Motivational Quotes

Action

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as courses, and they come back to us as effects.

- Melville, Herman

Best Quotes about Action

I will act as if what I do makes a difference.

James, William

Resolved, never to do anything which I should be afraid to do, if it were my last of life.

Edwards, Edward

Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning.

Franklin, Benjamin

He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.

Clarke, James Freeman

Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.

Hugo, Victor

Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

Carlyle, Thomas

Oh, I'm not going to do anything to them. The thought that I might will be enough to keep them going.

Bowkett, Chris

You don't always win your battles, but it's good to know you fought.

Holmes, Marjorie

The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Proverb, Chinese

10.

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

Auerbach, Red

11.

Sometimes something worth doing is worth overdoing.

Letterman, David

12.

Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know.

Macdonald, George

13.

Activity and sadness are incompatible.

14.

In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.

Hammarskjold, Dag

15.

Whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take small steps.

Schmidt, Helmut

16.

Effective action is always unjust.

Anouilh, Jean

17.

What you are will show in what you do.

Edison, Thomas A.

18.

The action is best that secures the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

Hutcheson, Francis

19.

I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.

Thoreau, Henry David

20.

We will act consistently with our view of who we truly are, whether that view is accurate or not.

Robbins, Anthony

21.

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

Stevenson, Robert Louis

22.

Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.

Edison, Thomas A.

23.

The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.

Schwarzkopf, Norman

24.

We have all the light we need, we just need to put it in practice.

Pilgrim, Peace

25.

To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell

26.

Your difficulty and my difficulty and the difficulty of every individual who ever desired to achieve something worthwhile, comes in the movement.

Zarlenga, Peter Nivio

27.

Either move or be moved.

Powell, Colin

28.

Those old faces, in Pasadena, California, and Tucson, Arizona, and Dallas, crumpling in hatred and fear at the mention of the United Nations or those liberals in government who constitute for them the fifth column of communism, yearn for an America that is as far from the society of the present as is the extended family system in village India.

Segal, Ronald

29.

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

Fichte, Johann G.

30.

Let your hook always be cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be a fish.

Ovid

31.

Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.

Dyer, Wayne

32.

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

33.

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

34.

Just as a flower which seems beautiful and has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of the man who speaks them but does them not.

Dhammapada

35.

Act quickly, think slowly.

Proverb, Greek

36.

The greatest step is out the door.

Proverb, German

37.

Dwell not on the past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed.

Caddy, Eileen

38.

An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.

Proverb, Mexican

39.

It isn't sufficient just to want -- you've got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want.

Rosen, Richard D.

40.

A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided.

Robbins, Anthony

41.

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

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.

You can't pick cherries with your back to the tree.

Morgan, John Pierpont

44.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Turner, Ted

45.

Teachers open the door but you must walk through it yourself.

Proverb, Chinese

46.

The common conception is that motivation leads to action, but the reverse is true -- action precedes motivation. You have to prime the pump and get the juice flowing, which motivates you to work on your goals. Getting momentum going is the most difficult part of the job, and often taking the first step is enough to prompt you to make the best of your day.

Mckain, Robert J.

47.

That spot of earth has special charms for me, in which a limited income produces happiness, and moderate wealth abundance.

Martial, Marcus Valerius

48.

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is on a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

Graham, Martha

49.

I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

Lincoln, Abraham

50.

The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.

D'Alembert