Selected preparation quotes

1. I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.

2. Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

3. God helps only those who are prepared and determined to help themselves.

4. The first task of the Magician in every ceremony is therefore to render his Circle absolutely impregnable.

5. Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.

6. Education is the best provision for old age.

7. Better start rushing before the rush begins!

8. I prepare myself well. I know what I can do before I go in. I'm always confident.

9. When you're talking about fighting, as it is, with no rules, well then, baby you'd better train every part of your body!

10. And we will be ready, at the end of every day will be ready, will not say no to anything, will try to stay awake while everyone is sleeping, will not sleep, will make the shoes with the elves, will breathe deeply all the time, breathe in all the air full of glass and nails and blood, will breathe it and drink it, so rich, so when it comes we will not be angry, will be content, tired enough to go, gratefully, will shake hands with everyone, bye, bye, and then pack a bag, some snacks, and go to the volcano.

11. Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.

12. However deep you dig a well it affords no refuge in the time of flood.

13. The American arrives in Paris with a few French phrases he has culled from a conversational guide or picked up from a friend who owns a beret.

14. No performer should attempt to bite off red-hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth.

15. Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.

16. Life doesn't give you all the practice races you need.

17. One chance is all you need.

18. When the sun shineth, make hay.

19. Chance generally favors the prudent.

20. Life in the twentieth century is like a parachute jump: you have to get it right the first time.

21. Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.

22. Chance is always powerful. Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish.

23. The lamp burns bright when wick and oil are clean.

24. You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don't understand that's going to happen, then you're not ready, you won't do well in the markets.

25. The student who would build his knowledge on solid foundations, and proceed by just degrees to the pinnacles of truth, is directed by the great philosopher of France to begin by doubting of his own existence. In like manner, whoever would complete any arduous and intricate enterprise, should, as soon as his imagination can cool after the first blaze of hope, place before his own eyes every possible embarrassment that may retard or defeat him. He should first question the probability of success, and then endeavour to remove the objections that he has raised.

26. You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them.

27. I'm going to work so that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it.

28. When I was a fetus, I used to sneak out at night when my mother was sleeping. I figured I should start stealing stuff while I still had no fingerprints.

29. Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young.

30. My whole life is waiting for the questions to which I have prepared answers.

31. I accumulated in those years so fine a surplus in the Book of Observance that I have been drawing confidently upon it ever since.

32. The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.

33. The empire of Saturnus is gone by; Lord of the secret birth of things is he; Within the lap of earth, and in the depths Of the imagination dominates; And his are all things that eschew the light. The time is o'er of brooding and contrivance, For Jupiter, the lustrous, lordeth now, And the dark work, complete of preparation, He draws by force into the realm of light. Now must we hasten on to action, ere The scheme, and most auspicious positure Parts o'er my head, and takes once more its flight, For the heaven's journey still, and adjourn not.

34. Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, 'I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that's tough. I am going to snow anyway.'

35. 'The best research [for playing a drunk] is being a British actor for 20 years.'

36. I must say that acting was good training for the political life that lay ahead of us.

37. I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake- which I also keep handy.

38. Success is the necessary misfortune of life, but it is only to the very unfortunate that is comes early.

39. I believe that the best way to prepare fore for a Future Life is to be kind, live one day at a time, and do the work you can do best, doing it as well as you can.

40. If man is to be liberated to enjoy more leisure, he must also be prepared to enjoy this leisure fully and creatively. For people to have more time to read, to take part in their civic obligations, to know more about how their government functions and who their officials are might mean in a democracy a great improvement in the democratic processes. Let's begin, then, to think how we can prepare old and young for these new opportunities. Let's not wait until they come upon us suddenly and we have a crisis that we will be ill prepared to meet. (5 November 1958)

41. Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains save both.

42. I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time, so I could plan for it... You know, I just - I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn't yet.

43. I hold my honey and I store my bread In little jars and cabinets of my will. I label clearly, and each latch and lid I bid, Be firm till I return from hell.

44. It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

45. Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process.

46. I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung.

47. Tomorrow will be like today. Life wastes itself whilst we are preparing to live.

48. We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.

49. Before I go off and direct a movie I always look at 4 films. They tend to be: Seven Samurai, Lawrence of Arabia, It's a Wonderful Life, and The Searchers.

50. Every day the bucket a-go a well, one day the bottom a-go drop out

51. There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat. And in this case, also, the prudent will prepare themselves to encounter what they cannot prevent. Some people advise us to put on the brakes, as if the movement of which we are conscious were that of a railway train running down an incline. But a metaphor is no argument, though it be sometimes the gunpowder to drive one home and imbed it in the memory.

