Boutros Boutros-Ghali Quotes

Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.

One cannot govern with 'buts'.

You can hesitate before deciding, but not once the decision is made.

The world is not looking for servants, there are plenty of these, but for masters, men who form their purposes and then carry them out, let the consequences be what they may.

Develop a sense of urgency in your life.

Don't waste time on excuses. Just get it done.

Just begin and the mind grows heated; continue, and the task will be completed!

I’ve come to realize that being a mother makes me a better executive, because motherhood forces prioritization. Being a mom gives you so much more clarity on what is important.

Devote each day to the object then in time and every evening will find something done.

It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do.

If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.

Will it, and set to work briskly.

A government must not waiver once it has chosen its course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.

We will not duck the tough issues, we will lead.

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

He who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy of it.

I will not wait upon events.

It's one thing to make the speeches. It's another to make the tough decisions.

[President] McKinley gave [Lt. Andrew Sommers] Rowan a letter to be delivered to [General Calixto] Garcia: Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the eternal, there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college in the land. It is not book learning that young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust to act promptly, concentrate their energies, do the thing—"carry a message to Garcia.

Who reflects too much will accomplish little.

Vision without execution is hallucination.

For the first ten years or so, you would always question whether the decisions were right or wrong, but you have to learn to put things behind you once a decision is made. You can't be wishy-washy about it

One man of tolerable Abilities may work great Changes, and accomplish great Affairs among Mankind, if he first forms a good plan, and … makes the execution of that same plan his sole Study and Business.

At SBI, we say that if you need a project to be done, you need to be determined that it needs to be done, put a deadline, and it will get done.

I used to spend my time more on process than strategy. Now, I prioritize my time around strategy, people, and process.