60 Quotes On Making Plans

Life is a series of deliberate steps, dreams laden with intention, and plans crafted to bring those dreams to fruition. Quotes about making plans often encapsulate the wisdom of ages, offering guidance, motivation, and a gentle reminder that our ambitions are often the blueprints of our destinies. In this carefully selected compilation of the top 60 quotes on making plans, you'll find inspiration to chart your course, adjust your sails, and navigate life's journey with purpose and passion. Whether you're an avid planner or someone who prefers to go with the flow, these timeless quotes will resonate and inspire you to make the plans that lead to your most fulfilling adventures.

1. “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” - Allen Saunders

2. “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

3. “The best things are never arrived at in haste. God is in no hurry; His plans are never rushed.” - Michael Phillips

4. “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley.” - Robert Burns

5. “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

6. “The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.” - J.M. Barrie

7. “All human plans [are] subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe.” - Arthur C. Clarke

8. “Do you ever want to talk away from your life?... Do you ever think this life is not exactly what you had planned? Do you ever crave something, anything that could wake you up?” - Elizabeth Flock

9. “I believe good plans are the best way to maximize fun, avoid disaster, and possibly, save the world. I spend a lot of my time making them.” - Katherine Hannigan

10. “Book your life choices in advance the same way you would book flights, car rentals, hotels, and excursions. Figure out early on in your career whether you intend to be financially independent or marry a rich man, join the ranks of the professional elite or be the stay-at- home type, postpone having children or find part-time employment. Then fasten your seat belt and sit tight as you watch your trajectory veer off course.” - Veronique Vienne

11. “And then what are your plans?” Annwyl frowned. “My plans?” “Yes. Your plans. You take your brother’s head, your troops are waiting. What is the next thing that you do?”Annwyl just stared at him. He realized in that instant that the girl had no plans. None. No grand schemes of controlling the world. No plots to destroy any other empires. Not even the plan to have a celebratory dinner.“Annwyl, you’ll be queen. You’ll have to do something.” “But I don’t want to be queen.” Her body shook with panic, and he could hear it in her voice. “You take his head, you’ll have little choice.”“What the hell am I supposed to do as queen?” “Well . .you could try ruling.” “That sounds awfully complicated.” - G.A. Aiken

12. “I had this whole plan when I graduated high school: I was going to go to college, date a few guys, and then meet THE guy at the end of my freshman year, maybe at the beginning of my sophomore year. We'd be engaged by graduation and married the next year. And then, after some traveling, we'd start our family. Four kids, three years apart. I wanted to be done by the time I was 35.” - Rainbow Rowell

13. “You have had a dream for so many years. Let today be the day you make a plan for it. Just think about how much more likely you are to hit your target when you finally aim at it.” - Steve Maraboli

14. “I love stupid plans.” - Megan Whalen Turner

15. “His wife spotted the danger in our resolutely bohemian ways. "You have only one year left before you qualify as a doctor and yet you're going away? You have no idea when you'll be back? But why?" We couldn't give precise answers to her desperate questions and this horrified her...” - Ernesto Che Guevara

16. “As time went on, we learned to arm ourselves in our different ways. Some of us with real guns, some of us with more ephemeral weapons, an idea or improbable plan or some sort of formulation about how best to move through the world. An idea that will let us be. Protect us and keep us safe. But a weapon nonetheless.” - COLSON WHITEHEAD

17. “It was amazing how you could get so far from where you'd planned, and yet find it was exactly were you needed to be.” - Sarah Dessen

18. “Nonsense," said Graff. "Ender always has plans within plans.” - Orson Scott Card

19. “On reflection,’ Crake said to Frey, as they huddled behind an upturned table, ‘this wasn’t one of your better plans.” - Chris Wooding

20. “First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.” - Napoleon Hill

21. “If life didn’t give you at least one person not wanting you to succeed then half of us would lose are motivation to climb that cliff, in order to prove them wrong.” - Shannon Alder

22. “Plans are invitation to disappointment.” - Derek Landy

23. “When a man plans, a woman laughs.” - David Wong

24. “Announcing your plans is a good way to hear god laugh” - David Milch

25. “When someone you love says goodbye you can stare long and hard at the door they closed and forget to see all the doors God has open in front of you.” - Shannon Alder

26. “Sophie: "Right. So no plans at all, then?"Jenna: "Other than rocking in the fetal position for a while?” - Rachel Hawkins

27. “That is a terrible plan.""Hiccup's plans are always t-terrible.""Hey! You're still here, aren't you?” - Cressida Cowell

28. “I had a neat stock of fixed opinions, but they dropped away one by one; and the further I get the less sure I am. I doubt if I have anything more for my present rule of life than following inclinations which do me and nobody else any harm, and actually give pleasure to those I love best. There, gentlemen, since you wanted to know how I was getting on, I have told you. Much good may it do you! I cannot explain further here. I perceive there is something wrong somewhere in our social formulas: what it is can only be discovered by men or women with greater insight than mine--if, indeed, they ever discover it-- at least in our time. 'For who knoweth what is good for man in this life?--and who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?” - Thomas Hardy

29. “Make New Year's goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you're interested in fully living life in the year to come. Goals give us direction. They put a powerful force into play on a universal, conscious, and subconscious level. Goals give our life direction.What would you like to have happen in your life this year? What would you like to do, to accomplish? What good would you like to attract into your life? What particular areas of growth would you like to have happen to you? What blocks, or character defects, would you like to have removed?What would you like to attain? Little things and big things? Where would you like to go? What would you like to have happen in friendship and love? What would you like to have happen in your family life?What problems would you like to see solved? What decisions would you like to make? What would you like to happen in your career?Write it down. Take a piece of paper, a few hours of your time, and write it all down - as an affirmation of you, your life, and your ability to choose. Then let it go. The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.” - Melody Beattie