52. The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

53. Put your trust in God, but keep your powder dry.

54. As the Spanish proverb says, 'He, who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.' So it is in travelling; a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

55. Now life is the only art that we are required to practice without preparation, and without being allowed the preliminary trials, the failures and botches, that are essential for the training of a mere beginner. In life, we must begin to give a public performance before we have acquired even a novice's skill; and often our moments of seeming mastery are upset by new demands, for which we have acquired no preparatory facility. Life is a score that we play at sight, not merely before we have divined the intentions of the composer, but even before we have mastered our instruments; even worse, a large part of the score has been only roughly indicated, and we must improvise the music for our particular instrument, over long passages. On these terms, the whole operation seems one of endless difficulty and frustration; and indeed, were it not for the fact that some of the passages have been played so often by our predecessors that, when we come to them, we seem to recall some of the score and can anticipate the natural sequence of the notes, we might often give up in sheer despair. The wonder is not that so much cacophony appears in our actual individual lives, but that there is any appearance of harmony and progression.

56. Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.

57. Minerva House ... was 'a finishing establishment for young ladies,' where some twenty girls of the ages from thirteen to nineteen inclusive, acquired a smattering of everything and a knowledge of nothing.

58. Chorus: 'Hope for the best. Expect the worst. / Life is a play. We're unrehearsed.'

59. Wilber, set the table. There's going to be good eats tonight.

60. I'm just not into vegetable bondage.

61. A torch.. and he's brought protective eyewear, God bless 'im! I always like it when somebody brings their own welding mask.

62. there are four things that man own that are no use at sea, a compass, a rudder, a sail and the fear of going down.

63. Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.

64. Give a girl the correct footwear and she can conquer the world.

65. I wanted to give them something to think about when they prepare for me in future tournaments. (on why he played 1.d4, 1.c4 & 1.Nf3 a few times)

66. Jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft is not a natural act. So let's do it right, enjoy the view. Come on. (as Gunnery Sgt. Tom 'Gunny' Highway in 'Heartbreak Ridge' - 1986)

67. I shall wear my best black and my white alpacka coat to keep off the dust and flies replied Mr Salteena. I shall put some red ruge on my face said Ethel because I am very pale owing to the drains in this house.

68. Hang on to your wigs and keys.

69. You take it easy, Bill Goldberg. You take it easy, I tell you what... The Rock knows that you're nervous about this Sunday at Backlash, okay The Rock don't blame you! Cause you know The Rock is just gonna slap the taste outta your mouth this Sunday at Backlash, Bill Goldberg, you know that right? You know that, ol' gigglepanties, don't look at The Rock like that!

70. Where shalll I find God? In myself. That is the true Mystical Doctrine. But then I myself must be in a state for Him to come and dwell in me. This is the whole aim of the Mystical Life: and all Mystical Rules in all times and countries have been laid down for putting the soul in such a state.

71. Well, they're taking kids out of the country and sending them over there, National Guard kids and Army Reserve. They're sending kids who are barely prepared for this, and they're sending them over there to kill people, which is a serious thing. And to kill not terrorists, but to kill insurgents. I sort of find myself in agreement, uncomfortably, with Patrick Buchanan, who writes about this in his book, Where The Right Went Wrong. And writes that great powers, the way they skidded off the road, was getting involved in wars. That it's the role of great powers to stay out of wars.

72. While it is possible to play a single game, unrelated to any other game events past or future, it is the campaign for which these rules are designed. It is relatively simple to set up a fantasy campaign, and better still, it will cost almost nothing. In fact you will not even need miniature figures, although their occasional employment is recommended for real spectacle when battles are fought. A quick glance at the Equipment section of this booklet will reveal just how little is required. The most extensive requirement is time. The campaign referee will have to have sufficient time to meet the demands of his players, he will have to devote a number of hours to laying out the maps of his 'dungeons' and upper terrain before the affair begins.

73. A wagonload of money will scarcely purchase a wagonload of provisions.

74. The cab's idling out front, and she's opening a new bottle of wine.

75. There was once a little man called Niggle, who had a long journey to make. He did not want to go, indeed the whole idea was distasteful to him; but he could not get out of it. He knew he would have to start some time, but he did not hurry with his preparations.

76. Are you ready for unorthodox procedures?

77. To be watchful, I decided, was my business. And I could not get rid of the feeling that I might soon have cause for all my vigilance.

78. I suppose my determination to be a soldier stems from that date. I mean the real thing, not the parades and the uniforms and the glamour, but the logistics, the offensive advantage, the speed and surprise--the power. A better-prepared, stronger, toughter, faster, meaner son-of-a-bitch than any who came through that door.

79. Just as a horse must have endurance and no defects, so it is with weapons. Horses should walk strongly, and swords and companion swords should cut strongly. Spears and halberds must stand up to heavy use: bows and guns must be sturdy. Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative.

