Jeff Cooper Quotes

You've got to be able to act when it's necessary to act. And you've got to be able to act where the threat is.

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.

When your house is on fire—that is not the time to talk

It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.

These men are all talk; What is needed is action — action!

I'm good in an emergency.

What I always keep in mind is that we'll take action on things that need to be done, promptly and without hesitation.

In a crisis, the man worth his salt is the man who meets the needs of the situation in whatever way is necessary.

When we decide to do something, we do it quickly.

Sometimes, the decisions have to be taken in minutes, even seconds, and there would be no time to make the right decision. We understood that this could have ended in catastrophe.

When desperate ills demand a speedy cure, Distrust is cowardice, and prudence folly.

The Ultimate decision, the fastest decision there is, is ACTION!

This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Take massive action. So many people wait until they have all the answers.

At certain crucial moments - an emergency or an opportunity - one must act first and think later.

Sometimes it doesn't matter too much what choice you make, as long as you make it quick and stick to it.

The art of managing and leading comes down to a simple thing. Determining and facing reality about people, situations, products, and then acting decisively and quickly on that reality. Think how many times we have procrastinated, hoped it would get better. Most of the mistakes you've made have been through not being willing to face into it, straight in the mirror that reality you find, then taking action on it. That's all managing is, defining and acting. Not hoping, not waiting fro the next plan. Not rethinking it. Getting on with it. Doing it. Defining and doing it.

But here's the ugly truth: nature doesn't care about democracy, or who's right, or what's fair. And because of the slow-change aspect of climate, we can't wait until the worst effects are upon us to make a decision -- by then, it would be far, far too late. The scenario we may be faced with is one where doing something for the wrong reasons, run by the wrong people, may still save more lives than holding out for a more appealing option.

I always want to be as quick and decisive as I can be.

Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.

There's an easy method for finding someone when you hear them scream. First get a clean sheet of paper and a sharp pencil. Then sketch out nine rows of fourteen squares each. Then throw the piece of paper away and find whoever is screaming so you can help them. It is no time to fiddle with paper.

I'm not a panic guy. I don't do that. Can't. When you're a leader, you can never panic, no matter what's happening. The building could be falling down. Fire could be going all places. Somebody has to make a decision on how to get out.