A Simple Plan Quotes & Sayings

It was a simple plan, but he was a simple man, and sometimes simple was good. — Dan Wells

He tried to go over the plan with the captain, who interrupted him with a dismissive flick of the hand. "That's not a plan. That's simple piracy. You needn't teach me that."
Arin was taken aback. "Before the war, the Herrani were the best at sea. We gained wealth through sea trade. We weren't pirates."
The captain laughed and laughed. — Marie Rutkoski

Why bother with a cunning plan when a simple one will do? — Terry Pratchett

This was the plan: we would take a holy and sacred picture of the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley, to the very summit of the earth; once there, we would place it with sincere reverence amongst the chimerical shimmering palaces of ice and snow and then (accompanied by some weird Zen magic) we would light joss sticks, dance about making screechy kung-fu noises, get off our faces, and that would be it: Planet Earth saved. Simple. — Mark Manning

The art of managing and leading comes down to a simple thing. Determining and facing reality about people, situations, products, and then acting decisively and quickly on that reality. Think how many times we have procrastinated, hoped it would get better. Most of the mistakes you've made have been through not being willing to face into it, straight in the mirror that reality you find, then taking action on it. That's all managing is, defining and acting. Not hoping, not waiting fro the next plan. Not rethinking it. Getting on with it. Doing it. Defining and doing it. — Jack Welch

Get out of your own way ... stop the paralysis by analysis ... decide what you want, create a simple plan, and get moving! — Steve Maraboli

I have wrought my simple plan
If I give one hour of joy
To the boy who's half a man,
Or the man who's half a boy. — Arthur Conan Doyle

It began with a perfect plan. Shape-wise we had a circle, a simple uncomplicated curve to guide us comfortably from one thing to another, an easy predictable ride promising a natural progression from A to B, C and D, and so on until we reached our destination. But somewhere down that smooth line, I think around F, it all went pear-shaped. — Ivana Hruba

It is my plan to create a city that is direct and simple ... To leave out all that is ugly, to eliminate the unnecessary, and to give Florida and the nation a resort city as perfect as study and ideals can make it. — Addison Mizner

He spent the next two days in careful, decisive preparation efficiently conducted around his day job. The three imperatives of his mission were embedded in every action he performed: (1) keep it simple; (2) provide for every contingency; and (3) never panic no matter how much your plan goes awry, which it occasionally did. However, if there were a fourth rule, it would have to be: exploit the fact that most people are fools when it comes to things that actually matter, like their own survival. He had never suffered from that shortcoming. — David Baldacci

1. Society needs laws. While anarchy can often turn a humdrum weekend into something unforgettable, eventually the mob must be kept from stealing the conch and killing Piggy. And while it would be nice if that "something" was simple human decency, anybody who has witnessed the "50% Off Wedding Dress Sale" at Filene's Basement knows we need a backup plan - preferably in writing. On the other hand, too many laws can result in outright tyranny, particularly if one of those laws is "Kneel before Zod." Somewhere between these two extremes lies the legislative sweet-spot that produces just the right amount of laws for a well-adjusted society - more than zero, less than fascism. — Jon Stewart

We must remember in our struggles that our duty lies outside of trying to understand God's plan. He never asks that of us. Instead, He wants to see our trust in Him, through simple daily obedience, even in a land of affliction and confusion. — Wayne Stiles

It was incredible how much in life was open to chance, the blind luck of blundering fools - that's why having a plan was always a good idea in my book. As Lucas came back around the corner and smiled at me, I made a plan for tonight. 1. Go up to our room 2. Torture husband with lingerie 3. Have sex Yeah, that was pretty much it. Sometimes simple is good. — Melanie Harlow

Everyone's screaming,
I try to make a sound,
But no one hears me — Simple Plan

Realistic expectations for life are that we are going to be better today than we were yesterday, be better tomorrow than we were today. That's a plan for success. So [the key is] simple: just work. — Jim Harbaugh

The Besicovitch style is architectural. He builds out of simply elements a delicate and complicated architectural structure, usually with a hierarchical plan, and then, when the building is finished, the completed structure leads by simple arguments to an unexpected conclusion. Every Besicovitch proof is a work of art, as carefully constructed as a Bach fugue. — Freeman Dyson

The simple act of writing down a goal and making a written plan for its accomplishment moves you to the top 3 percent. — Brian Tracy

