Pragmatic Decision-Making Quotes

A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore, it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it according to the necessity of the case.

I think ultimately is, Donald Trump is pragmatic.

A prudent ruler cannot and should not observe faith [keep his promises] when such observance is to his disadvantage.

Radical activists can't ignore the fact that we live in this world, like it or not, and have to make difficult decisions about which paths are the best - or sometimes, the least harmful. There are no abstract formulas. Have to think through each case on its own.

So far as he is able, a prince should stick to the path of good but, if the necessity arises, he should know how to follow evil.

I don't see much use in general slogans. Sometimes it is worth resisting evil with lesser evil, very commonly in fact.

There's always a tension in my world between the pragmatic and the practical and the theoretical. I have a very theoretical turn of mind, but I also like to test things in place.

We see that leaders in Western Europe [there are some debates of course, we also see that and analyse it all] stick to, I cannot say right or wrong ones, it always depends on someone's view, but I think, very pragmatic approaches in addressing economic issues.

Man acts from adequate motives relative to his interest, and not on metaphysical speculations.

The center has had the challenge of always having to be reasonable, balanced. If you're on the right, you can reach to the right; and on the left, you can reach left. But the center hasn't always sold as well in politics - it doesn't fit neatly on a bumper sticker. But what we're seeing is that citizens in countries around the world are realizing that, no, it's more important to be responsible and optimistic and thoughtful about the solutions and not feed knee-jerk, negative emotions.

There is more respect to be won in the opinion of this world by a resolute and courageous liquidation of unsound positions than by the most stubborn pursuit of extravagant or unpromising objectives.

Always retain the ability to walk away, without sentimentality, from a situation that felt unmanageable. That was a basic rule of survival. Don't lift a finger for a lost cause.

The open mind never acts: when we have done our utmost to arrive at a reasonable conclusion, we still must close our minds for the moment with a snap, and act dogmatically on our conclusions.

We must consult our means rather than our wishes.

A rational man acting in the real world may be defined as one who decides where he will strike a balance between what he desires and what can be done.