“Actions always have consequences!”

“I have learned that the consequences of our past actions are always interesting; I have learned to view the present with a forward-looking eye.”

John Irving book A Prayer for Owen Meany

“When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. When you desire a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it.”

Lois McMaster Bujold book Memory

“We regret not having the courage to make such and such decision; we regret much more having made one — any one. Better no action than the consequences of an action.”

Emil M. Cioran (1911–1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist

“We are free to choose our actions,… but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.”

Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker

“The consequences of our actions take hold of us, quite indifferent to our claim that meanwhile we have 'improved.”

Friedrich Nietzsche book Beyond Good and Evil

“Happiness happens by chance, and is not a law or the logical consequences of actions.”

Elfriede Jelinek (1946) Austrian writer

“If not belonging is a consequence for certain actions, there was no belonging in the first place.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

“When a specific desired end is attained we shall say that the action is "effective." When the unsought consequences of the action are more important than the attainment of the desired end and are dissatisfactory, effective action, we shall say, is "inefficient." When the unsought consequences are unimportant or trivial, the action is "efficient.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

“Every action we take has consequences, Vin," Kelsier said. "I've found that in both Allomancy and life, the person who can best judge the consequences of their actions will be the most successful.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer