80 Inspirational Quotes About Decision Making (2024)

The choices we make shape our futures. In this article, we explore powerful quotes that highlight the wisdom, courage, and responsibility involved in your decision-making process.

Inspiration and Empowerment in Decision Making

This section offers quotes that inspire confidence in your ability to make impactful decisions, emphasizing empowerment and personal growth.

1. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou
2. “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela
3. “The quality of your life is built on the quality of your decisions.” – Wesam Fawzi
4. “Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free.” – Paul Tillich
5. “We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves.” – Thomas Merton
6. “You are only one decision from a totally different life.” – Wilfred A. Peterson
7. “Sometimes in life, you have to make a selfish decision and do what’s best for you.” – Saquon Barkley

The Importance and Impact of Decisions

Here, we explore quotes that highlight how decisions shape our future and the profound effects they can have on our lives.

8. “Life is about choices. Some we regret, some we’re proud of. Some will haunt us forever. The message: we are what we chose to be.” – Graham Brown
9. “Every decision you make reflects your evaluation of who you are.” – Marianne Williamson
10. “Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.” – Keri Russell
11. “Your legacy is being written by yourself. Make the right decisions.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
12. “Life is filled with difficult decisions, and winners are those who make them.” – Dan Brown
13. “There’s no wrong time to make the right decision.” – Dalton McGuinty
14. “All of us start from zero. We take the right decision and become a hero.” – Govinda
15. “Life presents many choices, the choices we make determine our future.” – Catherine Pulsifer
16. “Life is a chess match. Every decision that you make has a consequence to it.” – P.K. Subban
17. “Success or failure depend on the decisions you make and the path you choose. You are responsible for your future.” – Remez Sasson
18. “Your biography is not your destiny, your decisions are.” – Tony Robbins
19. “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” – Tony Robbins
20. “The future is fluid. Each act, each decision, and each development creates new possibilities and eliminates others. The future is ours to direct.” – Jacque Fresco
21. “Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent, and committed decision.” – Tony Robbins
22. “Our lives will depend upon the decisions which we make, for decisions determine destiny.” – Thomas S. Monson
23. “Choices are the hinges of destiny.” – Pythagoras
24. “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” – Peter F Drucker

Taking Action and Responsibility in Decision Making

Quotes in this section focus on the importance of taking responsibility for your choices and the courage required to act decisively.

25. “Decision making is easy when your values are clear.” – Roy Disney
26. “You and I need to be the decision makers in our own lives and careers. It is also our responsibility to allow and encourage others to do the same.” – Jay Rifenbary
27. “Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.” – Phil McGraw
28. “Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
29. “When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons.” – Sigmund Freud
30. “Decision making is the specific executive task.” – Peter Drucker
31. “You cannot make progress without making decisions.” – Jim Rohn
32. “Decision making is power. Most people don’t have the guts to make ‘tough decision’ because they want to make the ‘right decision’ and so they make ‘no decision’. Remember, life is short, so do things that matter the most and have the courage to make ‘tough decision’ and to chase your dreams.” – Yama Mubtakeraker
33. “Where there is no decision there is no life.” – JJ Dewey
34. “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” – Unknown
35. “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn
36. “We are our decisions.” – Prof. Salam Al Shereida

Quotes About Good Decisions

This section presents quotes about making informed and positive decisions, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful consideration and clarity.

37. “A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.” – Plato
38. “A decision clouded with doubt is never a good decision.” – Steven Aitchison
39. “A decision made from fear is always the wrong decision.” – Tony Robbins
40. “It is often said that a wrong decision taken at the right time is better than a right decision taken at the wrong time.” – Pearl Zhu
41. “There are times when delaying a decision has benefit. Often, allowing a set period of time to mull something over so your brain can work it through generates a thoughtful and effective decision.” – Nancy Morris
42. “A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” – Anthony Robbins
43. “Business today is about making decisions amid ambiguity.” – Geraldine Laybourne
44. “To get anywhere, or even to live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer.” – Robert Heinlein
45. “The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.” – Sun Tzu
46. “A problem clearly stated is a problem half solved.” – Dorothea Brande
47. “The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.” – Buddha

Making Good and Thoughtful Decisions

Explore wisdom about making decisions with intention, ensuring that each choice aligns with your values and long-term goals.