We men are very simple people: if we like what we see, we're coming over there. If we don't want anything from you, we're not coming over there. Period. Please highlight this part right here so you can always remind yourself the next time a man steps to you: a man always wants something. Always. And when it comes to women, that plan is always to find out two things: (1) if you're willing to sleep with him, and (2) if you are, how much it will cost to get you to sleep with him. — Steve Harvey

Is this useful?" It's a simple, elegant corrective to my "price of security" motto. It's okay to worry, plot, and plan, he's saying - but only until it's not useful anymore. — Dan Harris

It doesn't really matter if we have the most beautiful, carefully thought-out plan if there aren't enough hours in the day to get to it. Look, if God expected you to get 36 hours worth of work done in a day, he would have given you 36 hours to do it. If you have more to do than time to do it in, the simple fact is this: some of what you are doing isn't on His agenda for you. — Sarah Mackenzie

The Limoges set has brought us more joy in its absence than it ever did in our cupboards. Of course, we no longer own a set of china to pass down to our kids, but that's okay. Francois and I plan on giving our children something more valuable, the simple truth that the best way to go through life is to be a major donor of kindness. We'll tell them that it's possible to own a whole bunch of beautiful, valuable things and still be miserable. But sometimes just having a recipe for chocolate Bunt cake can make a person far, far happier. — Firoozeh Dumas

How're you holding up?" He slid down the wall next to me and handed me a beer.
"I've had better days." I took a long, satisfying drink and stared at the wall in front of me.
"Yeah," was his simple reply. "My dad is downstairs. He said this wake sucks." I could hear that he was smiling.
I took another swig. "Well, I didn't plan this shindig, but the next funeral I host, I'll make sure it's a rager. — J.B. Hartnett

When intelligent people read, they ask themselves a simple question: What do I plan to do with this information? — Ryan Holiday

[That] speaks to one of the most important roles of a leader; to boil down an organization's many priorities into a simple plan, so that employees can remember it, internalize it, and act on it. — Adam Bryant

Professors known as outstanding lecturers do two things; they use a simple plan and many examples. — Wilbert J. McKeachie

This is a simple change that will provide a huge financial boost for many Americans, particularly low- to moderate-income families. It is an important step in making sure we do everything we can to encourage all Americans to save and plan for the future. — Jim Cooper

What kind of plan B?" Hale asked. He was almost holding his breath when a voice answered, "My kind." Macey tried to read the look on his face then, but it was gone in a flash. It had been a simple moment of peace and joy and pure happiness. That voice made Hale happy. It kept him calm. It was his backup and his conscience. Macey couldn't help herself, she envied him. — Ally Carter

People think that the people in Hollywood have some master plan. They just make the movies that people go to see. I think it's that simple. I promise you if people were lining up around the block to see a Bible movie, they'd make Bible movies from now to the end of time. — Alan Arkin

Epicurus is right, that happiness is up at auction all the time, and sold in lots to suit the purchaser whenever he bids high enough. And the price is not exorbitant: prudence to plan for the simple pleasures that can be had for the asking; resolution to cut off the pleasures that come too high; determination to amputate our reflections the instant they develop morbid symptoms, and to take an anti-toxine against fret and worry, the moment we feel the approach of their contagious atmosphere; concentration, to live in a self-chosen present from which profitless regret and unprofitable anxieties, projected from the past or borrowed from the future, are absolutely banished. — William De Witt Hyde

Dream Bigger
You think. Stop letting
small minded people
dictate your future
when all
they really want is for
you to accomplish
the work of two, for minimum
wage. Reach higher, or
else
plan for retirement
in a cardboard box, praying
global warming is more
than a catchphrase.
And if that
fails
to be the case,
hope freezing to death
is really as simple
as falling asleep,
to the lullaby of teeth chatter.
Dream bigger
before you can't remember
how to dream at all. — Ellen Hopkins

There are three simple, essential steps to achieving a goal: Write it down: give it a what (clear description) and a when (timeline). Look at it every day: keep it in your face; soak your subconscious in it. Start with a plan: make the plan simple. The point of the plan is not that it will get you there, but that it will get you started. — Jeff Olson

