John Cleese Quotes

I've learned one thing in politics. You don't take a decision until you have to.

I learned how to order my thoughts, and most important, learned how to develop a plan. I discovered the power of a plan. If you can plan it out, and it seems logical to you, you can do it. And that was the secret to success.

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done.

You always, I think, debate with yourself about whether or not you made the right decision. And you have to then give the person that you’re working for - in my instance, the president - your best judgment based on your understanding of the facts, but also the calculus you use to make a determination about what’s the best way to go forward.

While we are making up our minds as to when we shall begin, the opportunity is lost.

What do you need to succeed in business? You need the ability to think critically and communicate, and those things you can get just as easily out of a philosophy degree.

And I argued with that intelligence estimate and I think it is a responsibility of policymakers to use their best judgment on the basis of the intelligence they've received.

It takes time and effort and preparation to think. Statesmen are far too busy making speeches to think.

A right decision at the wrong time is a wrong decision.

Presidents today spend more time speaking than they do reading or thinking.

If you wait until you have all the facts, then it will be too late..

I don't have the same respect for time as most people. I take that extra day to think about it.

Give them your brains, girl, never your guts.

Successful people make right decisions early and manage those decisions daily.

I love the values football can teach. It gives young people a sense of how to defer present gratification for future success, it teaches self-discipline, it teaches teamwork, it gives them a bonding experience that can be hard to find somewhere else, it teaches the ability to process large amounts of information and apply it in real time.

The game of chess is a metaphor for life... it teaches you strategy and it teaches you the value of knowing where you are, where you want to get to and what obstacles are in the way that you need to navigate in order to get there.

He that gives a portion of his time and talent to the investigation of mathematical truth, will come to all other questions with a decided advantage over his opponents.

Make certain decisions only once.

Take advice, but not orders. Only give yourself orders.

The easiest thing to do in the world is to neglect the important and give in to the urgent.

Do things as soon as you can. If a decision needs to be made, make it. It gives you more time to change your mind.

Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.

Indecision is a major time waster; 80% of decisions should be made the first time they come up

I give 98 percent of my mental energy to Chess Others give only 2 percent

Three minutes thought would suffice to find this out; but thought is irksome and three minutes is a long time.