The Quote Garden ™
“I dig old books.” ™
Est. 1998
Quotations about Action
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We can usually recognize the consequence of our actions. It is the consequence of our inaction that gets confused with the inevitable. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
Give me a life of action, and I will accept its sorrow and its tragedy, if I may escape the way of inanition. ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), My Little Book of Prayer, 1904
The first requirement in taking a step in the right direction is to take a step in some direction. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
You are only as beautiful as your last action. ~Stephen Richards
I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. ~John Locke
Well done is better than well said. ~Benjamin Franklin
Between saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out. ~Italian Proverb
After all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done. ~Author Unknown
Every man is the son of his actions. ~Spanish proverb
The great man is the man who has the courage to act. ~Martin H. Fischer (1879–1962)
The shortest answer is doing. ~Lord Herbert
Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement. ~Alfred Adler
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. ~Frank Tibolt
I will hasten to answer the cry of my soul, lest long unheeded it cease to call. I will speed me about my high endeavor, lest long delayed the fire burn low. I will quicken the day of the manifest, lest long unfilled I lose faith in my dreams. ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), My Little Book of Prayer, 1904
A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain. ~Arabian Proverb
An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied. ~Arnold Glasow
The challenge of every day is to establish some relationship between what you want from life and your Daily Planner. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action. ~Brendan Francis
Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. ~Peter Marshall
Never mistake motion for action. ~Ernest Hemingway
Action is eloquence... ~William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, c.1607 [III, 2, Volumnia]
Do it, and then you will feel motivated to do it. ~Zig Ziglar
Note to self: finding a cool quote and writing it in your journal is not a substitute for Getting. It. Done. ~Betsy Cañas Garmon, betsygarmon.com
There's something real satisfying about working, and having gotten it done. ~Lady Bird Johnson, quoted in Ruth Shick Montgomery, Mrs. L.B.J., 1964
Well-matured and well-disciplined talent is always sure of a market, provided it exerts itself; but it must not cower at home and expect to be sought for. There is a good deal of cant, too, in the whining about the success of forward and impudent men, while men of retiring worth are passed over with neglect. But it happens often that those forward men have that valuable quality of promptness and activity, without which worth is a mere inoperative property.
A barking dog is often more useful than a sleeping lion. Endeavor to make your talents convertible to ready use, prompt for the occasion, and adapted to the ordinary purposes of life; cultivate strength rather than gracefulness; in our country it is the useful, not the ornamental, that is in demand.
~Washington Irving, letter to Pierre Paris Irving (nephew), 1824 December 7th [the dog/lion line being a less fatal twist of Ecclesiastes 9:4 —tεᖇᖇ¡·g]
Action is the last resource of those who know not how to dream. ~Oscar Wilde
Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action. ~Walter Anderson, The Confidence Course, 1997
Between what you can and what you do lies a sea, and in its depths lies buried the wrecked will. ~Marie Dubsky, Freifrau von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916), translated by Mrs Annis Lee Wister, 1882
Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold — but so does a hard-boiled egg. ~Author Unknown
The ratio of dreaming to doing varies inversely with the rate of accomplishment. ~Dr. Idel Dreimer, lumpenbangenpiano.com
There may be no very close relationship between fate and furniture, yet it is doubtful if any of the world's great problems have been solved by men sitting in easy rocking-chairs. ~"Poor Richard Junior's Philosophy," The Saturday Evening Post, 1903, George Horace Lorimer, editor
Words are sometimes efficacious, but the best sermons have been preached by Example. ~"Poor Richard Junior's Philosophy," The Saturday Evening Post, 1909, George Horace Lorimer, editor
The greatest difficulty in attempting to remove a difficulty, is in thinking too much about the difficulty of removing the difficulty. ~James Lendall Basford (1845–1915), Sparks from the Philosopher's Stone, 1882
Never act until you have clearly answered the question: "What happens if I do nothing?" ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
If ifs were gifts, every day would be Christmas. ~Charles Barkley
Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other. ~Edmund Burke
Talk doesn’t cook rice. ~Chinese Proverb
Be content to act, and leave the talking to others. ~Baltasar Gracián, translated from Spanish
Not all my day can I spend in listening, for I, too, must evolve, ere the night comes on. ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), My Little Book of Prayer, 1904
All know the way; few actually walk it. ~Bodhidharma
Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live. ~Sébastien-Roch Nicolas (Chamfort)
The first step binds one to the second. ~French Proverb
We believe actions speak louder than tweets. ~KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, December 2012, www.klm.com
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on man unless they act. ~G.K. Chesterton