Obedience to commandments is the way we build a foundation of truth. Here is the way that works, in words so simple that a child could understand: The truth of most worth is to know God our Heavenly Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and Their plan for us to have eternal life with Them in families. When God communicates that priceless truth to us, He does it by the Spirit of Truth. We have to ask for it in prayer. Then He sends us a small part of that truth by the Spirit. It comes to our hearts and minds. It feels good, like the light from the sun shining through the clouds on a dark day. He sends ... — Henry B. Eyring

Having worked out what matters most now, pass the message on to others and give them responsibility for carrying out their part in the plan. Keep it simple. Don't tell people what to do and how to do it. Instead, be as clear as you can about your intentions. Say what you want people to achieve and, above all, tell them why. Then ask them to tell you what they are going to do as a result. — Stephen Bungay

Love when you can, cry when you have to, be who you must, that's a part of the plan. Await your arrival with simple survival, and one day we'll all understand. — Dan Fogelberg

I plan to write three words on my arm before entering the Box, hoping that its simple message will plant seed in the Gladers who see it. To remind them, even subconsciously, what it is we fight for. It's a phrase I saw on a cold, dark night long ago, the Crank pits seething behind me. It's a phrase that I believe with all my heart, despite the horrors.

I think you know what it is. — James Dashner

So, your plan is to murder a superior enemy army," said Tovar, "and then outrun the wind. I'm glad it's so simple. — Dan Wells

Is that what you want?" he asked very quietly. "Protection?" "Oh, who knows?" This man had shown her that she knew herself far less well than she'd imagined. "I thought what I wanted was simple - to be a lady." Her laughter felt false. "It was my sister's plan, actually. We would remake ourselves. Our accents, our deportment. For gentlemen never tell a lady - a proper lady, like Miss Everleigh - to take it on the chin. It's their duty to shelter her from harshness. And that seems quite pleasant, never to be expected to endure. To be free to pursue better things, like . . . beauty and honesty and honor. So we - I - set out to become that kind of woman. A woman whom men seek to protect." What — Meredith Duran

This exaggerated power comes not from the size of Natick's research budget, which is relatively small, but from the simple fact of having an overarching goal, a long-term plan, and relentless focus - which, come to think of it, may be the three traits in life most important to making things happen. — Anastacia Marx De Salcedo

Our approach is very simple we have nothing to negotiate ... We have the Minsk format and we need immediately just a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy artillery and weapons and tanks from the touchline, the solution is very simple - stop supplying weapons ... withdraw the troops and close the border. Very simple peace plan. If you want to discuss something different, it means you are not for peace, you are for war. — Petro Poroshenko

make a simple plan, inform everyone involved with it, don't change it, and kick it in the ass. — Charlie A. Beckwith

Now, here is my definition of success: A few simple Disciplines practiced every day. Do you see the distinction? A few disciplines ... Here's a little phrase we've all heard, An apple a day keeps the doctor away. And my question to you is, What if that's true? How simple and easy is that plan? — Jim Rohn

Sometimes love is a surprise, an instant of recognition, a sudden gift at a sudden moment that makes everything different from then on. Some people will say that's not love, that you can't really love someone you don't know. But, I'm not so sure. Love doesn't seem to follow a plan; it's not a series of steps. It can hit with the force of nature
an earthquake, a tidal wave, a storm of wild relentless energy that is beyond your simple attempts at control. — Deb Caletti

Yes, it made sense, and was so absurdly simple that it would take a genius to think of it. And, perhaps, someone who did not expect to do it himself. — Arthur C. Clarke

Sometimes you just have to sit down a lot and make sure everyone's cool. If someone has an issue, you make sure they don't keep it inside. That's been the model of the Simple Plan. — Chuck Comeau

If you insist on reducing it to its basic elements, it's the sure and simple knowledge that there's something more out there, something greater than yourself, than mankind: a grand plan, a design that can't be comprehended by you or by any other human being, because it is numinous, it is God's design, something only He can fathom. — Eric Van Lustbader

Please allow me to offer a simple financial plan. Invest in chocolate. Buy bars. Lots of bars. If we do enter anything approximating a real financial depression, you will not be able to improve your mood with gold. — Anita Renfroe

Everything I do and everything Pixar does is based on a simple rule: Quality is the best business plan, period. — John Lasseter

Make a simple roadmap for each one, consisting of three elements: 1) your dreams for that area, expressed as goals - specific, vivid, and with a timeline; 2) a simple plan to start (and when I say simple think: "find Germans"); and 3) one simple daily discipline that you will commit to doing each and every day from now on. — Jeff Olson

