Quotes about Action

It is 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 Bronte

Action is the highest perfection and drawing forth of the utmost power, vigor, and activity of man’s nature. Robert South.

Manhood at the most basic level can be validated and expressed only in action. George Gilder

Ideas in a void have never appealed to me; action must follow thought or political life is meaningless. Oswald Mosley

Action is at bottom a swinging and flailing of the arms to regain one’s balance and keep afloat. Eric Hoffer

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. Hannah Arendt

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure , the process is its own reward. Amelia Earhart

This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting, to live. Omar Bradley

We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them. Abigail Adams

Action is the real measure of intelligence. Napoleon Hill

Action cures fear, inaction creates terror. Doug Horton

We are born to action; and whatever is capable of suggesting and guiding action has power over us from the first. Charles Horton Cooley

Thought precedes action, action does not always precede thought. Doug Horton

One can only learn his powers of action by action, and his powers of thought by thinking. John Burroughs

It is by acts and not by ideas that people live. Harry Emerson Fosdick

Action without a name, a ‘who’ attached to it, is meaningless. Hannah Arendt

Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone. Charles de Gaulle

A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do. Nothing else. John Galsworthy

Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in. Andrew Jackson

Our acts make or mar us, we are the children of our own deeds. Victor Hugo

A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting. Carlos Castaneda

The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. Jacob Bronowski

Your actions, and your action alone, determines your worth. Evelyn Waugh

Action is the foundational key to all success. Anthony Robbins

You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action. Anthony Robbins

We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualised, unique. Benjamin Jowett

We know what a person thinks not when he tells us what he thinks, but by his actions. Isaac Bashevis Singer

I like things to happen; and if they don’t happen, I like to make them happen. Winston Churchill.

Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. Thomas Carlyle

Action to be effective must be directed to clearly conceived ends. Jawaharlal Nehru

You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act. Lee Iacocca

It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect. Robert Louis Stevenson

For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will. Henri Frederic Amiel

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. Dale Carnegie

In order to act, you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking. Georges Clemenceau

He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence. William Blake

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. Benjamin Disraeli

The great end of life is not knowledge, but action. What men need is as much knowledge as they can organise for action; give them more and it may become injurious. Some men are heavy and stupid from undigested learning. T H Huxley

Never mistake motion for action. Ernest Hemingway

The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts. John Locke

Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory. William Wordsworth

Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it charm. Jean Paul Richter

All speech is vain and empty unless it be accompanied by action. Demosthenes

One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum. Sir Walter Scott