forethought

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

Nothing is more imminent than the impossible . . . what we must always foresee is the unforeseen.

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

Avoid having to pump your brakes by keeping your flow on cruise control.

Having a sense of purpose is having a sense of self. A course to plot is a destination to hope for.

I realized that with everything I did from that point onward, I would have to ask myself this question: "How would I feel if what I'm doing right now is written up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times or if it is on television? Would I still do it?" That is a very useful exercise for leaders to engage in, because we shouldn't do anything we might be embarrassed by or ashamed of.

Socrates famously said that the unconsidered life is not worth living. He meant that a life lived without forethought or principle is a life so vulnerable to chance, and so dependent on the choices and actions of others, that it is of little real value to the person living it. He further meant that a life well lived is one which has goals, and integrity, which is chosen and directed by the one who lives it, to the fullest extent possible to a human agent caught in the webs of society and history.