Readiness Quotes

• We have learnt, rather too late, that action comes, not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  "Letters and Papers from Prison".

  82 Copy quote

  Show source

• The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

  Sun Tzu

  Art, Military, War

  Sun Tzu (2015). “The Art of War”, Booklassic

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• Rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him

  Sun Tzu

  Art Of War, Enemy, Preparing For War

  Sun, Tzu (2015). “The Art of War”, p.103, Aegitas

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• Through readiness and discipline, we are the masters of our fate.

  Bill Paxton

  Fate, Destiny, Discipline

  58 Copy quote

• One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  84 Copy quote

• It is a doctrine of war not to assume the enemy will not come, but rather to rely on one's readiness to meet him; not to presume that he will not attack, but rather to make one's self invincible.

  Sun Tzu

  Art, War, Self

  13 Copy quote

• Worry does not mean fear, but readiness for the confrontation.

  Bashar al-Assad

  Mean, Worry, Doe

  23 Copy quote

• By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Motivational, Softball

  Benjamin Franklin, The Secret Libraries (2016). “Benjamin Franklin Quotes... Vol. 23: Motivational and Inspirational Life Quotes by Benjamin Franklin”

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• The readiness is all.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Inspirational Life

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [232]

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The true courage of civilized nations is readiness for sacrifice in the service of the state, so that the individual counts as only one amongst many. The important thing here is not personal mettle but aligning oneself with the universal.

  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

  Sacrifice, Important, Civilized Nations

  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1945). “Hegel's Philosophy of right”

  50 Copy quote

  Show source

• Life at its noblest leaves mere happiness far behind; and indeed cannot endure it. Happiness is not the object of life: life has no object: it is an end in itself; and courage consists in the readiness to sacrifice happiness for an intenser quality of life.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Happiness, Sacrifice, Inner Peace

  45 Copy quote

• Others control our opportunities, we control our readiness.

  Mark Millar

  Opportunity

  6 Copy quote

• Man lives freely only by his readiness to die.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Death, Men, Live Free

  Mahatma Gandhi (1975). “Collected Works”

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Not a whit, we defy augury: there's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.

  William Shakespeare

  Fall, Special, Sparrows

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 5, sc. 2, l. [232]

  26 Copy quote

  Show source

• Man lives freely only by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Life, Courage, Brother

  Mahatma Gandhi (2005). “All Men Are Brothers”, p.81, A&C Black

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• I directed the men in our barque to approach near the savages, and hold their arms in readiness to do their duty in case they notice any movement of these people against us.

  Samuel de Champlain

  Men, People, Savages

  Samuel de Champlain (1907). “Voyages of Samuel de Champlain 1604-1618: With a Map and Two Plans”

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Most people can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly. Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when, because of a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives.

  Frederic Flach

  Life, Years, People

  4 Copy quote

• There is probably an element of malice in our readiness to overestimate people - we are, as it were, laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size.

  Eric Hoffer

  Cutting, People, Size

  4 Copy quote

• History offers no evidence for the proposition that the assignment of women to military combat jobs is the way to win wars, improve combat readiness, or promote national security.

  Phyllis Schlafly

  Jobs, Military, War

  18 Copy quote

• The threat to globalization is not the wasted American dollars but Washington's readiness to mix US commercial interests with its self-appointed role as global protector.

  William Greider

  Self, Dollars, Roles

  4 Copy quote

• That was not the biggest battle that ever was, but for me it always typified one thing; the dash, the ingenuity, the readiness at the first opportunity that characterizes the American soldier.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Veterans Day, Opportunity, Soldier

  Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1959). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1955”, p.323, Best Books on

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• Simplification of modes of proof is not merely an indication of advance in our knowledge of a subject, but is also the surest guarantee of readiness for farther progress.

  Lord Kelvin

  Knowledge, Science, Progress

  Lord Kelvin, LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S. and Peter Guthrie Tait, M.A. (1912). “Elements of Natural Philosophy”

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• To regulate something always requires two opposing factors. You cannot regulate by a single factor. To give an example, the traffic in the streets could not be controlled by a green light or a red light alone. It needs a green light and a red light as well. The ratio between retine and promine determines whether there is any motion, any growth, or not. Two different inclinations have to be there in readiness to make the cells proliferate.

  Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

  Science, Light, Cells

  6 Copy quote

• Readiness of speech is often inability to hold the tongue.

  Jean-Baptiste Rousseau

  Inability, Speech, Tongue

  3 Copy quote

• It is often asserted that discussion is only possible between people who have a common language and accept common basic assumptions. I think that this is a mistake. All that is needed is a readiness to learn from one's partner in the discussion, which includes a genuine wish to understand what he intends to say. If this readiness is there, the discussion wrighteous stupidityill be the more fruitful the more the partner's backgrounds differ.

  Karl Popper

  Mistake, Learning, Knowledge

  Karl Popper (2012). “In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years”, p.158, Routledge

  7 Copy quote

  Show source