The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Uncertainty
It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.
Winston Churchill The Second World War · 1948-1953

Quotes

“Knowledge is of no real value if all you can tell me is what happened yesterday. It is necessary to tell what will happen tomorrow.”

Richard Feynman · The Meaning of It All, 1998 · Primary source

“There never has been security. No man has ever known what he would meet around the next corner; if life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.”

Eleanor Roosevelt · Tomorrow is Now, 1963 · Primary source

“In my life I had come to realize that when things were going very well indeed it was just the time to anticipate trouble. And, conversely, I learned from pleasant experience that at the most despairing crisis, when all looked sour beyond words, some delightful break was apt to lurk just around the corner.”

Amelia Earhart · Last Flight, 1937 · Primary source

“The old order won’t give way to the new without a phase of experimentation and chaos in between.”

Andrew S. Grove · High Output Management, 1983 · Primary source

“He that builds before he counts the cost, acts foolishly; and he that counts before he builds, finds he did not count wisely.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“’Tis easy to see, hard to foresee.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“A company’s ability to respond to unplanned events, good or bad, is a prime indicator of its ability to compete.”

Bill Gates · Business @ the Speed of Thought, 1999 · Primary source

“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”

Winston Churchill · The Second World War, 1948-1953 · Primary source

“Hope makes a good breakfast. Eat plenty of it.”

Ian Fleming · From Russia, with Love, 1957 · Primary source

“You never get real adventures without a bit of risk somewhere.”

Ian Fleming · Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, 1964 · Primary source

“If you have competence, you pretty much know its boundaries already. To ask the question [of whether you are past the boundary] is to answer it.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“If you don’t get elementary probability into your repertoire, you go through a long life like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is so far as I can tell. It doesn’t frighten me.”

Richard Feynman · Horizon: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, 1981 · Primary source

“How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened!”

Thomas Jefferson · Letter to Thomas Jefferson Smith, 1825 · Primary source

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.”

Marie Curie · No reliable source

“Marry, and you will regret it. Do not marry, and you will also regret it. Marry or do not marry, you will regret it either way.”

Søren Kierkegaard · Either/Or, 1843 · Primary source

Works

Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1844
Experience

An exploration of perception, change, grief and uncertainty, examining how temperament and circumstance shape human experience and limit claims to certainty.

Read summary·Explore 4 quotes
Richard Feynman · 1981
Horizon: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

An interview exploring Feynman’s scientific curiosity, approach to knowledge, childhood influences, teaching, and reflections on the atomic bomb.

Read summary·Explore 2 quotes

Related Tags

Resilience 28 Setbacks 3 Good fortune 2 Perspective 18 Organisational change 5 Experimentation 8 Transition 1 Adaptation 17 Planning 4 Cost estimation 1 Budgeting 3 Contingency 1 Foresight 4 Prediction 2 Judgement 29 Organisational agility 1 Contingency planning 1 Competitive resilience 1 Rapid response 1 Worry 4 Anxiety 1 Anticipation 6 Decision-making 30 Present action 2 Practical judgement 6 Fear 10 Understanding 15 Knowledge 16 Reason 5 Hope 12 Optimism 9 Encouragement 1 Adventure 7 Risk 27 Courage 23 Experience 28 Circle of competence 3 Self-awareness 10 Knowledge limits 1 Probability 2 Quantitative reasoning 2 Doubt 3 Purpose 30 Existential questions 1 Intellectual humility 4 Testability 1 Scientific knowledge 1 Models 3 Change 7 Imagination 16 Choice 5 Regret 4 Marriage 6 Indecision 1 Perception 20 Grief 5 Transcendentalism 32 Scientific curiosity 3 Scientific method 2 Manhattan Project 4 Science education 1