80. Examine your environment.

81. 'I can't play that without the band... Don't worry, I came prepared. This is a big gig for me.' -- Replying to a request from the audience during a February 27, 1971 solo show at Royal Festival Hall, London.

82. This is our epoch, good or bad, beautiful or ugly, rich or poor - we did not choose it. This is our epoch, the air we breathe, the mud given us, the bread, the fire, the spirit! Let us accept Necessity courageously. It is our lot to have fallen on fighting times. Let us tighten our belts, let us arm our hearts, our minds, and our bodies. Let us take our place in battle!

83. Such fools they were in Battle School, to let so few girls in. It left the boys completely helpless against a woman when they returned to Earth.

84. May the day when you need courage never come even as she said it, though, she knew the day would come.

85. American liberty has been tentatively saved for the last few decades not by the self-discipline of its citizens but by their instincts, which have not yet been blunted quite enough to prevent the people from realizing imminent dangers at the eleventh hour. Twice, now, we have turned at the last moment and armed ourselves to prevent the discipline of ruthlessness-the next most powerful discipline to responsible liberty-from overthrowing us. This second time, we came within months, and perhaps even weeks, as a body of common men, of a position from which not even our instincts could have extricated us. It is not yet utterly certain that we have escaped, but the presumption is that we shall.

86. Poor verdant fool, and now green ice! thy joys, Large and as lasting as thy perch of grass, Bid us lay in 'gainst winter rain, and poise Their floods with an o'erflowing glass.

87. Paradoxical as it may seem, a Latin prose or a geometry problem, even though they are done wrong, may be of a great service one day, provided we devote the right kind of effort to them. Should the occasion arise, they can one day make us better able to give someone in affliction exactly the help required to save him, at the supreme moment of his need.

88. The worst comes to the worst.

89. As in his public affairs, so in his private life the American rarely prepares himself for the future. He is wholly unwilling to have anything transmitted to him by water that he can get by rail. It irks him to wait the slow process of freighting when there is an express car coming to his town, and if somebody will soon discover how to deliver by aeroplane, that is the way he will obtain what he wants. He never wants it until he wants it, and when he wants it, he wants it at once. The farmer does not look over his machinery in the winter time to ascertain what it needs in the way of repair; but waits until a week or ten days before he needs it and then telegraphs for the repair parts to be sent by express.

90. The natural born reason we didn't git no yew-ranium when we crosses the li'l yew tree and the gee-ranium is on account of cause we didn't have no geiger counter.

91. Yeah, I'm going to try and play my best regardless of who I play. And seeing that he's the Ryder Cup captain, maybe it will help. I don't know. ... I feel fortunate to be where I'm at and I just want to keep the momentum going.

92. 'When the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the plane, the plane will fly.'

93. Carley: I was wondering if there are any pre performance habits that you have before you go on stage.

94. When taken, To be well shaken.

95. 'Before we are in a position to advise our people on the right course we must also make sure that we have the knowledge and the awareness required to fulfill this duty properly. If we do not have this, we can not lead.'

96. Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand:

97. Old is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young

98. 'I told Anthony that if I play Dickie Greenleaf, I want to eat in the best restaurants and drink the best wines every night because he would'. - on his role in The Talented Mr. Ripley

99. I am standing in the wings of a theatre waiting for my cue to go onstage. As I stand there I can hear the play proceeding, and suddenly it dawns on me that the lines I have learnt are not in this play at all, but belong to quite a different one. Panic seizes me; I wonder frenziedly what should I do. Then I get my cue. Stumbling, falling over the unfamiliar scenery, I make my way onto the stage, and then look for guidance to the prompter, whose head i can just see rising out of the floor-boards. Alas he only signals helplessly to me and I realise of course that his script is different from mine. I begin to speak my lines, but they are incomprehensible to the other actors and abhorrent to the audience, who begins to his and shout: 'Get off the stage!', 'Let the play go on!', 'You're interrupting!'. I am paralysed and can think of nothing to do but to go on standing there and speaking my lines that don't fit. The only lines I know.

100. I am equally passionate about the struggle between the North and the Southern American states. Of course, my heart goes out to the North. But alas! It is the South who acted with the most force, wisdom, and solidarity, which makes them worthy of the triumph they have received in every encounter so far. It is true that the South has been preparing for war for three years now, while the North has been forced to improvise. The surprising success of the ventures of the American people, for the most part happy; the banality of the material well being, where the heart is absent; and the national vanity, altogether infantile and sustained with very little cost; all seem to have helped deprave these people, and perhaps this stubborn struggle will be beneficial to them in so much as it helps the nation regain its lost soul. This is my first impression; but it could very well be that I will change my mind upon seeing things up close. The only thing is, I will not have enough time to examine really closely.