The simple reason that most people fail financially is not because of the lack of a plan, it's not because of good advice, it's not even because of a lack of capital. It is for one reason - they attach more pain to the idea of having money, than NOT having it. — Tony Robbins

There cannot be a language more universal and more simple, more free from errors and obscurities ... more worthy to express the invariable relations of all natural things [than mathematics]. [It interprets] all phenomena by the same language, as if to attest the unity and simplicity of the plan of the universe, and to make still more evident that unchangeable order which presides over all natural causes — Joseph Fourier

There are four simple steps which lead to the habit of persistence. They call for no great amount of intelligence, no particular amount of education, and but little time or effort. The necessary steps are: - 1. A definite purpose backed by burning desire for its fulfillment. 2. A definite plan, expressed in continuous action. 3. A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances. 4. A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose. — Napoleon Hill

If one plan goes wrong there is need to make another, that is all. And, as for despair - there was no room for despair in Dodd's make-up. The regiment had taught him that he must do his duty or die in the attempt; a simple enough religion fit for his simple mind. As long as there was breath in his body or a thought in his mind he must struggle on; as long as he went on trying there was no need to meditate on success or failure. The only reward for the doing of his duty would be the knowledge that his duty was being done. — C.S. Forester

I came to the party with the sole purpose of getting completely shit-faced, to be perfectly honest. That was it, that was The Plan from the very beginning. I wanted more than anything that ever regrettable, forgetting-everything-you-learned-as-a-toddler kind of wasted that only either the completely stupid venture into or the complete novice (given how naive I was I think I fall more into the latter category). It was a very simple plan, but I like to think the simplest ones tend to be the most effective. The Plan sure as hell didn't involve everything else that happened that night, as all of that occurred quite naturally on its own. — J.C. Joranco

A good leader has a plan that consists of changing simple pictures. Just because a group of people has a bunch of boards, hammers, and nails does not mean that they are building a house or even anything recognizable. Sometimes leaders think they are doing their job just because there is a lot of hammering going on. As a society we like the sound of hammering, but we are uncomfortable with the sound of thinking, which is silence. — Laurie Beth Jones

I kept my plan simple: leave my comfort zone, work in a foreign city, enjoy some uninhibited fun, and return home in one year. — Torre DeRoche

Ester asked why people are sad.
"That's simple," says the old man. "They are the prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people's ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams. — Paulo Coelho

If the states and territories do not sign up to fundamental reform, then my message is equally simple: we will take this reform plan to the people at the next election - along with a referendum by or at that same election to give the Australian Government all the power it needs to reform the health system. — Kevin Rudd

The simple index fund solution has been adopted as a cornerstone of investment strategy for many of the nation's pension plans operated by our giant corporations and state and local governments. Indexing is also the predominant strategy for the largest of them all, the retirement plan for federal government employees, the Federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). The plan has been a remarkable success, and now holds some $173 billion of assets for the benefit of our public servants and members of armed services. — David F. Swensen

I do not believe God created an egalitarian world. I believe the authority of parent over child, husband over wife, learned over simple, to have been as much a part of the original plan as the authority of man over beast. — C.S. Lewis

I have a simple plan to solve the economic crisis. Give every American a $100 credit to the dog track of their choice. I have found the puppies to be a reliable source of income with a consistent rate of return. — Willie Geist

She'd rather hoped for something simple, like a lined piece of notebook paper with MY EVIL PLAN written across the top, but no luck. — Cassandra Clare

Every city is either vibrant these days or is working on a plan to attain vibrancy soon. The reason is simple: a city isn't successful - isn't even a city, really - unless it can lay claim to being 'vibrant.' — Thomas Frank

But what I forgot was that it was our plan, not hers, not the one doing the dying, this was a plan for those who still had a next. See, our job was simple: keep on living. Her job was harder, the hardest. — Ada Limon

Every moment of our life has a purpose, that every action of ours, no matter how dull or routine or trivial it may seem in itself, has a dignity and a worth beyond human understanding ... For it means that no moment can be wasted, no opportunity missed, since each has a purpose in man's life, each has a purpose in God's plan. Think of your day, today or yesterday. Think of the work you did, the people you met, moment by moment. What did it mean to you- and might it have meant for God? Is the question too simple to answer, or are we just afraid to ask it for fear of the answer we must give? — Walter J. Ciszek

