WIST Quotations

Rickover, Hyman -- Speech (1982-01-28), Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, 97th Congress, 2nd Session

Dave — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:09:43 +0000

A preoccupation with the so-called bottom line of profit and loss statements, coupled with a lust for expansion, is creating an environment in which fewer businessmen honor traditional values; where responsibility is increasingly disassociated from the exercise of power; where skill in financial manipulation is valued more than actual knowledge and experience in the business; where attention and effort is directed mostly to short-term considerations, regardless of longer range consequences.

Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) Polish-American naval engineer, admiral [b. Chaim Gdala Rykower]
Speech (1982-01-28), Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, 97th Congress, 2nd Session
(Source)

Gates, Bill -- The Road Ahead, “Afterword” (1996 ed.)

Dave — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 22:16:15 +0000

People often overestimate what will happen in the next two years and underestimate what will happen in ten.

Bill Gates (b. 1955) American software magnate [William Henry Gates III]
The Road Ahead, “Afterword” (1996 ed.)
(Source)

First use of this specific formulation, but similar phrases can be traced back to the 1960s. More discussion of variations on this theme: People Tend To Overestimate What Can Be Done In One Year And To Underestimate What Can Be Done In Five Or Ten Years – Quote Investigator®.

Clarke, James F. -- “Wanted, a Statesman!”, Old and New Magazine (Dec 1870)

Dave — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 12:04:04 +0000

A politician, for example, is a man who thinks of the next election; while the statesman thinks of the next generation.

James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888) American theologian and author
“Wanted, a Statesman!”, Old and New Magazine (Dec 1870)
(Source)

Often paraphrased: "A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation."

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2

Dave — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:04:28 +0000

It is not possible to lay down an inflexible rule as to when compromise is right and when wrong; when it is a sign of the highest statesmanship to temporize, and when it is merely a proof of weakness. Now and then one can stand uncompromisingly for a naked principle and force people up to it. This is always the attractive course; but in certain great crises it may be a very wrong course. Compromise, in the proper sense, merely means agreement; in the proper sense opportunism should merely mean doing the best possible with actual conditions as they exist.
A compromise which results in a half-step toward evil is all wrong, just as the opportunist who saves himself for the moment by adopting a policy which is fraught with future disaster is all wrong; but no less wrong is the attitude of those who will not come to an agreement through which, or will not follow the course by which, it is alone possible to accomplish practical results for good.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2
(Source)

Collected in Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1902).

King, Martin Luther -- Strength to Love, ch. 10 “Shattered Dreams,” sec. 2 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:52:39 +0000

We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. Only in this way shall we live without the fatigue of bitterness and the drain of resentment.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Strength to Love, ch. 10 “Shattered Dreams,” sec. 2 (1963)
(Source)