Dean Kamen Quotes

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.

It doesn't always happen according to the way you have planned things out but I feel if you have covered most of the aspects, it does help out there in the middle.

When there are things that don't go according to plan, London will cope.

History is only a feeble light, for the rubrics were meant to answer future problems unimagined and unimaginable

Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do: when neither innateness nor learning has prepared you for the particular situation.

Strategy is, at some level, the ability to predict what's going to happen, but it's also about understanding the context in which it is being formulated. And then you have to be open-minded to the fact that you're not going to get it right at the very beginning.

In chess, you gotta come up with a strategy. I made a lot of plans in my life. 'I'ma do this, I'ma do that, this is gonna happen, that's gonna happen.' And a lot of stuff don't go as planned. You really gotta act on events as they unfold. That's how I compare chess to life.

Sometimes it's good to be ready for the unpredictable. I'm glad that I can go through unpredictable situations. It's a good thing.

You are not always going to be able to knock it and run. You are going to have to use the other foot, mix things up, use the brain.

Every time I thought I've seen every possible scenario, something else comes up. You just have to be prepared at every level.

It's so important to be ready for whatever is going to be thrown at you.

You need to be ready for all situations.

If anybody knows that you need to be prepared regardless of the situation, that's me.

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?

One cannot plan for the unexpected.

When you play against dirty players or very tough players, it's easy to escape because you know what they're going to do. But when the player is tough but intelligent, it's much more difficult.

In my work, I have never had any use for anything that I have known in advance.

Genius not only diagnoses the situation but supplies the answers.

You can never plan the future by the past.

We can always find creative ways to do things.

One of the things that I'm really proud of is that I have really good timing. It's very easy for me to see what's coming up and it's no coincidence that I went headfirst into wine and then headfirst into new media - none at all.

Part of being innovative in government is sometimes not trying to plot out the last chapter of the book, but to be open and see what comes back.

It is necessary to develop a strategy that utilizes all the physical conditions and elements that are directly at hand. The best strategy relies upon an unlimited set of responses.

You must always be able to predict what's next and then have the flexibility to evolve.

A mom has to be ready for anything.