DECISION / DECISIVENESS

Related States & Conditions | Syntonic | Dystonic

Beware of irresolution in the intent of thy actions, beware of instability in the execution; so shalt thou triumph over two great failings of thy nature.
Khemetic Saying
Temt Tchaas: Egyptian Proverbs , Muata Ashaya Ashby, ed.

One who sits between two chairs may easily fall down.
Russian Saying

Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.
Samuel Johnson
1709-1784, English Lexicographer, Poet, Critic, Essayist

A man who has lost courage lacks decision because he faces alternatives that are all very dangerous. And the worst thing in our enterprises is indecision. The essential quality of a general is resolution, the ability to make decisions.
Napoleon Bonaparte
1769-1821, French Militarist, Emperor

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist, Philosopher

Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done in this world by hesitation.
Thomas Huxley
1825-1895, English Biologist
Aphorisms and Reflections

There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.
William James
1842-1910, American Psychologist, Philosopher
Principles of Psychology , 1890

If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it.
George Bernard Shaw
1856-1950, Irish Writer, Dramatist, Literary Critic, 1925 Nobel Laureate

One's mind has a way of making itself up in the background, and it suddenly becomes clear what one means to do.
A. C. Benson
1862-1925, English Writer, Essayist
Excerpts from the Letters of Dr. A. E. Benson to M. E. A.

Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.
Bertrand Russell
1872-1970, English Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist, Social Reformer, 1951 Nobel Laureate
The Conquest of Happiness

The great decisions of human life usually have far more to do with the instincts and other mysterious unconscious factors than with conscious will and well-meaning reasonableness.
Carl Jung
1875-1961, Swiss Psychologist, Theorist

Living is a constant process of deciding what we are going to do.
José Ortega y Gasset
1883-1955, Spanish Philosopher, Critic

Fiddling with this
And that technique
Is of no avail.
Simply act decisively
Without reserve!
Morihei Ueshiba
1883-1969, Japanese Martial Artist, Founder of Aikido
The Art of Peace , John Stevens, tr., 1992

I invented this rule for myself to be applied to every decision I might have to make in the future. I would sort out all the arguments and see which belonged to fear and which to creativeness, and other things being equal I would make the decision which had the larger number of creative reasons on its side. I think it must be a rule something like this that makes jonquils and crocuses come pushing through the cold mud.
Katharine Hathaway
1890-1942, American Writer
The Journals and Letters of the Little Locksmith , 1946

Continually one faces the horrible matter of making decisions … The solution (we honestly believe) is, as far as possible, to avoid conscious rational decisions and choices: simply to do what you find yourself doing; to float in the great current of life with as little friction as possible; to allow things to settle themselves, as indeed they do with the most infallible certainty.
Christopher Morley
1890-1957, American Writer, Journalist, Editor
Inward Ho

Once the what has been decided, the how always follows. We must not make the how an excuse for not facing and accepting the what .
Pearl S. Buck
1892-1973, American Writer, Dramatist, 1938 Nobel Laureate
To My Daughters, With Love

We are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act and, in acting, live.
Omar Bradley
1893-1981, American Militarist

But decisions, particularly important ones, have always made me sleepy, perhaps because I know that I will have to make them by instinct, and thinking things out is only what other people tell me I should do.
Lillian Hellman
1905-1984, American Dramatist, Screenwriter
Pentimento

Man does not simply exist, but always decides what his existence will be.
Viktor Frankl
1905-1998, Austrian Psychotherapist, Concentration Camp Survivor

Every decision you make stems from what you think you are, and represents the value that you put upon yourself.
Helen Schucman
1910-1981, American Psychologist, Channel
A Course in Miracles , 1975

When one's mind is made up, this dimishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
Rosa Parks
1913-, African-American Civil Rights Activist
Quiet Strength , 1994

He who hesitates is poor.
Mel Brooks
1926-, American Film Actor, Director

The best decision-makers are those who are willing to suffer the most over their decisions but still retain their ability to be decisive.
M. Scott Peck
1936-, American Psychiatrist, Writer
The Road Less Travelled , 1978

It's better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late.
Marilyn Kennedy
1943-, American Writer

The longer I live, the more deeply I'm convinced that the difference between the successful person and the failure, between the strong and the weak, is a decision.
William E. Gary
1947-, African-American Lawyer

Everything starts with yourself – with you making up your mind about what you're going to do with your life.
Tony Dorsett
1954-, American Footballer

Some people are very decisive when it comes to avoiding decisions.
Brendan Francis

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Wisdom for The Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing, © 2004