Quotes about act
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“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

World, Parting, Cheating, Selfishness

“adj.
It has always been my habit, ever since junior high school, to ask that question:
“What are you thinking?”
It is always an act of desperation, and I keep on asking, even though I know it will never work the way I want it to.”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

School, Way, Question, Thinking

“Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferals of information.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Education

“He possessed the logic of all good intentions and a knowledge of all the tricks of his trade, and yet he never succeeded at anything, because he believed too much in the impossible. Surprising? Why so? He was forever in the act of conceiving it!”

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet

Knowledge

“If it looks like a hallway, feels like a hallway, and acts like a hallway—is it important to figure out that it isn’t a hallway?”

Patricia Briggs book Silver Borne

Source: Silver Borne

Feeling

“I wondered which was harder, in the end. The act of telling, or who you told it to. Or maybe if, when you finally got it out, the story was really all that mattered.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

“A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness.”

Jean Genet (1910–1986) French novelist, playwright, poet and political activist

Dreams, Time

“Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?”

Susanna Kaysen book Girl, Interrupted

Source: Girl, Interrupted

“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.”

André Malraux (1901–1976) French novelist, art theorist and politician

Idea, Failure, Courage, Success

“Dearest Cecilia, You’d be forgiven for thinking me mad, the way I acted this afternoon. The truth is I feel rather light headed and foolish in your presence, Cee, and I don’t think I can blame the heat.”

Ian McEwan book Atonement

Source: Atonement

Truth, Way, Feeling, Thinking

“In a world of lies and liars, an honest work of art is always an act of social responsibility.”

Robert McKee (1941) American academic specialised in seminars for screenwriters

Source: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

World, Art

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

Attributed to Bonhoeffer on the Internet, and supposedly from Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy http://books.google.com/books?id=aG0q3X8TVpsC&pg=PA486#v=onepage (2010) by Eric Metaxas; however, there is no actual reference in that book. However, in advertising the book Metaxas does state on his site that the quote is from Bonhoeffer. http://ericmetaxas.com/books/bonhoeffer-pastor-martyr-prophet-spy/ First attributed to Bonhoeffer in Explorations 12:1 (1998), p. 3, as referenced by James Cone (2004) Theology's Great Sin: Silence in the Face of White Supremacy, Black Theology, 2:2, 139-152, footnote 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/blth.2.2.139.36027 <br class="br">Compare "Not to Act, is to Act!" by Francis W. McPeek http://www.ergo-sum.net/pics/McPeek.jpg, The Missionary Herald at Home and Abroad, v.141-142 (1945-1946), "Missionary herald, 1945 - Congregational churches," pp.34-35 (We must realize that church inaction is a form of political action, and it is altogether negative. “Not to act, is to act.”) <br class="br">Misattributed

God, Silence, Evil

“Haymich finally drops the good-natured act. "you know who else, Katniss. You know who stepped up first."
Of course I do.
Gale.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Nature

“As it turned out, hell wasn't watching the people you love get hurt; it was coming in during the second act, when it was already too late to stop it from happening.”

Jodi Picoult book The Tenth Circle

Source: The Tenth Circle

Love, People, Hell, Hurt

“Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”

Howard Zinn (1922–2010) author and historian

People, World, For Team

“It's taken me years of practice to learn how to act natural.”

Craig Clevenger The Contortionist's Handbook

Source: The Contortionist's Handbook

Nature, Learning

“Each couple is its own vaudeville act.”

Zadie Smith On Beauty

Source: On Beauty

“There's a difference between playing and playing games. The former is an act of joy, the latter — an act.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Game, Joy

“A young wolfhound must meet his first wolf someday, but if the wolf sees him as a puppy, if he acts the puppy, the wolf will surely kill him. The wolfhound must be a wolfhound in the wolf's eyes even more than in his own, if he is to survive.”

Robert Jordan The Great Hunt

Source: The Great Hunt

Wolf

“Memoir is not an act of history but an act of memory, which is innately corrupt.”

Mary Karr (1955) American writer

History, Memory

“All really nice girls wonder when men don't try to kiss them. They know they shouldn't want them to and they know they must act insulted if they do, but just the same, they wish the men would try.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

Men, Girl, Kiss

“It was an act of devotion. A little like writing or loving someone — it doesn’t always feel worthwhile, but not giving up somehow creates unexpected meaning over time.”

Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer

Source: It Chooses You

Love, Feeling, Time

“She turns to us, acts surprised to see us, then does the bit with the back of the hand to the forehead. "You're lost!" "You're angry!" "You're in the wrong school!" "You're in the wrong country!" "You're on the wrong planet!”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

School, Country

“Jamie: You're acting like a crazy person, what's going on?
Landon: Right now, you're straddling the state line.
Jamie: OK…
Landon: You're in two places at once.”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Source: A Walk to Remember

Personality

“I am tired of hiding, tired of misspent and knotted energies, tired of the hypocrisy, and tired of acting as though I have something to hide.”