48. “Great decision-making comes from the ability to create the time and space to think rationally and intelligently about the issue at hand.” – Graham Allcot
49. “Whenever you’re making an important decision, first ask if it gets you closer to your goals or farther away. If the answer is closer, pull the trigger. If it’s farther away, make a different choice. Conscious choice making is a critical step in making your dreams a reality.” – Jillian Michaels
50. “Poor decision making I think, is the number one cause for most of our mistakes. So to make fewer mistakes means to make better decisions, and to make better decisions you must train yourself to think more clearly.” – Rashard Royster
51. “The art of decision making includes the art of questioning.” – Pearl Zhu
52. “If you have a decision to make, list down the pain points of doing it and the pleasures of doing it.” – Romuald Andrade
53. “The only way to make the right decision is to find out which is the wrong decision, to examine that other path without fear, and only then decide.” – Paulo Coelho
54. “When faced with a decision, choose the path that feeds your soul.” – Dorothy Mendoza Row

Commitment and Staying Focused

These quotes stress the importance of staying committed to your decisions while remaining flexible and focused on your goals.

55. “Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” – Tony Robbins
56. “Think 100 times before you take a decision, but once that decision is taken, stand by it as one man.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah
57. “Don’t mourn over your bad decisions. Just start overcoming them with good ones.” – Joyce Meyer
58. “Always make decisions that prioritize your inner peace.” – Izey Victoria Odiase
59. “Great leaders don’t lead others with bitterness or resentfulness of past mistakes, they lead with hope and knowledge of the past to inform greater decision making in the future.” – Spencer Fraseur

Dealing with Fear and Uncertainty in Decision Making

Here, we explore how to overcome fear and uncertainty, and make decisions even when faced with ambiguity or the unknown.

60. “Never make a decision when you are upset, sad, jealous or in love.” – Mario Teguh
61. “You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.” – Michelle Obama
62. “The goal shouldn’t be to make the perfect decision every time but to make less bad decisions than everyone else.” – Spencer Fraseur
63. “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.” – Thomas Sowell
64. “When possible make the decisions now, even if action is in the future. A revised decision usually is better than one reached at the last moment.” – William B. Given

Decision Making and Taking Responsibility

This section highlights the importance of taking ownership of your decisions, as well as the consequences that come with them.

65. “Poor decision making will almost always lead to less than desirable outcomes.” – Matt Fox
66. “Make decisions with the long term in mind. If you were truly the owner of your company and the success or failure of your business hinged on the performance of your team, you would dedicate yourself to constant improvement.” – David Miller
67. “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.” – Jim Collins
68. “Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.” – Anthony Robbins
69. “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
70. “When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” – Paulo Coelho
71. “When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take – choose the bolder.” – William Joseph Slim

Quotes About Intuition, Rationality, and Emotion

In this section, we look at the balance between logical reasoning and intuition, and how emotions play a role in the decision-making process.

72. “Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.” – Paul O’Brien
73. “We may think that our decisions are guided purely by logic and rationality, but our emotions always play a role in our good decision making process.” – Salma Stockdale
74. “The best decisions aren’t made with your mind, but with your Instinct.” – Lionel Messi
75. “Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.” – Malcolm Gladwell

Quotes About Indecision

These quotes explore the consequences of indecision, urging the importance of making choices and moving forward with confidence.

76. “Some of our important choices have a time line. If we delay a decision, the opportunity is gone forever. Sometimes our doubts keep us from making a choice that involves change. Thus an opportunity may be missed.” – James E. Faust
77. “Decision is a sharp knife that cuts clean and straight; indecision, a dull one that hacks and tears and leaves ragged edges behind it.” – Gordon Graham
78. “Every decision brings with it some good, some bad, some lessons, and some luck. The only thing that’s for sure is that indecision steals many years from many people who wind up wishing they’d just had the courage to leap.” – Doe Zantamata
79. “Not making a decision means forgoing an opportunity.” – Auliq Ice
80. “Shelving hard decisions is the least ethical course.” – Adrian Cadbury
81. “The worst business decision you can make is no decision. The needs are not going to go away. Waiting is what’s gotten us in the situation we’re in now.” – John Peace
82. “The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.” – Maimonides

For more, check out McKinsey’s collection of inspirational quotes about decision-making.