Kiran Bedi Quotes

Before you act, consider; when you have considered, tis fully time to act.

Father was bold, and Mother was cautious. They never shouted at each other but argued constantly about strategy, and they taught me very early that before taking big risks, one must carefully figure the odds.

There is some risk involved in action, there always is. But there is far more risk in failure to act.

Before I make an action, think about the consequences. ... Any decision I make is a heavy decision.

The difference between a calculated risk and rolling the dice can be expressed in one word: homework.

Study the situation thoroughly, go over in your imagination the various courses of action possible to you and the consequences which can and may follow from each course. Pick out the course which gives the most promise and go ahead.

Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as knowing what to do next.

Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity.

The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That's the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

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

I like to study the question or the problem or the opportunity in hand, work with the team to come with the right answer, make a decision, and act upon it. Some people have said that, actually, today they pretty much like their bankers dull.

I also believe that it is time to begin the fundamental analysis of how we got here, what led us here and what we need to do in order to ensure that we are equipped with the best possible intelligence as we face these issues in the future.

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.

The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do.

Nevertheless, the realization that breaking a pencil point would have far less disastrous consequences played little or no role, I believe, in this decision to explore theory!

When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

At a very young age I was predicting outcomes, trying to take all the information and find the best route to wherever I was going. I avoided a lot of pitfalls because of that.

We should not be making near-term decisions with long-term consequences without robustly debating these questions and fully considering the substantial and unpredictable risks of these actions.

It’s much easier to have an attitude … than a policy.

[Cost-benefit analysis is used:] ... to produce lofty academic-sounding reasons for endless inaction.

The risks of inaction are far greater than the risks of action.

I made a cold calculation that I wasn’t going to waste time on a futile struggle.

You have to think a little smarter, be proactive, not reactive.

Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken.