Plan, Prepare, Prevail: 61 Quotes About Expecting the Unexpected

 

In honor of National Preparedness Month (September) and Financial Planning Month (October), I have put together a set of quotes that remind us to expect the unexpected.

Some of them forecast doom and gloom.  Others are cautiously optimistic.  No matter the tone, the words, or the originator, the quotes below focus on preparedness and planning.

Get ready to expect the unexpected... Because I can’t predict the future.  Can you?

 

Preparedness and Planning Quotes

Ready are you? What know you of ready? ~ Yoda

Let us not go over the old ground. Let us rather prepare for what is to come. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work. ~ Harry Golden

Preparedness is the ultimate confidence builder. ~ Vince Lombardi

There is no harm in hoping for the best as long as you are prepared for the worst. ~ Stephen King

Remember, if you depend on everyone else to take care of you, you’re leaving the most important person out. Don’t wait to make a plan. Know yourself, know your situation, and be prepared to save your own life. ~ Jerzell Black

Because you never know when the day before is the day before… Prepare for tomorrow. ~ Bobby Akart

All things are ready, if our minds be so. ~ William Shakespeare

A prudent person foresees danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. ~ Proverbs 27:12

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~ Nelson Henderson

Private sector preparedness is not a luxury, it is a cost of doing business in the post 9/11 world. It is ignored at a tremendous potential cost in lives, money, and national security. ~ The 9/11 Commission Report

Sometimes it takes a natural disaster to reveal a social disaster. ~ Jim Wallis

Every person who prepares is one less person who panics in a crisis. ~ attributed to Mike Adamson

We cannot stop natural disasters but we can arm ourselves with knowledge: so many lives wouldn’t have to be lost if there was enough disaster preparedness. ~ Petra Nemcova

Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program. ~ Spencer W. Kimball

Preparedness is like breathing. If you don’t, you perish. ~ Anonymous

Remember: when disaster strikes, the time to prepare has passed. ~ Steven Cyros

Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earth quake cannot happen here. ~ Ezra Taft Benson

Preparation through education is less costly than learning through tragedy. ~ Max Mayfield

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable. ~ George S. Patton

Optimism bias is a well-known psychological phenomenon that causes a person to believe that they are less at risk of experiencing a negative event compared to others. Don’t be fooled – be prepared. ~ EVAQ8

Make preparations in advance. You never have trouble if you are prepared for it. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Prepare and prevent, don’t repair and repent. ~ Anonymous

As technology sweeps through every facet of our lives, changes are occurring so rapidly that it can be difficult for us to keep our lives in balance. To maintain some semblance of stability in our lives, it is essential that we plan for our future. ~ L. Tom Perry

One of life’s most painful moments comes when we must admit that we didn’t do our homework, that we are not prepared. ~  Merlin Olsen

While natural disasters capture headlines and national attention short-term, the work of recovery and rebuilding is long-term. ~ Sylvia Mathews Burwell

Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air…but only for one second without hope. ~ attributed to Hal Lindsey

If you believe you can accomplish everything by “cramming” at the eleventh hour, by all means, don’t lift a finger now. But you may think twice about beginning to build your ark once it has already started raining. ~ Max Brooks

When you’re thirsty, it’s too late to think about digging a well. ~ Anonymous

Each of us as human beings has a responsibility to reach out to help our brothers and sisters affected by disasters. One day it may be us or our loved ones needing someone to reach out and help. ~ Michael W. Hawkins

Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their year’s supply of food…and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year’s supply of debt and are food-free. ~ Thomas S. Monson

Better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have. ~ Franz Kafka

Plan for what is difficult while it is easy; do what is great while it is small. ~ Sun Tzu

Going back to a simpler life based on living by sufficiency rather than excess is not a step backward. ~ Yvon Chouniard

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. ~ Chinese Proverb

Knowledge is the key to survival; the real beauty of that is that it doesn’t weigh anything. ~ Ray Mears

What I have seen with my own eyes makes me afraid not to do what I can to protect against the calamities. ~ Spencer W. Kimball

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. ~ Arnold H. Glasow

The future belongs to those who prepare for it today. ~ Malcolm X

The environment around you shapes who you are. How you handle an emergency or how you react when someone is rude to you, that’s you. ~ Halsey

As you prepare for the many things that fall brings, such as school, harvest and winter, it is important to be prepared for the unthinkable. Supplies and a plan will significantly reduce panic and chaos in the event of an emergency. ~ Mike Crapo

Self-reliance is a prerequisite to the complete freedom to act. ~ Marion G. Romney

Instead of thinking of reasons why it can’t be done, find ways to do it. ~ Neil Bergt

Hope never abandons you. You abandon it. ~ George Weinberg

Despair is most often the offspring of ill-preparedness. ~ Donald E. Williams, Jr

More than ever before, we need to learn and apply the principles of economic self-reliance. We do not know when the crisis involving sickness or unemployment may affect our own circumstances. ~ Ezra Taft Benson

A goal without a plan is just a wish. ~ Anonymous

Unless you’re free from the bondage of paying for your past, you can’t responsibly live in the present and plan for the future. ~ Tsh Oxenreider

Always prepare yourself for a financial emergency, even when you don’t see a possibility of a rainy day in your future. ~ Edmond Mbiaka

Preparedness is a way of life that brings its own rewards. ~ Spencer W. Kimball

Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving. ~ Warren Buffett

Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth… ~ Rumi

…save now or pay later…let go of the mentality of spending money for immediate gratification to protect yourself in the long-term. ~ Jeannette Bajalia

 

A man’s mind will very gradually refuse to make itself up until it is driven and compelled by emergency. ~ Anthony Trollope

The things that are up to us are by nature free, unhindered, and unimpeded; the things that are not up to us are weak, enslaved, hindered, not our own. ~ Epictetus

There are no greater treasures than the highest human qualities such as compassion, courage and hope. Not even tragic accident or disaster can destroy such treasures of the heart. ~ Daisaku Ikeda

Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them. ~ Suzanne Necker

He who will not economize will have to agonize. ~ Confucius

Opportunity has the uncanny habit of favoring those who have paid the price of years of preparation. ~ Anonymous

The only way to truly find meaning and fulfillment is to look at the disaster, the pain, the difficulty, and know with complete certainty that good can come from this. ~ Yehuda Berg

Your task is not to foresee the future, but to enable it. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

 

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