Ellen Key Quotes

The long view counts.

Part of getting other people to focus on the future rather than being myopically focused on the present is about living that way yourself and showing that you can make choices today that are about future outcomes and still be having a great time into the present and enjoying your life.

A wise man in China asked his gardener to plant a shrub. The gardener objected that it only flowered once in a hundred years. "In that case," said the wise man, "plant it immediately." [On the importance of fundamental research.]

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

Sometimes leadership is planting trees under whose shade you'll never sit. It may not happen fully till after I'm gone. But I know that the steps we're taking are the right steps.

We must respect the past, and mistrust the present, if we wish to provide for the safety of the future.

Happy is the person who knows what to remember of the past, what to enjoy in the present, and what to plan for in the future.

The long run may be too long.

Neither man nor nation can prosper unless, in dealing with the present, thought is steadily taken for the future.

Foreknowledge is power.

Don't be so shortsighted that if it doesn't happen right now, you're not going to be happy. You are sowing seeds that will reap a great harvest for generations to come.

Experience only can teach men not to prefer what strikes them for the present moment, to what will have much greater weight with the them hereafter.

The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardner objected that the tree was slow growing and wouldn't reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, "In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!

Leaders anticipate. Losers react

The wise man guards against the future as if it were the present.

Romance says, ' I want it now!'. Wisdom urges patience

Foresight is not about predicting the future, it's about minimizing surprise.

I hope people will think very carefully about the future.

We have to always look ahead enough moves to be well prepared, even for victory!

Never forget that anticipation is an important part of life.

Imagination judges the future by the past, but concerns itself with the future more than with the past.

To anticipate and prevent disasterous contingencies would be the part of wisdom and patriotism.

We shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.

The next thing to be said about what long-range planning is not, is that it does not deal with future decisions. It deals with the futurity of present decisions. Decisions exist only in the present. The question that faces the long-range planner is not what we should do tomorrow.