Project planning can be tough.
There’s risks to mitigate, stakeholders to include, and other ups and downs to contend with.
So we put together a list of famous project planning quotes for your inspiration!
These quotes on project planning will hopefully help focus your team and jolt you into finishing your plans. The end goal depends on you making a solid plan to chart your destination.
In this post, you’ll find powerful quotes on planning from business leaders, entrepreneurs, and powerful leaders that will show you the value of moving your projects forward.
If you’re looking for project management software to help manage these projects, check out Workzone; software that’s powerful but still easy to use for all users.
46 Project Planning Quotes
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, writer and pioneering aviator
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States
“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” ― Yogi Berra, former New York Yankees catcher
“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” ― Peter F. Drucker, author and educator
“I am a person who continually destroys the possibilities of a future because of the numbers of alternative viewpoints I can focus on the present.” ― Doris Lessing, author of The Golden Notebook
“Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.” ― Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister
“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” ― Alan Lakein, author
“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower, former U.S. President
“The more time you spend contemplating what you should have done… you lose valuable time planning what you can and will do.” ― Lil Wayne, rapper
“Don’t worry about planning every step of your life.” ― Rick Wagoner, former chairman and CEO of General Motors
“A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door.” ― Confucius, Chinese philosopher
“Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” ― Richard Cushing, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church
“Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and essayist
“Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1,000 percent return on energy!” ― Brian Tracy, author and motivational speaker
“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt, former first lady of the United States
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” ― John F. Kennedy, former U.S. President
“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” — Warren Buffett, investor
“I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.” ― Benjamin Disraeli, British politician and author
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” ― Pablo Picasso, painter
“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” ― Tom Landry, Hall of Fame football coach
“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” ― Thomas Edison, inventor
“You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don’t believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can’t possibly foresee now.” ― Harry S. Truman, former U.S. President
“Just because you make a good plan, doesn’t mean that’s what’s gonna happen.” ― Taylor Swift, singer and songwriter
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” ― George S. Patton, former Officer in the U.S. Army
“Unless you have a definite, precise, clearly set goals, you are not going to realize the maximum potential that lies within you.” ― Zig Ziglar, author and motivational speaker
“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” ― Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” ― Leonard Bernstein, composer and conductor
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” ― Abraham Lincoln, former U.S. President
“Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.” ― Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
“Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you ready or not, to put this plan into action.” ― Napoleon Hill, author
“The reason that everybody likes planning is that nobody has to do anything.” ― Jerry Brown, Governor of California
“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” ― Henry David Thoreau, essayist and poet
“…everything has a past. Everything – a person, an object, a word, everything. If you don’t know the past, you can’t understand the present and plan properly for the future.” ― Chaim Potok, author
“A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.” ― Brian Tracy, author and motivational speaker
“Proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance.” ― Stephen Keague, author
“Plan your next move because every step contributes towards your goal.” ― Sukant Ratnakar, author and motivational speaker
“Always have a plan, and believe in it. Nothing happens by accident.” ― Chuck Knox, former NFL head coach
“The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.” ― Denis Waitley, writer and motivational speaker
“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.” ― Fitzhugh Dodson, author
“I ain’t Martin Luther King. I don’t need a dream. I have a plan.” ― Spike Lee, actor and director
“Never begin the day until it is finished on paper.” ― Jim Rohn, entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker
“Speaking from my personal experiences, setting goals, along with a detailed action plan, has actually changed my life from one cast in frustration to one of purpose.” ― Catherine Pulsifer, author
“Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” ― Robert H. Schuller, author and televangelist
“The trouble with many plans is that they are based on the way things are now. To be successful, your personal plan must focus on what you want, not what you have.” ― Nido Qubein, president of High Point University
“If plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters – 204 if you’re in Japan.” ― Claire Cook, writer and motivational speaker
“We cannot drive people; we must direct their development” – Henry Gantt, creator of the Gantt Chart
Excited from all these project planning quotes? Does your team need a powerful project management tool that the whole team can use? Workzone may be just the ticket…
