James Fallows Quotes

They say in the military that a good battle plan can last as long as five minutes in real fighting. After that, it comes down to if the general is favored by fate and the spirits.

One cannot plan for the unexpected.

Well, you know, any defense force worth its salt has to be able to deal with uncertainty, has to be able to deal with events that we may not have planned for.

What is certain about the future is that even the best efforts to predict the conditions of future war will prove erroneous. What is important, however, is to not be so far off the mark that visions of the future run counter to the very nature of war and render American forces unable to adapt to unforeseen challenges.

If there's one thing that's certain in business, it's uncertainty.

I've been taught in my life that you can have plans, but you can't count on them.

One should expect that the expected can be prevented, but the unexpected should have been expected.

We know not of the future and cannot plan for it much.

You don't save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain.

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

You can plan events, but if they go according to your plan they are not events.

We can't continue to always base our strategy on the fact that the other guy is going to mess up all the time.

Any plan conceived in moderation must fail when the circumstances are set in extremes.

In most covert operations … particularly those that have a large paramilitary component, the planning for later stages is very incomplete. The outcome of the first stages of the operation is usually so difficult to predict that it wouldn't have seemed sensible to have planned the later stages. One can plan the first phases, but not what happens next

The military has to think in terms of worst case scenarios. In a sense, they have to play the pessimist.

I learned one of the very important lessons in life in the 9/11 attacks. It's good to have a plan for your future; it's even better to write your plan in pencil.

I do believe it is important to be future-ready with a portfolio to be able to deal with however the market evolves. This is better than just forecasting accurately but in having the weapons ready to deal with the uncertainties.

No matter how much you plan and prepare, things can still go wrong.

Go make yourself a plan And be a shining light. Then make yourself a second plan, For neither will come right.

How do you calculate upon the unforeseen? It seems to be an art of recognizing the role of the unforeseen, of keeping your balance amid surprises, of collaborating with chance, of recognizing that there are some essential mysteries in the world and thereby a limit to calculation, to plan, to control. To calculate on the unforeseen is perhaps exactly the paradoxical operation that life most requires of us.

a soldier lives always for the next battle, because he knows that before it arrives impossible changes can occur in his favor.

War is an art and as such is not susceptible of explanation by fixed formula

It's hard to plan for what comes next when what comes next is not something you planned for.

Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards... Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.

Pray for the best, prepare for the worst, and expect the unexpected.