Klemens von Metternich Quotes
Any plan conceived in moderation must fail when the circumstances are set in extremes.
Klemens von Metternich, 1773-1859, Austrian Statesman & Diplomat, Letter, December 2, 1822
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Technically, the probability has never changed. However, most probabilities are in relation to a specific event or time. A levee may have only a 1% probably of failing in a hurricane but if there are 10 hurricanes a year, the probability that the levee will fail at least once in 30 years is about 50%.
Patton distrusted planners although he required his staff to create endless plans for almost every possible contingency. His difficulty with “ planners” was that would change modify or replace a plan the instant conditions on the ground did not follow the assumptions of the plan.
Burns phrase “mice an’ men” is later used as the title of John Steinbeck’s novel – Of Mice and Men, 1939.
This was very consistent with the programmatic philosophy of his boss, FDR, who campaigned on no specific solutions to the Great Depression but promised to try things and of the did not work, try others. His predecessor, Hoover, would try nothing as most ideas contradicted his philosophy or was not favored by the wealthy business interests of the day.
Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein, was an Austrian diplomat who was at the center of European affairs for three decades as the Austrian Empire's foreign minister from 1809 and Chancellor from 1821 until the liberal Revolutions of 1848 forced his resignation.
