If you hold your fire until you see the whites of his eyes, you will never know what hit you.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of taking decisive action rather than hesitating in critical moments.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's quote serves as a powerful reminder that in situations of crisis or conflict, waiting too long to act can lead to missed opportunities or unfavorable outcomes. It suggests that a proactive approach, rather than a passive one, is essential to effectively address challenges and seize chances when they arise.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to encourage teams to make bold decisions.
There has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda. This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, that Americans have considerable industrial power - but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight. ... Let them tell that to the Marines!
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns.
Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
A world turned into a stereotype, a society converted into a regiment, a life translated into a routine, make it difficult for either art or artists to survive. Crush individuality in society and you crush art as well. Nourish the conditions of a free life and you nourish the arts, too.
Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.
**** the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!
One must make the warrior walk his everyday walk.
We are Craiglockhart's success stories. Look at us. We don't remember, we don't feel, we don't think - at least beyond the confines of what's needed to do the job. By any proper civilized standard (but what does that mean now?) we are objects of horror. But our nerves are completely steady. And we are still alive.
You have to risk going too far to discover just how far you can really go.
Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.
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