“Gad, sir, Churchill is right. The Govt. has evidently made an irrevocable decision to be guided by circumstances with a firm hand.”

Sergeant Williams and Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, p. 40
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Rifles (1988)

Question http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1985/jun/13/crumlin-road-court-trial in the House of Commons (13 June 1985).
1980s

Nobel Address (1991)
Context: I have long ago made a final and irrevocable decision. Nothing and no one, no pressure, cither from the right or from the left, will make me abandon the positions of perestroika and new thinking. I do not intend to change my views or convictions. My choice is a final one.
It is my profound conviction that the problems arising in the course of our transformations can be solved solely by constitutional means. That is why I make every effort to keep this process within the confines of democracy and reforms.

Report to the U.S. Senate on the George S. Patton slapping incidents, supporting Eisenhower's decision to retain Patton's services in the European theatre of WWII (November 1943)
Context: The decision to weigh Lieut. Gen. Patton's great services to his country, in World War I and World War II, from these shores to Casablanca and through Tunisia to triumph in Sicily, on the one hand, against an indefensible act on the other, was Gen. Eisenhower's.
As his report shows, General Eisenhower in making his decision also considered the value to our country of General Patton's aggressive, winning leadership in the bitter battles which are to come before final victory. I am confident that you will agree with me that Gen. Eisenhower's decision, under these difficult circumstances, was right and proper.

Source: The Early Ayn Rand: A Selection from Her Unpublished Fiction

A justices tenir et à droitures soies loiaus et roides à tes sougiez, sans tourner à destre ne à senestre, mais adès à droit, et soustien la querelle dou povre jeusques à tant que la verités soit desclairie.
Page 348. http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/chroniq/joinv/JV145.htm
To his successor Philippe.
Jean de Joinville Livre des saintes paroles et des bons faiz nostre roy saint Looys

1960s, State of the Union Address (1966)
Context: Last year the nature of the war in Vietnam changed again. Swiftly increasing numbers of armed men from the North crossed the borders to join forces that were already in the South. Attack and terror increased, spurred and encouraged by the belief that the United States lacked the will to continue and that their victory was near. Despite our desire to limit conflict, it was necessary to act: to hold back the mounting aggression, to give courage to the people of the South, and to make our firmness clear to the North. Thus. we began limited air action against military targets in North Vietnam. We increased our fighting force to its present strength tonight of 190,000 men. These moves have not ended the aggression but they have prevented its success. The aims of the enemy have been put out of reach by the skill and the bravery of Americans and their allies—and by the enduring courage of the South Vietnamese who, I can tell you, have lost eight men last year for every one of ours. The enemy is no longer close to victory. Time is no longer on his side. There is no cause to doubt the American commitment. Our decision to stand firm has been matched by our desire for peace.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Uhbxgjsxyx0C&q=%22It+is+always+thus+impelled+by+a+state+of+mind+which+is+destined+not+to+last+that+we+make+our+irrevocable+decisions%22&pg=PA622#v=onepage
Ce n'est jamais qu'à cause d'un état d'esprit qui n'est pas destiné à durer qu'on prend des résolutions définitives.
http://books.google.com/books?id=xtWwncTOUbQC&q=%22Ce+n'est+jamais+qu'%C3%A0+cause+d'un+%C3%A9tat+d'esprit+qui+n'est+pas+destin%C3%A9+%C3%A0+durer+qu'on+prend+des+r%C3%A9solutions+d%C3%A9finitives%22&pg=PA188#v=onepage
Source: In Search of Lost Time, Remembrance of Things Past (1913-1927), Vol II: Within a Budding Grove (1919), Ch. I: "Madame Swann at Home"

Source: Rework