Hindsight Quotes

• After the event, even a fool is wise.

  Homer

  Wise, Events, Fool

  Homer (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Homer (Illustrated)”, p.2084, Delphi Classics

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• The real trick in life is to turn hindsight into foresight that reveals insight.

  Robin Sharma

  Real, Life Is, Tricks

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• Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.

  Billy Wilder

  Funny, History, Luck

  Quoted in J. R. Colombo, Wit and Wisdom of the Moviemakers (1979)

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• Hindsight is an exact science.

  Guy Bellamy

  Motivational, Science, Exact Sciences

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• The wisdom of hindsight, so useful to historians and indeed to authors of memoirs, is sadly denied to practicing politicians.

  Margaret Thatcher

  History, Politician, Historian

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• Hindsight is wonderful. It's always very easy to second guess after the fact.

  Helen Reddy

  Second Chance, Facts, Wonderful

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• Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best, 20 - 20 hindsight. It's good for seeing where you've been. It's good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can't tell you where you ought to go.

  Robert M. Pirsig

  Knowledge, Science, Thinking

  1974 Zen and theArt of MotorcycleMaintenance, pt.3, ch.24.

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• To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy. With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.

  Queen Elizabeth II

  Sympathy, Past, History

  "Gerry Adams: Queen's Ireland regret not enough", www.cnn.com. May 19, 2011.

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• Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

  David Beckham

  Wonderful, Wonderful Things

  "David Beckham: One-on-One". Q&A, www.fourfourtwo.com. February 1, 2006.

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• In hindsight, I wish I had done more.

  Joe Paterno

  Wish, Done

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• Reality looks much more obvious in hindsight than in foresight. People who experience hindsight bias misapply current hindsight to past foresight. They perceive events that occurred to have been more predictable before the fact than was actually the case.

  Hersh Shefrin

  Past, Reality, People

  Hersh Shefrin (2000). “Beyond Greed and Fear: Understanding Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing”, p.110, Oxford University Press

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• At the time, when you're being dissected and judged it's pretty brutal, but in hindsight it's great and - it sounds cliched - you do come out the other side better and stronger.

  Kate Bosworth

  Stronger, Sound, Sides

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• With the benefit of hindsight, had more care been taken, maybe this could have been avoided

  Eason Jordan

  Taken, Benefits, Care

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• It's so difficult, isn't it? To see what's going on when you're in the absolute middle of something? It's only with hindsight we can see things for what they are.

  S.J. Watson

  Middle, Difficult, Absolutes

  S J Watson (2011). “Before I Go To Sleep”, p.266, Random House

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• Collecting intelligence information is like trying to drink water out of a fire hydrant. You know, in hindsight It's great. The problem is there's a million dots at the time.

  Louis J. Freeh

  Fire, Water, Trying

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• In hindsight it may even seem inevitable that a socialist society will starve when it runs out of capitalists.

  Larry Niven

  Running, May, Inevitable

  Larry Niven (2010). “Stars and Gods”, p.363, Macmillan

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• Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Inspirational, Sad, Regret

  Kurt Vonnegut (2009). “Cat's Cradle: A Novel”, p.279, Dial Press

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• Hindsight is illuminating but not always what we want to see.

  Kylie Minogue

  Want, Illuminating

  Source: www.smh.com.au

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• It's hard to see a river all at once, especially in the mountains. Down on the plains, rivers run in their course as straightforward as time, channeled toward the sea. But up in the headwaters, a river isn't a point where you stand. In the beginnings of the river, you teeter on the edge of a hundred tiny watersheds where one drop of water is always tipping the balance from one stream to another. History changes with each tiny event, shaping an outcome that we can only fully grasp in hindsight. And that view changes as we move farther downstream.

  Lynn Culbreath Noel

  Running, Moving, Views

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• But everyone's an expert with the virtue of hindsight . . . .

  Kate Morton

  Experts, Virtue

  Kate Morton (2011). “The Distant Hours: A Novel”, p.15, Simon and Schuster

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• Only in hindsight do we understand how God intended a problem for good.

  Rick Warren

  Christian, Religion, Problem

  Rick Warren (2010). “Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life: Scriptures and Reflections from the 40 Days of Purpose”, p.124, Harper Collins

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• I think it is only in hindsight that you can determine whether something is a mistake or not.

  Scott D. Anthony

  Mistake, Thinking, Determine

  Source: bobmorris.biz

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• Hindsight is not only clearer than perception-in-the-moment but also unfair to those who actually lived through the moment.

  Edwin S. Shneidman

  Perception, Moments, Unfair

  Edwin S. Shneidman (2004). “Autopsy of a Suicidal Mind”, p.160, Oxford University Press

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• Hindsight is not necessarily the best guide to understanding what really happened. The past is often as distorted by hindsight as it is clarified by it.

  Amos Elon

  Past, Understanding, Guides

  Amos Elon (2003). “The Pity of it All: A Portrait of German Jews, 1743-1933”

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• If you reflect on your life, you may recall times when you couldn't see the value of some person and were tempted to brush him or her off. It takes hindsight to recognize that the very situation you may have seen as an irritating bother turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Wouldn't life be a much more enjoyable and meaningful experience if we decided to look at the difficult people and irritating situations as blessings in disguise? If we look deeply enough, we might see how these experiences as situations that motivate us to grow and change for the better.

  John Templeton

  Meaningful, Adversity, Blessing

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