Never promise more than you can perform.
Publilius SyrusRead
It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.
Interpretation
Plans should be flexible and adaptable to change.
This quote emphasizes the importance of flexibility in planning. A rigid plan that cannot adapt to new information or changing circumstances is typically destined to fail or lead to undesirable outcomes. Good plans allow for modifications based on ongoing assessments and necessary adjustments, ensuring they remain relevant and effective.
In practice
In a team meeting discussing project updates, one might say this quote to encourage team members to remain open to changes.
Never promise more than you can perform.
Pain forces even the innocent to lie.
In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.
Admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly.
What a tragedy is help where it harms what it supports!
The miser is as much in want of what he has as of what he has not.
Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.
It's not just that reporting gives you a bigger slice of life, gives - lends verisimilitude to what you are doing - it's that it feeds the imagination.
You proceed from a false assumption: I have no ego to bruise.
None so little enjoy themselves, and are such burdens to themselves, as those who have nothing to do. Only the active have the true relish of life.
People are afraid, very much afraid of those who know themselves. They have a certain power, a certain aura and a certain magnetism.
Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
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