Melody Beattie Quotes

Withholding a decision is a decision.

He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.

The only risk we run is by doing nothing.

Irresolution is a worse vice than rashness. He that shoots best may sometimes miss the mark; but he that shoots not at all can never hit it. Irresolution loosens all the joints of a state; like an ague, it shakes not this nor that limb, but all the body is at once in a fit. The irresolute man is lifted from one place to another; so hatcheth nothing, but addles all his actions.

If anyone on the verge of action should judge himself according to the outcome, he would never begin.

It is worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.

People who think too much before they act don't act too much.

Not to decide is to decide.

Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.

If you are the kind of person who is waiting for the 'right' thing to happen, you might wait for a long time. It's like waiting for all the traffic lights to be green for five miles before starting the trip.

Those who stand at the threshold of life always waiting for the right time to change are like the man who stands at the bank of a river waiting for the water to pass so he can cross on dry land.

There are hazards in anything one does but there are greater hazards in doing nothing.

To delay action until there Is one hundred percent certainty Is always to postpone political action forever.

Not deciding is a decision. Let’s all remember that when we decide not to do something.

Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is time. If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be wiped off the board by time. You are playing against a partner who will not tolerate indecision!

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.

He that will not whan he may,Whan he would, he shall haue nay.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned recently is that when you don't know what to do, you should do nothing until you figure out what to do because a lot of times you feel like you are pressed against the wall, and you've got to make a decision. You never have to do anything. Don't know what to do? Do nothing.

Don't wait the time is never just right.

When in doubt, stand still.

You can't live your life in a state of profundity, because you're never going to get anything done, and you're just profound.

I think the worst decision is usually no decision. If you make the wrong decision you can usually course-correct, but if you don't make it, you've already made it, and it's usually the bad one.

...discussion is also a most excellent means to avoid -decision-

We pass our life in deliberation, and we die upon it.

Everybody has noticed the way cats stop and loiter in a half-open door. Hasn't everyone said to a cat: For heavens sake why don't you come in? With opportunity half-open in front of them, there are men who have a similar tendency to remain undecided between two solutions, at the risk of being crushed by fate abruptly closing the opportunity. The overprudent, cats as they are, and because they are cats, sometimes run more danger than the bold