government is legitimate not so much because it represents the 'general will', but because its policies are, ideally and counterfactually, the result of the public deliberation of all who are concerned by the decision - Frédéric Vandenberghe
Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent. - Samuel Johnson
Though a good motive cannot sanction a bad action, a bad motive will always vitiate a good action. In common and trivial matters we may act without motives, but in momentous ones the most careful deliberation is wisdom.
We must give lengthy deliberation to what has to be decided once and for all. - Publilius Syrus
Deliberation is the function of the many; action is the function of one. - Charles de Gaulle