“The fact is that in order to do any thing in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.”

—  Sydney Smith

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 6

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The fact is that in order to do any thing in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank thinking o…" by Sydney Smith?
Sydney Smith photo
Sydney Smith 68
English writer and clergyman 1771–1845

Related quotes

Frank Herbert photo

“What do such machines really do? They increase the number of things we can do without thinking. Things we do without thinking-there’s the real danger.”

Frank Herbert (1920–1986) American writer
George MacDonald photo

“We must do the thing we must
Before the thing we may;
We are unfit for any trust
Till we can and do obey.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

Willie's Question
The Disciple and Other Poems (1867)

“You must master the vices. You know that if a thing is worth doing it's worth doing well. If, however, a thing is not worth doing then it's worth doing fabulously, amazingly, with grace, style and panache.”

Isla Dewar (1946–2021) Scottish novelist who died in 2021

Women Talking Dirty

Jerome K. Jerome photo

“We must not think of the things we could do with, but only of the things that we can't do without.”

Jerome K. Jerome book Three Men in a Boat

Source: Three Men in a Boat

Clement Attlee photo

“We are told in the White Paper that there is danger against which we have to guard ourselves. We do not think you can do it by national defence. We think you can only do it by moving forward to a new world – a world of law, the abolition of national armaments with a world force and a world economic system. I shall be told that that is quite impossible.”

Clement Attlee (1883–1967) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1935/mar/11/defence in the House of Commons (11 March 1935). Attlee's concluding observation was met by Conservative cries of "Hear, hear", with one MP shouting "Tell that to Hitler" according to The Times of 12 March 1935.
1930s

Michael Franti photo

“A lot of times we look at the whole world and think, 'it's so daunting, how can we change the whole world?' and you don't need to do that, what you need to do is change your world a little bit, and see if you can, through example, inspire others to do the same thing.”

Michael Franti (1966) American rapper

Michael Franti Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s75CPceiCw&feature=related

Barack Obama photo

“Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners to it. Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; progress must be shared.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2009, A New Beginning (June 2009)

Karl Popper photo

“Since we can never know anything for sure, it is simply not worth searching for certainty; but it is well worth searching for truth; and we do this chiefly by searching for mistakes, so that we have to correct them.”

Karl Popper (1902–1994) Austrian-British philosopher of science

In Search of a Better World (1984)
Context: There are uncertain truths — even true statements that we may take to be false — but there are no uncertain certainties.
Since we can never know anything for sure, it is simply not worth searching for certainty; but it is well worth searching for truth; and we do this chiefly by searching for mistakes, so that we have to correct them.

“Whenever we [public officials] make a mistake, some-one jumps on us for it, but whenever we do something well nobody pays any attention to us. We never get any recognition except when we get ‘bawled out’.”

Leonard D. White (1891–1958) American historian

Source: Introduction to the Study of Public Administration, 1926, p. 243-244

Related topics