Social Aims
Sometimes condensed to "What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say."
1870s, Society and Solitude (1870), Books, Letters and Social Aims http://www.rwe.org/comm/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=74&Itemid=149 (1876)
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
Variant: Your actions speak so loudly, I can not hear what you are saying.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson 727
American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803–1882Related quotes
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave
“If you're going to say what you want to say, you're going to hear what you don't want to hear.”
Source: The Insufferable Gaucho
"Say It Again" from N.B. and Pocketful of Sunshine (2007)
“What people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can.”
Variant: What people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can.
I Ain't Got Time To Bleed (1999)
Context: During my transition period, I brought in 13 people who were either first-time voters or who hadn't voted in five consecutive elections. I asked each of them a question: Now that you've come into the system, how do we keep you involved?
Their answers were very clear, very honest. They said, It's the same story every four years. Whenever an election's coming up, all the politicians come out and give you the same song and dance about the same issues, all the way up until they get elected. Then you don't hear any more from them until it's time for them to get elected again. We're tired of it. If you want to keep us involved, don't tell us what you think we want to hear, tell us the truth.
There's a great need in our government right now for honesty. I speak my mind. You might not always like what you hear, but you're gonna hear it anyway. I call it like I see it; I tell the truth. And if I don't know something, I'll say so. Then I'll try to find the answer.
“The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”
"An Interview with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul" in LA Times High School Insider https://highschool.latimes.com/carnegie-mellon-university/an-interview-with-former-u-s-ambassador-to-russia-michael-mcfaul/ (30 August 2019)
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/7cncd10.txt (1849), Thursday