Favourite Quotes
A curated collection of timeless wisdom, practical insights, and thought-provoking perspectives from leaders, thinkers, and comedians.
Information & Data
"If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything."
Ronald H. Coase
Commonly cited in economics and statistics commentary
Information & Data
"The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight."
Carly Fiorina
Business leadership commentary
Information & DataMental Health
"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind."
Ian Maclaren
Paraphrase of 'Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle', British Weekly, 1897
Mental HealthClarity
"Define your terms, or we shall never understand one another."
Voltaire
Philosophical Dictionary (1764)
Clarity
"There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words."
Thomas Reid
Essays on intellectual powers and language
Clarity
"A problem well stated is a problem half solved."
Charles F. Kettering
Widely cited in engineering and management literature
Clarity
"If I had had more time, I would have written a shorter letter."
Blaise Pascal
Lettres Provinciales (1657), French mathematician and philosopher
ClarityMotivation
"Don't stop until you are proud."
Unknown
Modern motivational aphorism; no reliable primary attribution
Motivation
"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858)
Motivation"Never let anybody make you feel less than them, and don't think you are better than anybody."
Unknown
Contemporary ethical maxim; attribution uncertain
MotivationBig Picture
"If you just focus on the smallest details, you never get the big picture right."
Leroy Hood
Commentary on systems biology and complexity
Big PictureLeadership & Decisions
"It is better to be approximately right than to be precisely wrong."
John Maynard Keynes
Economic writings and later popularised by Warren Buffett
Leadership & Decisions
"A goal without a plan is just a wish."
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Widely attributed in leadership literature
Leadership & Decisions
"If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail."
Benjamin Franklin
Common paraphrase consistent with Franklin's writings
Leadership & Decisions"Plan the work, work the plan."
Management maxim
Operations and project management practice
Leadership & Decisions
"Surround yourself with people who push you to do better."
Warren Buffett
Paraphrased from interviews and shareholder commentary
Leadership & DecisionsManagement
"The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing."
Peter Drucker
Management theory writings
Management"A project delivers scope; a program delivers outcomes."
Program management principle
PMI / MSP aligned terminology
Management"Strategic Asset Management is service delivery at the lowest cost while managing risk."
Industry definition
ISO 55000 aligned practice
ManagementSarcastic Quotes
Wit and wisdom from Steven Wright, American stand-up comedian
"I intend to live forever. So far, so good."
Steven Wright
"Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now."
Steven Wright
"I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done."
Steven Wright
"If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you."
Steven Wright
"I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Steven Wright