Condoleezza Rice Quotes

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.

Fully consider the future and the immediate results of all undertakings, and the good and bad sides of all past actions.

You can't help but... with 20/20 hindsight, go back and say, 'Look, had we done something different, we probably wouldn't be facing what we are facing today.'

The only thing to prevent what's past is to put a stop to it before it happens.

Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.

To-day is the parent of to-morrow. The present casts its shadow far into the future. That is the law of life, individual and social .... The means used to prepare the future become its cornerstone.

There are always consequences to actions that you take. There are consequences to inaction. And thinking through, asking the questions, "Well, then what happens? What comes next?" is critically important.

The business of life is to go forward; he who sees evil in prospect meets it in his way, and he who catches it by retrospection turns back to find it. That which is feared may sometimes be avoided, but that which is regretted to-day may be regretted again to-morrow.

Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.

If people are going to do things which have certain consequences that they would rather avoid, they should do whatever they need to avoid the consequences.

I don't know how I got to this point but it must be as a result of everything that has come before so if I were to change something, I might not be at this point now.

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.

The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect.

Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit. It is but common prudence to see the way out before we venture in.

History punishes those who come too late.

Tis easy to see, hard to foresee.

You can't operate by hindsight.

While we cannot predict the future, we will most surely live it. Every action and decision we take - or don't - ripples into the future. For the first time, we have the capability, the technology, and the knowledge to direct those ripples.

Planning means looking ahead.

Thinking ahead or thinking behind is not good for me.

Humans are possessed, to some degree, with the power of foresight. Yet we so often learn things the hard way, through disaster.

I've never known anybody who is able to see what's behind him.

When you make a choice, you change the future.

Every action and decision we take – or don’t – ripples into the future. For the first time we have the capability, the technology, and the knowledge to direct these ripples.

Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward. It is only when you stop and look to the rear that you see the corpse caught under your wheel.