The world is full of people who have dreams of playing at Carnegie Hall, of running a marathon, and of owning their own business. The difference between the people who make it across the finish line and everyone else is one simple thing: an action plan. — John Tesh

If you are a warrior, decency means that you are not cheating anybody at all. You are not even about to cheat anybody. There is a sense of straightforwardness and simplicity. With setting-sun vision, or vision based on cowardice, straightforwardness is always a problem. If people have some story or news to tell somebody else, first of all they are either excited or disappointed. Then they begin to figure out how to tell their news. They develop a plan, which leads them completely away from simply telling it. By the time a person hears the news, it is not news at all, but opinion. It becomes a message of some kind, rather than fresh, straightforward news. Decency is the absence of strategy. It is of utmost importance to realize that the warrior's approach should be simple-minded sometimes, very simple and straightforward. That makes it very beautiful: you having nothing up your sleeve; therefore a sense of genuineness comes through. That is decency. — Chogyam Trungpa

Another key commitment for succeeding with this strategy is to support your commitment to shutting down with a strict shutdown ritual that you use at the end of the workday to maximize the probability that you succeed. In more detail, this ritual should ensure that every incomplete task, goal, or project has been reviewed and that for each you have confirmed that either (1) you have a plan you trust for its completion, or (2) it's captured in a place where it will be revisited when the time is right. The process should be an algorithm: a series of steps you always conduct, one after another. When you're done, have a set phrase you say that indicates completion (to end my own ritual, I say, "Shutdown complete"). This final step sounds cheesy, but it provides a simple cue to your mind that it's safe to release work-related thoughts for the rest of the day. — Cal Newport

She had presumably decided that the problem was the village, and if everybody in the village was gone, they would have to bring John back to take care of her. It was the sort of plan a child would come up with - simple, self-centered, and utterly heartless. — T. Kingfisher

The Daniel Plan is rooted in a very simple principle: Take the junk out and let the abundance in. — Rick Warren

All I look for is good quality stuff. Whatever I read, if I like it, then I want to do it. It's as simple as that. I don't have a master plan of, "I should do this genre, and then this." — Karen Gillan

Heavy role in the movies that I've done that I have loved and fit my soul; A Simple Plan, Monster's Ball, Sling Blade, One False Move, Bad Santa even. I mean Bad Santa is a comedy, and it's a very dark comedy, and it's become like iconic, you know. — Billy Bob Thornton

We all know why [the generals] are so critical of the defense secretary. They're being defensive because they weren't able to implement his brilliant plan [on screen: Operation 'Greet Us As Liberators']. It was so simple: Go in with 100,000 troops, topple the regime, everybody loves us, and we leave by Easter 2003. These ex-military men have their right to their opinions, that's fine. They just shouldn't voice them during a war [on screen: 'Loose Lips Sink Approval Ratings'] — Stephen Colbert

In general when you fall in love with an artist and their music, the plan is a fairly simple one.. get people to go and see them, and make a record that you think properly presents their music to the public and some of which you can get on the radio. — Peter Asher

And I can't let you out of here until I know what your plans are. (Kat)
To stop the annihilation of mankind and the earth. It's a simple plan, really, but an important one. Can I go now? (Sin) — Sherrilyn Kenyon

I had two projects that fell apart during preproduction. The first one was this movie that Judd Apatow and I had written about two guys following the Rolling Stones. It was going to be half concert film, half pseudo-documentary. It was Mick Jagger's idea.The other one was Simple Plan, based on a novel by Scott Smith. It's a great book - really stark, not a comedy - about a guy who finds $4 million in a plane crash and decides to keep it. — Ben Stiller

I like the concept of the penny plan - not for the military because the military we have to build up. But we can save probably in many case more than a penny if you look at it. I mean, the penny plan is a pretty good plan, and it's a pretty simple plan. — Donald Trump

Studies of people who have successfully started new exercise routines, for instance, show they are more likely to stick with a workout plan if they choose a specific cue, such as running as soon as they get home from work, and a clear reward, such as a beer or an evening of guilt-free television.2.13 Research on dieting says creating new food habits requires a predetermined cue - such as planning menus in advance - and simple rewards for dieters when they stick to their intentions. — Charles Duhigg