1. It takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one’s nose, a good deal of it to know in what direction to point that organ.
- H. Auden (1907-73) U.S. poet. The Dyers Hand (1963)
2. We made a professional judgment about the appropriate accounting treatment that turned out to be wrong.
Joseph Berardino (b.1951) U.S. business executive. Referring to Ernon’s accounting practices. Submission to a hearing on Ernon (December 12, 2002)
3. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifies it to your opinion.
Edmund Burke (1729-97) British philosopher and politician. Speech, Bristol, United Kingdom (November 3, 1774)
4. Power in a corporation becomes residual and dwells in the background. It is the ability to exercise nice matters of judgment. Oliver Lyttelton Chandos (1893-1972) British statesman and industrialist. Memoirs of Lord Chandos: An Unexpected View from the Summit (1963)
5. I leave this rule for others when I’m dead. Be always sure you’re right-then go ahead.
Davy Crockett (1786-1836) U.S. frontiersman, pioneer, and politician. His motto in the War of 1812. Autobiography (1834)
6. A man with a surplus can control circumstances, but a man without a surplus is controlled by them, and often has no opportunity to exercise judgment.
Harvey Firestone (1868-1938) U.S. founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber. Quoted in The Arizona Republic (2000)
7. When you’re caught in the turbulence of a strategic inflection point, the sad fact is that instinct and judgment are all you’ve got to guide you through.
Andrew S. Grove (b.1936) U.S. entrepreneur, author and chairman of Intel Corporation. Attrib.
8. There are more pompous, arrogant, self-centered mediocre…people running corporate America…their judgments and misjudgments have made me rich.
Joseph D. Jamail, JR. (b.1925) U.S. lawyer. Referring to the $10.5 billion settlement he won for Pennzoil against Texaco. New York Times (November 21, 1985)
9. A community that endures a contemptible law is itself contemptible.
Alfred G. Stephens (1865-1933) Australian journalist and literary critic. Bookfellow (March 1, 1912)
10. Hindsight gives everyone perfect vision.
Chris Wright (b.1944) British entrepreneur and music promoter. Quoted in The Adventure Capitalists (Jeff Grout and Lynne Curry; 1998)