Claudette Colvin Quotes

Architecture and building is about how you get around the obstacles that are presented to you. That sometimes determines how successful you'll be: How good are you at going around obstacles?

We have too many intellectuals who are afraid to use the pistol of common sense.

Even for practical purposes theory generally turns out the most important thing in the end.

I'm a realist. Where I come from, 'phenomenons' don't exist. I'm from a land where people make mistakes and try again, harder, faster; where negativity is not an option.

Management teams aren't good at asking questions. In business school, we train them to be good at giving answers.

Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground-floor. But if a man hasn't got plenty of good common sense, the more science he has, the worse for his patient.

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.

Some people revel in getting their hands dirty. These are the people that make startups grow wildly. People with hustle also tend to be much more agile - they're the water that goes around the rock. These are the people you want around when everything goes wrong. They're also the people you want beside you when everything goes right.

Tactics mean doing what you can with what you have.

Don't leave hold of your common sense. Think about what you're doing and how the technology can enhance it. Don't think about technology first.

I started at GM knowing very little about that particular business. Not being an expert means you have to learn everything, starting from the basics.

The thorniest business problems will surface at the board meetings, and the different, sharp opinions help to better explore the poles of the arguments to make better decisions.

Some players are wonderful hitters of the ball, but they can't figure out ways to get out of trouble. Eighty percent of the time, there is a way. You just have to know how to look for it.

I've often thought of successful entrepreneurs as individuals who have just the right expertise - at just the right moment - to solve the emerging problems of their time.

I am the type of person who just gets on with whatever life throws at you. I have a 'do first, worry later' kind of attitude.

Having a wheel mentality is paramount. It gives you time and space.

The problem with Raven is that she's so smart, so sometimes it's hard for her to be hopeful or idealistic, because she's so realistic. So even if she's working on a solution, she's not proud of it until it's concrete.

My folks were very practical. They were also kind of able to think outside of the box. They were not going to let circumstance paralyze them. They knew sometimes you just had to take some new initiative. I think they passed that on to all of us... If you don't find a way, you make one.

Our only objective is to find solutions to get us through the challenges we face each day.

It's up to me to use my brain, be clever, find the pockets of space, and get on the ball.

I just deal with what's at hand.

One does what one can, not what one cannot.

My job is not to predict everything that might happen in the future, but to address what we can do today.

Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.

I realize that after decades of positive thinking the notion of realism, of things as they are, may seem a little quaint. ... When the stakes are high enough and the risks obvious, we still turn to people who can be counted on to understand those risks and prepare for worst-case scenarios. A chief of state does not want to hear a general in the field say that he 'hopes' to win tomorrow's battle or that he's 'visualizing victory'.