Pearl S. Buck Quotes

A leader has the capacity of vision, the ability to see where things are headed before people in general see those things.

A nation has to look ahead.

An entrepreneur never thinks of quarter-on-quarter; he thinks for 25 years, 50 years.

The ablest administrators do not merely draw logical conclusions from the array of facts of the past which their expert assistants bring to them, they have a vision of the future.

You can’t look too far ahead. Do that and you’ll lose sight of what you’re doing and stumble. I’m not saying you should focus solely on the details right in front of you, mind you. You’ve got to look ahead a bit or else you’ll bump into something. You’ve got to conform to the proper order and at the same time keep an eye out for what’s ahead. That’s critical, no matter what you’re doing.

I'm no genius. I'm not at all; I just happen to look five or 10 years ahead and think things through.

Communists should set an example in being practical as well as far-sighted. For only by being practical can they fulfil the appointed tasks, and only far-sightedness can prevent them from losing their bearings in the march forward.

Vision rarely require immediate action. It requires patience.

The essence of leadership is being able to see the iceberg before it hits the Titanic.

My job is to think beyond the immediate.

However tight things are, you still need to have the big picture at the forefront of your mind.

It is always the sign of the second-rate man when the decision merely meets the present situation. It is the left-over in a decision which gives it its greatest value. It is the carry-over in the decision which helps develop the situation in the way we wish it to be developed. The ablest administrators do not merely draw logical conclusions from the array of facts of the past which their expert assistants bring to them; they have a vision of the future.

I've got a long-term plan.

I think three-to-five years ahead minimum. I have a short-term plan, a five-year plan and a decade plan.

A lack of realism in the vision today costs credibility tomorrow.

I've always liked to think ahead. Not stupid-far ahead. A hundred years doesn't interest me. But 20 years interests me, and more for what happens to humans as opposed to things.

Without vision you don't see, and without practicality the bills don't get paid.

I must analyze, from what I do now, what will be the impact two or three or five years in the future. What is the statement I want to make?

I have always been fascinated with those who try to look over the horizon and see things that are coming at us.

Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line.

Foresight has been a distinguishing characteristic of all truly great political, religious, and social betterment leaders.

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

There is something to this vision thing.

When everyone is running the machine, and it's all working, there's a tendency to look at the short term and focus on incremental opportunities and not look ahead to the really big opportunities.

I always say that my job is not to think about today. My job is to look around the corner and feel and see what's coming, and then warn everybody else.