis Carroll, Author

Lewis Carroll

"To withdraw is not to run away, and to stay is no wise action, when there's more reason to fear than to hope"

Miguel de Cervantes, Novelist

Miguel de Cervantes

"Don't follow any advice, no matter how good, until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think in your mind that the counsel is wise"

Joan Rivers, Comedian

Joan Rivers

"Be always sure you are right - then go ahead"

Davy Crockett, Explorer

Davy Crockett

"I have always found that if I move with seventy-five percent or more of the facts that I usually never regret it. It's the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy"

Lee Iacocca, Businessman

Lee Iacocca

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