Abraham Lincoln Quotes

I've got a long-term plan.

It's impossible to map out a route to your destination if you don't know where you're starting from.

We feel much happier and more secure when we think we know precisely what to do, no matter what happens, then when we have lost our way and do not know where to turn.

People (political and military leaders) much prefer to speak of what they are going to do rather than what the outcome will be.

A policy needs a clear goal.

Life is a weird thing because it puts roadblocks in front of you, sometimes you gotta go through it, sometimes you gotta go around it, sometimes you gotta take a pause and look back at what you're gonna do, have a plan.

The most important thing is to simultaneously deal with reality - really the way it is, not the way you wished it could be or you hoped it could be - but also have a vision about where you want to go.

Let us not confuse objectives with methods. Too many so-called leaders of the nation fail to see the forest because of the trees. Too many of them fail to recognize the vital necessity of planning for definite objectives. True leadership calls for the setting forth of the objectives and the rallying of public opinion in support of these objectives.

Sometimes I do have something in my head. But, for me, I think it usually ends up being about considering all of the elements, and trying to understand the distance from where we are to where we want to go.

Figure out where you're going before you go there: he was told that a long time ago.

When I get the point, I often don't know what to do with it.

You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.

People should know what they want, not just what they don't want.

Stop setting goals. Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.

Once we agree on the future, the present will be much easier. A captain who does not know where he wants to sail, there is no wind on Earth that will bring him there. We have first to decide where we want to go, where we want to sail.

When you raise issues with the President, try to come away with both that decision and also a precedent. Pose issues so as to evoke broader policy guidance. This can help to answer a range of similar issues likely to arise later.

I work strategically with my management team to make all decisions.

Neal had a couple of good ideas and they fit nicely, so that's the way I decided to go.

You return and again take the proper course, guided by what? - By the picture in mind of the place you are headed for.

If I have one skill as a manager, I can make things extremely clear.

The big thing is that you know what you want.

The first step is clearly defining what it is you're after, because without knowing that, you'll never get it.

If you don't know where you're going, you will probably end up somewhere else.

Neither man nor nation can prosper unless, in dealing with the present, thought is steadily taken for the future.

Fully consider the future and the immediate results of all undertakings, and the good and bad sides of all past actions.