50 Project Management Quotes to Inspire You Before Your Next Project

Looking for some inspiration for your next big project? Look no further than these project management quotes from heavy hitters like Peter Drucker, Walt Disney, and Henry Ford.

“Operations keeps the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.” – Joy Gumz

“A good plan can help with risk analysis, but it will never guarantee the smooth running of the project.” – Bentley and Borman

“Management must manage!” – Harold Geneen

“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” – Peter Drucker

“Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.” – Denis Waitley

“Get the right people. Then no matter what all else you might do wrong after that, the people will save you. That’s what management is all about.” – Tom DeMarco

“Being a Project Manager is like being an artist, you have the different colored process streams combining into a work of art.” – Greg Cimmarrusti

“Project managers function as bandleaders who pull together their players each a specialist with individual score and internal rhythm. Under the leader’s direction, they all respond to the same beat.” – L.R. Sayles

“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” – Proverb

“If you don’t know where you are going. How can you expect to get there?” – Basil S. Walsh

“Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans: it’s lovely to be silly at the right moment.” – Horace Mann

The “P” in PM is as much about ‘people’ management as it is about ‘project’ management.” – Cornelius Fichtner

“Project management is like juggling three balls: time, cost and quality. Program management is like a troupe of circus performers standing in a circle, each juggling three balls and swapping balls from time to time.”  G. Reiss

“Businesses often forget about the culture, and ultimately, they suffer for it because you can’t deliver good service from unhappy employees.” – Tony Hsieh

“Collaboration is the best way to work. It’s only way to work, really. Everyone’s there because they have a set of skills to offer across the board.” – Antony Starr

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

“Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them toward a certain goal.” – Walt Disney

“Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers

“Project management can be defined as a way of developing structure in a complex project, where the independent variables of time, cost, resources and human behavior come together.” – Rory Burke

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs

“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.” – Mario Andretti

“As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own.” – Amy Poehler

“All things are created twice; first mentally then physically. The key to creativity is to begin with the end in mind, with a vision and a blueprint of the desired result.” – Stephen Covey

“Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” – Mattie Stepanek

“Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” – Peter Drucker

“Those who plan do better than those who do not plan, even though they rarely stick to their plan.” – Winston Churchill

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” – Michael Jordan

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” Alexander Graham Bell

“You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can. Find everything that’s wrong with it and fix it. Seek negative feedback, particularly from friends.” – Elon Musk

“You may delay, but time will not.” – Benjamin Franklin

“You can get a great deal done from almost any position in an organization if you focus on small wins and you don’t mind others getting the credit.” – Roger Saillant

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra.” – H.E. Luccock

“Trying to manage a project without project management is like trying to play a football game without a game plan.” – K. Tate

“Management is, above all, a practice where art, science and craft meet.” – Henry Mintzberg

“With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.” – Abraham Lincoln

“No matter how good the team or how efficient the methodology, if we’re not solving the right problem, the project fails.” – Woody Williams

“When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” – Audre Lorde

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” – Friedrich Engels

“We will either find a way, or make one.” – Hannibal

“It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things.” – Machiavelli

“Being a Project Manager is like being an artist, you have the different colored process streams combining into a work of art.” – Greg Cimmarrust

“Event management is the same as for any project – the project plan needs to include an appropriate change control process.” – Brenda Treasure

“He has half the deed done who has made a beginning.” – Horace

“Project managers rarely lack organizational visibility, enjoy considerable variety in their day- to-day duties, and often have the prestige associated with work on the enterprise’s high- priority objectives.” – Meredith and Mantel

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw

“To get a project off the ground, tell a colleague it was their idea. They will put their heart and soul into making it successful.” – T. Wouhra

“Project management is the art of creating the illusion that any outcome is the result of a series of predetermined, deliberate acts when, in fact, it was dumb luck.” – Harold Kerzner

“Why do so many professionals say they are project managing, when what they are actually doing is fire fighting?” – Colin Bentley

“Collaboration is important not just because it’s a better way to learn. The spirit of collaboration is penetrating every institution and all of our lives. So learning to collaborate is part of equipping yourself for effectiveness, problem solving, innovation and life-long learning in an ever-changing
networked economy.” – Don Tapscott

Take project management advice to real life using a project management software!
Now back to you! What is your favorite project management quote and how did it influence you?

Logan Derrick

Logan Derrick is a full-time business writer and content marketing strategist. For years, he has worked closely with several project management professionals, learning from them and increasing his own knowledge of the industry. Having held multiple management positions in fields ranging from customer service to marketing, Logan has found a passion for helping others learn about project management, marketing, and the powerful tools available to professionals today.