quotations about action
An action is the perfection and publication of thought.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Nature
Potential is the good of life -- action the secret key.
D. WILLIAMS
"Action", The National Magazine, Dec. 1854
Action is character.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Notes for The Last Tycoon
I would say act like a man of thought and think like a man of action.
HENRI BERGSON
speech at the Descartes Conference in Paris, 1937
Every act is an expression of one's self.
EIJI YOSHIKAWA
Musashi
The man of action is not the headstrong fool who rushes into danger with no thought for himself, but the man who puts into practice the things he knows.
CESARE PAVESE
This Business of Living, Sep. 19, 1938
Let us do or die.
JOHN FLETCHER
The Island Princess
Action without a name, a "who" attached to it, is meaningless.
HANNAH ARENDT
The Human Condition
Action is eloquence.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Coriolanus
Sometimes we have to do a thing in order to find out the reason for it. Sometimes our actions are questions, not answers.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
A Perfect Spy
We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.
ARISTOTLE
Nicomachean Ethics
The views of men can only be known, or guessed at, by their words or actions.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to Patrick Henry, Jan. 15, 1799
Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.
BRUCE LEE
Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way
Your actions are like a beacon of light that other staff can aspire to follow and depend upon for guidance.
MAHMUD MOHAMMED
"Nigeria: Budget Constraint Crippling the Judiciary, Says CJN", All Africa, September 6, 2016
A man often imagines that he acts, when he is acted upon.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Moral Maxims
Our deeds are like children that are born to us; they live and act apart from our own will. Nay, children may be strangled, but deeds never: they have an indestructible life both in and out of our consciousness.
GEORGE ELIOT
Romola
When you act with a genuine heart, everything will fall into place.
RUBY LIM
"Imbibing the discipline of kendo", The Star Online, February 24, 2016
Never confuse movement with action.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
attributed, Papa Hemingway
If one wants to be active, one must not be afraid of going wrong, one must not be afraid of making mistakes now and then. Many people think that they will become good just by doing no harm -- but that's a lie.... That way lies stagnation, mediocrity.
VINCENT VAN GOGH
letter to Theo van Gogh, Oct. 1884
Action is a business of risk; the real question is the magnitude of that risk.
WALTER BAGEHOT
Estimates of Some Englishmen and Scotchmen