For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.
Bronowski Jacob 1908-1974
The Ascent of Man
The world can only be grasped by action, nor by contemplation.
Char René 1907-
In action, be primitive; in foresight, a strategist.
Conrad Joseph 1857-1924
Action is consolatory. It is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions.
De Gaulle Charles 1890-1970
Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness and cunning. But all those things will be forgiven him, indeed, they will be regarded as high qualities, if he can make them the means to achieve great ends.
Fuller Thomas 1608-1661
The great end of life is not knowledge, but action.
Galsworthy John 1867-1933
A man of action forced into a state of thought is unhappy until he can get out of it.
Gandhi Mahatma 1869-1948
I am not built for academic writings. Action is my domain.
Hand Learned 1872-1961
We accept the verdict of the past until the need for change cries out loudly enough to force upon us a choice between the comforts of further inertia and the irksomeness of action.
Huxley Thomas 1825-1895
The great end of life is not knowledge, but action.
Kennedy John F. 1917-1963
There are risks and costs to a program of action.
But they are far less than the long-range risks
and costs of comfortable inaction.
Morley Lord John 1838-1923
Politics is a field where action is one long second best and where
the choice constantly lies between two blunders.
Muggeridge Malcolm 1903-1990
Few men of action have been able to make a graceful exit at the appropriate time.
Newton Sir Isaac 1642-1727
Principia Mathematica
To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts.
Scott Sir Walter 1771-1832
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.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Coriolanus
Action is eloquence.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Hamlet
Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.
Sterne Laurence 1713-1768
A Sentimental Journey
If ever I do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another.
Whitehead Alfred North 1861-1974
From the moment of birth we are immersed in action, and can only fitfully guide it by taking thought.
Wordsworth William 1770-1850
‘The Borderers'
Action is transitory - a step, a blow,
The motion of a muscle - this way or that -
‘Tis done, and in the after vacancy
We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed:
Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark,
And shares the nature of infinity.
Butler Samuel ‘Hudibras' 1612-1680
Hudibras
Great actions are not always true sons
Of great and mighty resolutions.
Defoe Daniel 1660-1731
A Hymn to the Pillory
Actions receive their tincture from the times,
And as they change are virtues made or crimes.
Morrow Dwight 1873-1931
We judge ourselves by our motives and others by their actions.
Pasteur Louis 1822-1895
Blessed is he who carries within himself a god and an ideal and who obeys it - an ideal of art, of science, or gospel virtues. Therein lie the
springs of great thoughts and great actions.
Schopenhauer Arthur 1788-1860
Reason deserves to be called a prophet; for in showing up the consequence and effect of our actions in the present, does it not tell us what the future will be?
Shakespeare William 1565-1616
Macbeth
When our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
Shirley James 1596-1666
The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust.
Spinoza Baruch 1632-1677
Tractatus Politicus
I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at
them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.