“It is by acts and not by ideas that people live.”

—  Harry Emerson Fosdick

Anatole France, as quoted in The Ironic Temper : Anatole France and His Time (1932)
Misattributed

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 "It is by acts and not by ideas that people live." by Harry Emerson Fosdick?
Harry Emerson Fosdick photo
Harry Emerson Fosdick 40
American pastor 1878–1969

Related quotes

Anatole France photo

“It is by acts, and not by ideas that people live.”

Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer

C'est d'actes et non d'idées que vivent les peuples.
Series I: Sérénus http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/S%C3%A9r%C3%A9nus
As quoted in The Ironic Temper : Anatole France and His Time (1932)
The Literary Life (1888-1892)
Variant: It is by acts and not by ideas that people live.

“The lesson I was learning involved the idea that I could feel compassion for people without acting on it.”

Melody Beattie (1948) American writer

Source: Beyond Codependency: And Getting Better All the Time

Saul Bellow photo

“People don't realize how much they are in the grip of ideas. We live among ideas much more than we live in nature.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

Source: Conversations with Saul Bellow

P. J. O'Rourke photo

“The whole idea of our government is this: If enough people get together and act in concert, they can take something and not pay for it.”

P. J. O'Rourke book Parliament of Whores

Parliament of Whores (1991)

Sri Aurobindo photo

“Be conscious first of thyself within, then think and act. All living thought is a world in preparation; all real act is a thought manifested. The material world exists because an Idea began to play in divine self-consciousness.”

Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet

Thoughts and Glimpses (1916-17)

Nicholas Sparks photo

“He often felt that too many people lived their lives acting and pretending, wearing masks and losing themselves in the process.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Choice

Travis Parker, Chapter 4, p. 51
Source: 2000s, The Choice (2007)

Maxwell Maltz photo

“We must have courage to bet on our ideas, to take the calculated risk, and to act. Everyday living requires courage if life is to be effective and bring happiness.”

Maxwell Maltz (1889–1975) Plastic surgeon, self-help author

“People must know that their ideas will be listened to and, if they have merit, acted upon. If they do, it is possible to mobilize individual creativity on a very broad scale.”

James A. Champy (1942) American businessman

Source: Reengineering management, 1995, p. 133

“I think people believe in heaven because they don't like the idea of dying, because they want to carry on living and they don't like the idea that other people will move into their house and put their things into the rubbish.”

Mark Haddon book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Source: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Steve Biko photo

“It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die.”

Steve Biko (1946–1977) anti-apartheid activist in South Africa

Quoted in Scott MacLeod, "South Africa: Extremes in Black and Whites" http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975037,00.html, Time, March 9, 1992, p. 38
Quoted in "The Mind of Black Africa" (1996) by Dickson A. Mungazi, p. 159

Related topics