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50+ Project Management Quotes to Learn From

Project Management Quotes

Motivation knows no bounds. When we talk about project management, there are so many times and situations where teams, managers, or even stakeholders look for motivation on how to go about handling tough situations.

Some look for strategies and tips, but sometimes reading a quote from a learned individual gives you all the clarity you need.

Right from project management quotes to project success quotes, we bring to you all important PM quotes that will give you insight into:

  • How to plan projects efficiently?
  • How to manage multiple projects effortlessly?
  • How to lead a project to success?
  • What skills project managers must have, and how do they master them?

So, let’s dig in!

Table of Content For Quick Navigation

Project Management Quotes

No matter how big your company is or how experienced the managers are, having a streamlined process is the only way for efficient project management. Here are a few project management quotes from the pros that show how important it is to efficiently manage your projects.

  1. “Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet.” – Henry Mintzberg
  2. “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
  3. “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
  4. “Get the right people. Then no matter what all else you might do wrong after that, the people will save you. That’s what project management is all about.” ~ Tom DeMarco
  5. “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

Team Communication Quotes

Working with your team is crucial to keep all projects in check and make sure everything is delivered on time. A lot of people from the project management world have talked about the importance of communication.

  1. “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” –  Peter Drucker
  2. “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
  3. “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw
  4. “Unity is strength… when there are teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” – Mattie Stepanek
  5. “Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.” – Brian Tracy

Team Building Quotes

Working with your employees is different than working with a team. How so? A sense of togetherness, trust, loyalty, and faith is crucial to ensure your employees feel a part of the team. Building your team and bringing them together goes a long way in achieving business success.

  1. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” – Michael Jordan
  2. “Most success depends on colleagues, on the team. People at the top have large egos, but you must never say ‘I’: it’s always ‘we’.” – Frank Lampl
  3. Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” – target=”_blank”Helen Keller
  4. “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson
  5. The “P” in PM is as much about ‘people’ management as it is about ‘project’ management.” – Cornelius Fichtner

Project Planning Quotes

Planning all your projects before you actually start working and implementing it is crucial for your business. Creating a proper project plan makes everything transparent and ensures everyone in your team knows what needs to be done.

  1. “Those who plan do better than those who do not plan, even though they rarely stick to their plan.” –  Winston Churchill
  2. “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” – Peter Drucker
  3. “Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.” – Denis Waitley
  4. “Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.” – Winston Churchill
  5. “First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.” – Aristotle
  6. “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” – Anatole France

Project Failure Quotes

Learn from your mistakes. But, there is a whole world out there that has tried and tested a lot of methods and failed. So, it is essential to research and see what went wrong in those cases. Learn and do better, always.

  1. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
  2. “If an IT project works the first time, it was in your nightly dreams. Time to wake up and get to work.” – Cornelius Fichtner
  3. “In poorly run projects, problems can go undetected until the project fails. It’s like the drip… drip… drip… of a leaky underground pipe. Money is being lost, but you don’t see it until there is an explosion.” – Joy Gumz
  4. “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” – Bill Cosby
  5. “Success builds character, failure reveals it” – Dave Checketts

Project Success Quotes

Just like project failure, project success is also an aspect we can learn from while analyzing other companies. Here are a few project success quotes that speak about how it is easily achievable.

  1. It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success. – David Feherty
  2. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton
  3. “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” –  Winston Churchill
  4. “Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.” – Robert Kiyosaki
  5. “Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.” – Tony Hsieh

Project Manager Skills

There are a number of skills a project manager needs to possess to be good at what they do, but very few know what skills are required. A few of the important ones include:

Leadership Quotes

Being a great leader makes all the difference when it comes to project management. Right from dealing with your team and internal conflicts, there is a way to go about it – and that’s what a good leader is all about. Here are a few leadership quotes that best explain its importance.

  1. “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” –  Kenneth Blanchard
  2.  “Any idiot can point out a problem… A leader is willing to do something about it! Leaders solve problems!” – Tony Robbins
  3. “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” – Max de Pree
  4. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” – Peter F. Drucker
  5. “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” – Kenneth Blanchard
  6. “You don’t lead by pointing and telling people someplace to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” – Ken Kesey

Risk Management Quotes

Managing your team is essential, but managing your risks is another crucial skill a project manager must possess. Here are a few risk management quotes that will help you understand how to deal with project risks efficiently.

  1. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go.” — T.S. Eliot
  2. “Don’t be afraid to take a big step. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.” — David Lloyd George
  3. “Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.” — General George Patton
  4. “Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” — Frederick Wilcox
  5. “If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.” — Geena Davis

Scheduling Quotes

Scheduling projects and ensuring all your team members are on the same page is essential to implement projects hassle-free. Check out the scheduling quotes to understand its importance.

  1. “My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” – Steve Jobs
  2. “To do two things at once is to do neither.” – Publilius Syrus
  3. “I recommend you take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves.” – Earl of Chesterfield
  4. “A plan is what, a schedule is when. It takes both a plan and a schedule to get things done.” – Peter Turla
  5. “Begin with the end in mind.” – Stephen Covey

Cost Management Quotes

Staying in budget and making sure all your projects are implemented within the set project budget is crucial. A project can only succeed if its implemented within the set budget. That’s why we cover a few cost management quotes for you to get an idea about how to manage project costs efficiently.

  1. I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for ten years. – Warren Buffett
  2. A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore. – Yogi Berra
  3. Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
  4. Buy when everyone else is selling and hold until everyone else is buying. That’s not just a catchy slogan. It’s the very essence of successful investing. – J. Paul Getty
  5. Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. – Ayn Rand

Critical Thinking Quotes

Critical thinking is a key skill a project manager must possess to overcome project issues. When we talk about critical thinking, it means the ability to analyze project issues and come up with a proper solution to the issue.

  1. “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” — Albert Einstein
  2. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. “ — Aristotle
  3. “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” — Henry Ford
  4. “Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won’t come in.” – Alan Alda
  5. “Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.” — Francis Bacon

With this we close our efforts to put together the best quotes to lift your spirits, hoping it added value to your time and thoughts. Cheers!

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About the author

David is a Project Management expert. He has been published in elearningindustry.com, simpleprogrammer.com. As a project planning and execution expert at ProProfs, he has offered a unique outlook on improving workflows and team efficiency. Connect with David for more engaging conversations on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.