Kay Redfield Jamison (1946) American bipolar disorder researcher

Source: An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

“… often, stepping outside your comfort zone is not careless irresponsibility, but a necessary act of obedience.”

Andy Stanley (1958) American Christian minister

Source: Fields Of Gold

“The act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

“Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Life, Knowledge

“One might have supposed that the true act of love was to lie together and talk.”

Mary Renault book Fire from Heaven

Source: Fire from Heaven

Love, Lie

“I will meet you on the nape of your neck one day, on the surface of intention, word becoming act.
We will breathe into each other the high mountain tales, where the snows come from, where the waters begin.”
-In the yellow time of pollen”

Luke Davies (1962) Australian writer

Mountain, Water, Time

“All of us have to be prevaricators, hypocrites, and liars every day of our lives; otherwise the social structure would fall into pieces the first day. We must act in one another's presence just as we must wear clothes. It is for the best”

O. Henry (1862–1910) American short story writer

Clothes

“Are you getting your period?" She narrows her eyes.
No! God. I hate that. I hate when every negative act is blamed on your period." Sometimes bitchiness is just bitchiness, happily unattached to anything hormonal. It should get full credit.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Nature of Jade

God, Hate

“I wasn't acting on passion. I was simply acting.”

Bret Easton Ellis The Rules of Attraction

Source: The Rules of Attraction

Passion

“Because love is an act of courage, not of fear, love is a commitment to others. No matter where the oppressed are found, the act of love is commitment to their cause--the cause of liberation.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Love, Fear, Courage

“Acting like you don’t care is a whole lot easier when you don’t care”

Ally Carter Out of Sight, Out of Time

Source: Out of Sight, Out of Time

“Let us not despair but act. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past — let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Remarks at "Loyola College Alumni Banquet, Baltimore, Maryland (18 February 1958) http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx; Box 899, Senate Speech Files, John F. Kennedy Papers, Pre-Presidential Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library <br class="br">Pre-1960

Past, Future, Despair

“To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Love, Support

“if we could act a little more according to common sense, and a good deal less according to fashion, we should find many things work easier;”

Anna Sewell book Black Beauty

Source: Black Beauty

Fashion, Sense

“I've since discovered that many human beings need no supernatural mentoring to commit acts of savagery; some people are devils in their own right, their telltale horns having grown inward to facilitate their disguise.”

Dean Koontz Odd Thomas

Source: Odd Thomas

People

“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Variant: Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

Motivational, Back To Work

“I understand too well the dreadful act
I'm going to commit, but my judgement
can't check my anger, and that incites
the greatest evils human beings do.”

Euripidés Medea

Source: Medea

Understanding, Evil, Anger

“Every moment in life is an act of faith”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Variant: Life is an act of faith.
Source: Brida

Life, Faith

“A person learns how to love himself through the simple acts of loving and being loved by someone else.”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

Love, Learning, Personality, Heart Touching

“The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable.”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Way

“Looking back, I guess I used to play-act all the time. For one thing, it meant I could live in a more interesting world than the one around me.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

World, Time

“Yawns are not the only infectious things out there besides germs.

Giggles can spread from person to person.

So can blushing.

But maybe the most powerful infectious thing is the act of speaking the truth.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Truth, Personality

“All women love semi-rape. They love to be taken. It was his sweet brutality against my bruised body that made his act of love so piercingly wonderful.”

Ian Fleming book The Spy Who Loved Me

Source: The Spy Who Loved Me

Love, Women

“He made me realize that hard work--that the act of finishing, of completing, of accomplishing a task--is joyous”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

“Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process — a way of solving problems”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Kennedy's "focus on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution of human institutions." was quoted by Barack Obama in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
1963, American University speech
Context: I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal. Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace — based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions — on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace — no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process — a way of solving problems.

Peace, Way, Problem, Change

“it is better to act and repent than not to act and regret.”

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Italian politician, Writer and Author

Source: The Letters of Machiavelli

“I make mistakes. That's what I do. I
speak without thinking, I act without
knowing. I drink so much that I can
barely walk… I'm a fantastic lover
though, and an amazing friend. God
knows I mean well.”

Candace Bushnell (1958) American author

God, Lovers, Drink, Thinking

“If you act like you can do something, then it will work.”

Walter Isaacson book Steve Jobs

Source: Steve Jobs

“Creativity is an act of defiance.”

Twyla Tharp (1941) American choreographer

“Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.”

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist

Attributed
Source: As quoted in The Book of Positive Quotations (2007) by John Cook, p. 548

Life, Change, Future, Motivational

“Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you'd like to act.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Way

“I have often spoken to you about good and evil. This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense and to advance the cause of peace”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

2000s, 2009, Farewell speech to the nation (January 2009)
Context: As we address these challenges – and others we cannot foresee tonight – America must maintain our moral clarity. I have often spoken to you about good and evil. This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense and to advance the cause of peace.

People, Truth, World, Peace