Roger Scruton Quotes

The wise man bridges the gap by laying out the path by means of which he can get from where he is to where he wants to go.

The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.

Always have a plan, and believe in it. Nothing happens by accident.

Action is the real measure of intelligence.

I'm fascinated with films that deal with strategy because there's a right way and a wrong way to get the job done.

You can't do anything sensible until you know what the situation is that you're in.

I always think part of success is being able to replicate results, taking what is interesting or viable about yourself as a professional person and seeing if you bring it into different situations with similar results.

Good plans shape good decisions. That's why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.

If you want to accomplish something in the world, idealism is not enough--you need to choose a method that works to achieve the goal. In other words, you need to be pragmatic.

I’m very outcomes-oriented—what’s the best way to get there? Sometimes it’s being diplomatic and sometimes it’s being harsh…. So you just have to calibrate and figure out what is the end state you’re trying to get to…. It depends on what you are trying to achieve.

I got a boss mentality.

People want leaders they can look up to, who can solve problems and actually deliver results for our people.

A finisher doesn't always mean you have to take the game deep and then bash to finish. It is all about understanding situations and then adjusting your game with the aim that you have to get the job done.

As a former NCAA basketball player, many of the skills I now rely on as a leader took root on the basketball court: teamwork, integrity, and resilience are just some of the traits I've carried over into my professional game.

Without goals the very concept of intelligence is meaningless

It is the very essence of intelligence to coordinate means with a view to a remote end, and to undertake what it does not feel absolutely sure of carrying out.

A lot of success in life and business comes from knowing what you want to avoid: early death, a bad marriage, etc.

I am not against being pragmatic, because it is pragmatic to make a good pass, not a bad one. If I have the ball, what do I do with it? Could anybody argue that a bad solution like just kicking it away is pragmatic just because, sometimes, it works by accident?

Game theory, however, deals only with the way in which ultrasmart, all knowing people should behave in competitive situations, and has little to say to Mr. X as he confronts the morass of his problem.

The game of chess is a metaphor for life... it teaches you strategy and it teaches you the value of knowing where you are, where you want to get to and what obstacles are in the way that you need to navigate in order to get there.

Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place.

The essence of intelligence would seem to be in knowing when to think and act quickly, and knowing when to think and act slowly.

I started playing chess when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It is very good for children to learn to play chess, because it helps them to develop their mental abilities. It also helps to consolidate a person's character, because as it happens both in life and in a chess game we have to make decisions constantly. In chess there is no luck and no excuses: everything is in your hands.

Unless our hands go hand in hand with our heads, we will be able to do nothing whatsoever.

There are twenty ways of going to a point, and one is the shortest; but set out at once on one. A man who has that presence of mind which can bring to him on the instant all he knows, is worth for action a dozen men who know as much, but can only bring it to light slowly.