If your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt. ~Henry J. Kaiser
There is no moment like the present. The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards: they will be dissipated, lost, and perish in the hurry and scurry of the world, or sunk in the slough of indolence. ~Maria Edgeworth
Deliberation is a function of the many; action is the function of one. ~Charles de Gaulle, War Memoirs, 1960
Action is the antidote to despair. ~Joan Baez
From the personals: "Bundle of good intentions seeks mind reader." ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com, 2016
Doing things is not the same as getting things done. ~Jared Silver, jaredasilver.com (@JaredSilver)
The trick to getting things done is to list things to do in doable order. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
[C]reative spirits always anticipate the course of events. They do not wait for the dawn of a new era. They resolutely begin the new era at the moment when they see that the old era is ended. ~Samuel McChord Crothers, "On the Evening of the New Day," The Atlantic Monthly, January 1919
A man can fool you with his mind, and his Soul and his Heart, but if you follow his feet you will pretty near find out where he is going. ~Will Rogers (1879–1935)
He liked to go from A to B without inventing letters between. ~John McPhee
A man never catches up with his good intentions for to-morrow. ~"Poor Richard Junior's Philosophy," The Saturday Evening Post, 1903, George Horace Lorimer, editor
The surest way to escape anxiety and defeat despair is action. Do, don’t dwell. ~Michael Josephson, whatwillmatter.com
The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day to his figures. They didn’t waste time waiting for inspiration. ~Ernest Newman
Doing nothing is harmless, but being busy doing nothing is not. ~Eric Hoffer, Reflections on the Human Condition, 1973
It is a golden rule that one should never judge men by their opinions, but rather by what these opinions lead them to be. ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799), translated by Norman Alliston, 1908
We all know them — the unstructured person whose every action seems aimless and the totally organized person whose every action defeats some purpose. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
A nod,
a bow,
and a tip of the lid
to the person
who coulda
and shoulda
and did.
~Robert Brault, "A Poem Missing the Word Woulda," rbrault.blogspot.com
The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps — we must step up the stairs. ~Vance Havner
He who has made a thousand things and he who has made none, both feel the same desire: to make something. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Don't find fault; find a remedy. ~Henry Ford
When we commit to action, to actually doing something rather than feeling trapped by events, the stress becomes manageable. ~Greg Anderson
It is easier to act yourself into a better way of feeling than to feel yourself into a better way of action. ~Orval Hobart Mowrer
What ought to have been done, and what shall be done, often stifle doing between them. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
It is a sad lament — the happiness you might have found if you had taken the path that still lies right there in front of you. rbrault.blogspot.com
Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just now. ~Jonatan Mårtensson
Nature takes away any faculty that is not used. ~William R. Inge
They are little to be feared whose tongues are their swords. ~Proverb
The problem is to be faced and the solution to be shirked. ~Bernard Shaw, 1910
He that waits upon fortune is never sure of a dinner. ~Benjamin Franklin
If I set for myself a task, be it so trifling, I shall see it through. How else shall I have confidence in myself to do important things? ~George Clason
In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do not be wise in words — be wise in deeds. ~Jewish Proverb
One’s action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be a mere rushing on. ~D.H. Lawrence
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ~Author unknown
Action! — that one stupendous word I will translate into my soul. My days shall be peopled. There shall be runnings to and fro, and chatterings. There shall be pistons sounding, and the whirr of wheels. There shall be busy days' endings, with reckonings and summings-up. ~Muriel Strode (1875–1964), "A Soul's Faring: LXIII," A Soul's Faring, 1921
A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. ~George Patton
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. ~James Baldwin
Action is taking the first step. Action is climbing the hill. Action joined with desire, harmonious intent, and undoubting yesfulness is invincible. Hallelujah! ~Terri Guillemets
Action will remove the doubts that theory cannot solve. ~Tehyi Hsieh (1884–1972)
Now and then it’s good to list all the things you regularly do for which there was once a good reason. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
Men expect too much, do too little. ~Allen Tate
When deeds speak, words are nothing. ~African Proverb
As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. ~Andrew Carnegie
All problems become smaller if you don’t dodge them but confront them. ~William F. Halsey
The best way out of a problem is through it. ~Author Unknown
I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things. ~William J. Lock
When it seems that something can’t be done, start it, and see if the rest of it can be done. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do. ~Lewis Cass
Action battles doubt. ~Terri Guillemets, "The sword of doing," 2007
We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once. ~Calvin Coolidge
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Last saved 2021 Jan 17 Sun 10:20 PST
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