30. “Don't let your plans or goals become more important than yourself, or the ones you care about! :)” - José N. Harris

31. “Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.” - Winston Churchill

32. “The day drags along, you make thousands of plans, you imagine every possible conversation, you promise to change your behavior in certain ways–and you feel more and more anxious until your loved one arrives. But by then, you don't know what to say. The hours of waiting have been transformed into tension, the tension has become fear, and the fear makes you embarrassed about showing affection.” - Paulo Coelho

33. “We either need an overwhelming force advantage, or we need more information.""Reinforcements cut into our bounty, remember?""It's unanimous. We need more information.” - Howard Tayler

34. “This document outlines our plan to perpetrate insurance fraud, insider trading, and character assassination....hopefully tripling our paycheck on this job.Okay, see? Those words I understand just fine. Use them more often.-Lieutenant Massey Reynstein & Captain Tagon” - Howard Tayler

35. “It's strange how a plan can unfold sometimes—an umbrella shooting up at the touch of a button and extending out in all directions quickly, effortlessly.” - Elissa Janine Hoole

36. “Attacking a provincial lord in his manor house, surrounded by guards...Honestly, Kell, I'd nearly forgotten how foolhardy you can be."Foolhardy?" Kelsier asked with a laugh. "that wasn't foolhardy - that was just a small diversion. You should see some of the things I'm planning to do!Dockson stood for a moment then he laughed too. "By the Lord Ruler, it's good to have you back, kell! I'm afraid I've grown rather boring during the last few years""We'll fix that" Kelsier promised.” - Brandon Sanderson

37. “Edward: You know what the difference is between a dream and a goal? he used to say to me. A plan.” - Jodi Picoult

38. “When ours are interrupted, his are not. His plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled, moving us always (including those minutes or hours or years which seem most useless or wasted or unendurable).” - Elisabeth Elliot

39. “That's a horrible plan.""Yes, but I have chosen to ignore that.” - Christopher Moore

40. “I try not to make plans. God always laughs at your plans. I’m going to keep the door open, and keep the page blank, and see what gets painted upon it.” - Tom Hiddleston

41. “What's your dream and to what corner of the missions world will it take you?” - Eleanor Roat

42. “Reyna looked at Percy without much hope. “You do have a plan?”Percy wanted to step forward bravely and say, No, I don’t!” - Rick Riordan

43. “That girl, dead and gone, her spirit trapped forever just inside town limits—she'd come from someplace, was going somewhere. Until destiny had stepped into the road in front of her, stopped her forward motion, drawn a killing claw against the white, fluttering swell of her future. Whispering, 'Oh no, you don't.'When you made plans, the saboteurs came out to play.” - Kat Rosenfield

44. “But saying stuff, even if it's good, isn't enough. Dad never did anything, he just talked about it. Even I knew you needed plans.” - Glenda Millard

45. “And thus Charles found himself wandering around a hotel, trailing federal agents as he held a cardboard coffee cup holder in each hand, instead of out killing misbehaving werewolves.” - Patricia Briggs

46. “Every morning I called Aeroflot to ask about my suitcase. "Oh, it's you," sighed the clerk. "Yes, I have your request right here. Address: Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy's house. When we find the suitcase we will send it to you. In the meantime, are you familiar with our Russian phrase *resignation of the soul*?” - Elif Batuman

47. “... the lofty mind of man can be imprisoned by the artifices of its own making.” - E.A. Bucchianeri

48. “Life never obeys our plans, I'm afraid.” - Barbara Kloss

49. “Merciful Father.... I have squandered my days with plans of many things.This was not among them. But at this moment, I beg only, to live the next few minutes well.For all we ought to have thought and have not thought... All we ought to have said and have not said. All we ought to have done and have not done. I pray thee, God for forgiveness.” - Ahmed Ibn Fadlan

50. “Saturday night is perfect for writers because other people have "plans.” - Mike Birbiglia

51. “Courage doesn’t happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life.” - Shannon L. Alder

52. “Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone.” - Shannon L. Alder

53. “There is nothing more satisfying than having plans.” - Lalita Tademy

54. “Oh, by the way, you left out one step in the plan.""What step was that?""The one where we pray this works, Admiral.” - Jack Campbell

55. “TELL THE WORLD WHAT YOU INTEND TO DO, BUT FIRST SHOW IT.This is the equivalent of saying "deeds, and not words, are what count most.” - Napoleon Hill

56. “Plans never go as planned, ever; that’s just how life is. People spend way too much time dreaming about a future they should be having more nightmares warning them against. But that doesn't mean you should let those bad dreams scare you away; all those nightmares want is respect. If you give them that, they’ll give you the space you need. Unless, of course, they’re the type of nightmares that have an appetite, then you’re fucked.” - Dave Matthes

57. “You don't have to be strong to survive a bad situation; you simply need a plan.” - Shannon L. Alder

58. “What are you waiting for? How long will you keep waiting? Don’t sit back and wait for life to happen to you. Have a plan and take the needed steps to create what you want.” - Steve Maraboli

59. “Every relationship that has hit a crossroads has asked, “What is it that you want from me?” - Shannon L. Alder

60. “Just for the record, I have come to fear all of your ideas in advance, simply from having endured enough of them.” - Violet Haberdasher