James Baker Quotes

Sometimes it is better to delay.

To delay action until there Is one hundred percent certainty Is always to postpone political action forever.

The key is to wait. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to do nothing.

It is circumstance and proper timing that give an action its character and make it either good or bad.

The highest wisdom of a State is a wise and masterly inactivity …

Procrastinate now, don't put it off.

Time drinketh up the essence of every great and noble action which ought to be performed, and which is delayed in the execution.

There is always a reason you can’t do something.

We shall not, I believe, be obliged to alter our policy of watchful waiting.

The best way you make policy in Washington is by doing it yourself.

The long view counts.

You can't expect to see calves running in the field the day after you put the bull to the cows.

The important thing is to know when the hour is right to be seized.

Let's sleep on it.

Nine times out of ten your two smartest policy advisors disagree.

Patience is also a form of action.

I can solve every problem a year later.

There is not only a right thing to do. There is a right time to do it.

The statesman must weigh the rewards of success against the penalties of failure. And he is permitted only one guess.

A good policy badly executed becomes a bad policy.

Let me emphatically point out that … sympathy is useless unless it is accompanied by indignation, and indignation is useless if it exhausts itself in words instead of taking shape in deeds.

Providing the vision is easy. Getting policy right is hard. The hard thing about the modern world is doing it. The world is changing so fast.

An opportunity missed once will present itself again, whereas a too hasty action can never be recalled.

Governing is about selecting.

Who reflects too much will accomplish little.