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Action quotes

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“He acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions.” Confucius, “Analects”

“Stop thinking, and end your problems.” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.” Bruce Lee, “Tao of Jeet Kune Do” - 1975

“Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word.” William Shakespeare, “The Comedy of Errors” - 1623

“A man without a woman is a pistol without a trigger; it is the woman that sets the man off.” Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables” - 1862

“Now it is evident that the form of government is best in which every man, whoever he is, can act best and live happily.” Aristotle, “Politics”

“So early in life, I had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.” Malcolm X, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” - 1965

“If everything in the universe were sensible, nothing would happen.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“The man who grounds his action on another's cowardice, is essentially a coward himself.” George MacDonald, “Lilith” - 1895

“You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.” W. Somerset Maugham, “Of Human Bondage” - 1915

“Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.” Ronald Reagan, “State of the Union Address” - 25 January 1984

“Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.” Henry Kissinger, “The White House Years” - 1979

“None of us could be happy for long, doing nothing.” Orson Scott Card, “Ender's Game” - 1985

“Not in his speech, not in his thoughts, I see his greatness, only in his actions, in his life.” Hermann Hesse, “Siddhartha” - 1922

“If there really is a complete unified theory that governs everything, it presumably also determines your actions. But it does so in a way that is impossible to calculate for an organism that is as complicated as a human being.” Stephen Hawking, “A Brief History of Time” - 1988

“I were better to be eaten to death with a rust than to be scoured to nothing with perpetual motion.” William Shakespeare, “Henry IV, Part 2” - 1600

“It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.” Charlotte Brontë, “Jane Eyre” - 16 October 1847

“For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“In everything on this earth that is worth doing, there is a stage when no one would do it, except for necessity or honor.” G. K. Chesterton, “What's Wrong with the World” - 1910

“If you’re for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.” Maya Angelou, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” - 1969

“My dear Watson, you were born to be a man of action. Your instinct is always to do something energetic.” Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Hound of the Baskervilles” - 1902

“True or false, that which is said of men often occupies as important a place in their lives, and above all in their destinies, as that which they do.” Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables” - 1862

“I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you, for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“No man could demand from him an account of his actions; God, if he believed in one—his conscience, if he had one—were the sole judges to whom he was answerable.” Jules Verne, “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea” - 1870

“Feelings are of four sorts: Sensations, Thoughts, Emotions, and Volitions. What are called Perceptions are merely a particular case of Belief, and Belief is a kind of thought. Actions are merely volitions followed by an effect.” John Stuart Mill, “A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive” - 1843

“Tarzan must act quickly or his prey would be gone; but Tarzan's life training left so little space between decision and action when an emergency confronted him that there was not even room for the shadow of a thought between.” Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes” - 1912

“It has not been the path for the faint hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame, rather it has been the risk takers, the doers, the makers of things, some celebrated, but more often men and...” Barack Obama, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 2009

“Every action needs to be prompted by a motive. To know and to will are two operations of the human mind. Discerning, judging, deliberating are acts of the human mind.” Leonardo da Vinci, “The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci” - 1478 – 1519

“I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.” Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 1981

“It is my belief that action under this section should be suspended until the Congress can reconsider the entire question in the light of the experience that has been developed since its enactment.” Calvin Coolidge, “State of the Union Address” - 3 December 1924

“I think I must have a good deal of my uncle Theodore Roosevelt in me because I enjoy a good fight and I could not, at any age, really be contented to take my place in a warm corner by the fireside and simply look on.” Eleanor Roosevelt, “The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt” - 1961

“Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?” Lao Tzu, “Tao Te Ching” - 4th century BC

“But I love it when people say that something can’t be done. That’s when I really get motivated; I like to prove them wrong.” Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story” - 2012

“And once we decided to do something, we should never look back, never regret it.” Richard Branson, “Screw It, Let's Do It” - 2006

“Life doesn't require ideals. It requires standards of action.” Haruki Murakami, “Norwegian Wood” - 1987

“And when he died, I suddenly realized I wasn't crying for him at all, but for the things he did.” Ray Bradbury, “Fahrenheit 451” - 1953

“I have made a silent compact with myself not to change a line of what I write. I am not interested in perfecting my thoughts, nor my actions.” Henry Miller, “Tropic of Cancer” - 1934

“For it is not what happens to me that makes me great, but it is what I do, and there is surely no one who thinks that a man became great because he won the great prize in the lottery.” Søren Kierkegaard, “Fear and Trembling” - 1843

“But some governments will be timid in the face of terror. And make no mistake about it: If they do not act, America will.” George W. Bush, “State of the Union Address” - 29 January 2002

“How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness, is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.” William James, “The Varieties of Religious Experience” - 1902

“We'll take the goodwill for the deed, and thank you as much as if we had.” François Rabelais, “Gargantua and Pantagruel” - 1534

“Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especially of princes,...” Niccolò Machiavelli, “The Prince” - 1532

“The moment we recognize that the self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action, the whole situation clears up.” John Dewey, “Democracy and Education” - 1916

“Thinking and feeling that have to do with action in association with others is as much a social mode of behavior as is the most overt cooperative or hostile act.” John Dewey, “Democracy and Education” - 1916

“Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless...” Oscar Wilde, “Lady Windermere's Fan” - 1893

“I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.” Jane Austen, “Pride and Prejudice” - 28 January 1813

“action . . . is the last resource of those who know not how to dream.” Oscar Wilde, “Intentions” - 1891

Related topics

happiness speech freedom thought judgement thinking death life truth words greatness motivation government achievement self love wisdom conscience mind God

Related authors

William Shakespeare (2)
Oscar Wilde (2)
Victor Hugo (2)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (2)
Ronald Reagan (2)
Lao Tzu (2)
John Dewey (2)
Jane Austen (1)
Charlotte Brontë (1)
Henry David Thoreau (1)
G. K. Chesterton (1)
Maya Angelou (1)
Arthur Conan Doyle (1)
Aristotle (1)
Malcolm X (1)
Confucius (1)
Jules Verne (1)
George MacDonald (1)
John Stuart Mill (1)
W. Somerset Maugham (1)

Related sources

State of the Union Address (3)
Les Misérables (2)
The Brothers Karamazov (2)
Inaugural Address (2)
Tao Te Ching (2)
Democracy and Education (2)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
Lady Windermere's Fan (1)
Henry IV, Part 2 (1)
The Comedy of Errors (1)
Jane Eyre (1)
Civil Disobedience (1)
What's Wrong with the World (1)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1)
Politics (1)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1)
Analects (1)
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1)
Lilith (1)