Motivational Quotes

Action

Those who are more adapted to the active life can prepare themselves for contemplation in the practice of the active life, while those who are more adapted to the contemplative life can take upon themselves the works of the active life so as to become yet more apt for contemplation.

- Aquinas, St. Thomas

Best Quotes about Action

Action is coarsened thought; thought becomes concrete, obscure, and unconscious.

Amiel, Henri Frederic

Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk -- and to act.

Maltz, Maxwell

I never worry about action, but only inaction.

Churchill, Winston

Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

James, William

Action is greater than writing. A good man is a nobler object of contemplation than a great author. There are but two things worth living for: to do what is worthy of being written; and to write what is worthy of being read; and the

Pike, Albert

What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of being able to change things by one's own efforts.

Arendt, Hannah

If you think about it seriously, all the questions about the soul and the immortality of the soul and paradise and hell are at bottom only a way of seeing this very simple fact: that every action of ours is passed on to others according to its value, of good or evil, it passes from father to son, from one generation to the next, in a perpetual movement.

Gramsci, Antonio

There is no use trying, said Alice; one can't believe impossible things. I dare say you haven't had much practice, said the Queen. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Carroll, Lewis

The secret to success is to start from scratch and keep on scratching.

Green, Dennis

10.

Action is character.

11.

The end of man is action, and not thought, though it be of the noblest.

Carlyle, Thomas

12.

If you stand still long enough, you'll get stuck

Hasselhoff, David

13.

You can't aim a duck to death.

Boardman, Gael

14.

When we don't have what we like, we must like what we have.

Proverb, French

15.

The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.

Frieseke, Frederick (Carl)

16.

My friend, why have you drifted so far away? All motion is relative, maybe it is you who have moved away by standing still.

17.

Some will, some don't, so what!

Proverb, American

18.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

Berger, Sally

19.

Periods of tranquillity are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up.

Whitehead, Alfred North

20.

It's easy to work for somebody else; all you have to do is show up.

Warford, Rita

21.

Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.

Hugo, Victor

22.

It is following the line of least resistance that makes men and rivers crooked.

23.

Doing nothing is the most tiresome job in the world because you cannot quit and rest.

24.

The search for the perfect venture can turn into procrastination. Your idea may or may not have merit. The key is to get started.

25.

The best way to get something done is to begin.

26.

This body, full of faults, has yet one great quality: Whatever it encounters in this temporal life depends upon one's actions.

Nagarjuna, Siddha

27.

Sometimes something worth doing is worth overdoing.

Letterman, David

28.

You must take action now that will move you towards your goals. Develop a sense of urgency in your life.

Brown, Les

29.

One thought driven home is better than three left on base.

Liter, James

30.

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.

Bronte, Charlotte

31.

In this country men seem to live for action as long as they can and sink into apathy when they retire.

Adams, Charles Francis

32.

When Demosthenes was asked what were the three most important aspects of oratory, he answered, Action, Action, Action.

Plutarch

33.

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.

Saying, Zen

34.

Human beings must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.

Eliot, George

35.

Being stuck is a position few of us like. We want something new but cannot let go of the old -- old ideas, beliefs, habits, even thoughts. We are out of contact with our own genius. Sometimes we know we are stuck; sometimes we don't. In both cases we have to DO something.

Teekens, Inga

36.

The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology.

Auerbach, Red

37.

Never mind your happiness; do your duty.

Durant, William J.

38.

The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.

Smith, Sydney

39.

The reason why so little is done, is generally because so little is attempted.

Smiles, Samuel

40.

I didn't think; I experimented.

Roentgen, Wilhelm

41.

No sooner said than done -- so acts your man of worth.

Ennius, Quintus

42.

Jump into the middle of things, get your hands dirty, fall flat on your face, and then reach for the stars.

Curcio, Joan L.

43.

Existence was given us for action. Our worth is determined by the good deed we do, rather than by the fine emotions we feel,

Magnin, Edgar F.

44.

No, Ernest, don't talk about action. It is the last resource of those who know not how to dream.

Wilde, Oscar

45.

Anything you do can get you fired; this includes doing nothing.

46.

If you don't make things happen then things will happen to you.

Company, Lanes

47.

Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism, and doubt.

Amiel, Henri Frederic

48.

Next in importance to having a good aim is to recognize when to pull the trigger.

Letterman, Elmer G.

49.

If it were done when 'tis done, then t'were well. It were done quickly.

Shakespeare, William

50.

Where there is a will, there is a way. If there is a chance in a million that you can do something, anything, to keep what you want from ending, do it. Pry the door open or, if need be, wedge your foot in that door and keep it open.

Pine, Arthur