Jean-Baptiste Say Quotes

Nothing is more dangerous in practice, than an obstinate, unbending adherence to a system.

Being stubborn can be a good thing. Being stubborn can be a bad thing. It just depends on how you use it.

Consistency frequently launches its devotees into obstinacy.

An ideologue believes that what is right will work. A pragmatist believes that what works is right.

Having principles is important, but you don’t want to walk off a cliff with your principles.

A man who has made up his mind on a given subject twenty-five years ago and continues to hold his political opinions after he has been proved to be wrong is a man of principle; while he who from time to time adapts his opinions to the changing circumstances of life is an opportunist.

I cannot do everything right, I need to have the scope to make errors. This is normal, as in real life.

We can't always play the perfect game.

We want to be as routine-oriented as we can, but it's just not always feasible.

Obstinacy alone is not a virtue.

His grandfather had often told him that he tried too hard to move trees when a wiser man would walk around them.

You can do anything you want, as long as it works.

I never want to feel like the way that I see it isthe only way. Sometimes mistakes happen and that's better than whatyou thought the scene could be. You allow room for the possibilities.

We need to learn how to honor and use a practice for as long as it serves us—which in most cases is a very long time—but to look at it as just that, a vehicle, a raft to help us cross through the waters of doubt, confusion, desire, and fear.

In practice, such trifles as contradictions in principle are easily set aside; the faculty of ignoring them makes the practical man.

When you become defensive, blame others, and do not accept and surrender to the moment, your life meets resistance. Any time you encounter resistance, recognize that if you force the situation, the resistance will only increase. You don't want to stand rigid like a tall oak that cracks and collapses in the storm. Instead, you want to be flexible, like a reed that bends with the storm and survives.

I can cope with nine of them, so they ought to be able to stand one of me. They could end the tiresomeness and stubbornness by giving me what I want.

The trick is to fix the problem you have, rather than the problem you want.

The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.

if I can't get what I want - well, I'll want what I can get.

If I look back after 10 weeks and say I really want to stay then maybe I can make that happen. If I say OK it was good, but I’m ready to go then I can go, but for now I’m taking it week by week.

I have very set and consistent principles, but I am flexible on tactics. I like to get the job done.

Usability is like love. You have to care, you have to listen, and you have to be willing to change. You’ll make mistakes along the way, but that’s where growth and forgiveness come in.

The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.

The shortest route is not the most direct one, but rather the one where the most favorable winds swell our sails:Mthat is the lesson that seafarers teach. Not to abide by this lesson is to be obstinate: here, firmness of character is tainted with stupidity.