Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India
Soviet Russia: Some Random Sketches and Impressions (1949)
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India
Soviet Russia: Some Random Sketches and Impressions (1949)
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
History as an Art (1954), p. 9
1950s
“Knowledge without action is wastefulness and action without knowledge is foolishness.”
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111) Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic
Karl Marx book Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
Source: Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, p. 99, The Marx-Engels Reader
Bernhard Riemann (1826–1866) German mathematician
No one can, in case of affairs, abandon the conviction that the future is co-determined by his transactions.
Antimonies
Gesammelte Mathematische Werke (1876)
George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States
but adieu to this, till happier times, if I ever shall see them.<br><br> Letter to https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-06-02-0013#GEWN-02-06-02-0013-fn-0002 Mrs. George William Fairfax (Sally Cary Fairfax) (12 September 1758) <br class="br">1750s
“Suppose an ass had kicked me, would you have had me bring an action against him?”
Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher
Diogenes Laertius
1990
Miguel Ángel Ruiz (1952) Mexican writer and philosopher
Source: The Mastery of Love (1999), Ch.4 - p.71
1982
“Envisioning without action, is the equivalent of praying without faith.”
Isaac Mashman (2000) businessman, speaker
Marilyn Frye book The Politics of Reality
Source: The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (1983), p. 60
“Put actions behind your words. Don’t be a talker, be a doer.”
Kevin Hart (1979) American comedian, actor and producer
“Balance your thoughts with action.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.
Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 43
“All action results from thought, so it is thoughts that matter.”
Sai Baba of Shirdi (1836–1918) Hindu and muslim saint
Park Geun-hye (1952) eleventh President of South Korea
Excerpts from inaugural address (February 25, 2013)
Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher
[2005, Stations of Wisdom, World Wisdom, 102, 978-0-94153218-1]
God, Reverential fear and love
Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter
Never Abandon Your Family
Lyrics, Donda (2021)
“The greatest sense of freedom comes when our actions flow directly from feelings.”
Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher
Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian
Source: He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys
“Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred.”
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist
Source: Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
“I am not responsible for actions of the imaginary version of me you have inside your head.”
John Scalzi (1969) American science fiction writer
Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
“The path to success is to take massive, determined action.”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934) Hungarian American psychologist
Source: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress
My Point... And I Do Have One. New York: Bantam Books, 1995
“Men rarely see their own actions as unjustified.”
Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer
Source: The Final Empire
Neil Postman (1931–2003) American writer and academic
Source: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
“Belief means nothing without actions”
Randa Abdel-Fattah (1979) contemporary Australian writer of novels for young adults
Source: Does My Head Look Big In This?
Mary Renault book The King Must Die
Source: The King Must Die (1958)
“I would say act like a man of thought and think like a man of action.”
Henri Bergson (1859–1941) French philosopher
Je dirais qu'il faut agir en homme de pensée et penser en homme d'action. <br class="br">Speech at the Descartes Conference http://books.google.com/books?id=BynXAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Je+dirais+qu'il+faut+agir+en+homme+de+pens%C3%A9e+et+penser+en+homme+d'action%22&pg=PA1579#v=onepage in Paris (1937) <br class="br">Quoted in The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life (1950), p. 442, as "Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought."
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) American poet, critic, editor, and diplomat
Literary Essays, vol. II (1870–1890), Rousseau and the Sentimentalists
“Godliness is more easily feigned in words than in actions”
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian
Source: The Religious Affections
Aldo Leopold book A Sand County Almanac
"The Ecological Conscience" [1947]; Published in The River of the Mother of God and Other Essays by Aldo Leopold, Susan L. Flader and J. Baird Callicott (eds.) 1991, p. 346.
1940s
Source: A Sand County Almanac
Context: The direction is clear, and the first step is to throw your weight around on matters of right and wrong in land-use. Cease being intimidated by the argument that a right action is impossible because it does not yield maximum profits, or that a wrong action is to be condoned because it pays. That philosophy is dead in human relations, and its funeral in land-relations is overdue.
Dan Millman book Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Source: Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Ram Dass (1931–2019) American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now
David Gemmell (1948–2006) British author of heroic fantasy
Source: Lord of the Silver Bow
Nicholas Sparks book The Rescue
Variant: You're going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it's always their actions you should judge them by. It's actions, not words, that matter.
Source: The Rescue
Charles Lamb (1775–1834) English essayist
Quoted in "Table Talk" http://books.google.com/books?id=LIxUAAAAcAAJ&q=%22greatest+pleasure+I+know+is+to+do+a+good+action+by+stealth+and+to+have+it+found+out+by+accident%22&pg=PA14#v=onepage in The Athenaeum magazine (4 January 1834).
Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …
“I have not wanted syllables where actions have spoken so plainly.”
Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility
Source: Sense and Sensibility
Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer
Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun
John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author
Source: 1890s, The Mountains of California (1894), chapter 5: The Passes <!-- Terry Gifford, EWDB, page 328 -->
Context: Accidents in the mountains are less common than in the lowlands, and these mountain mansions are decent, delightful, even divine, places to die in, compared with the doleful chambers of civilization. Few places in this world are more dangerous than home. Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain-passes. They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action. Even the sick should try these so-called dangerous passes, because for every unfortunate they kill, they cure a thousand.
“A single action can cause a life to veer off in a direction it was never meant to go.”
Anita Shreve (1946–2018) American writer
Dan Millman (1946) American self help writer
Source: Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives
Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People
Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer
Source: How to Kill a Rock Star
“Our challenges don't define us, our actions do.”
Michael J. Fox (1961) Canadian-American actor
Variant: Our challenges don't define us, our actions do
Martha Graham (1894–1991) American dancer and choreographer
As quoted in The Life and Work of Martha Graham (1991) by Agnes de Mille, p. 264, <!-- de Mille precedes the Graham quotation with: "The greatest thing she ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma!, when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly, ... " -->
Context: There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
“When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.”
Carter G. Woodson book The Mis-Education of the Negro
Preface <!-- p. 21 -->
Source: The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933)
Context: When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.
The same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor with the thought that he is everything and has accomplished everything worth while, depresses and crushes at the same time the spark of genius in the Negro by making him feel that his race does not amount to much and never will measure up to the standards of other peoples. The Negro thus educated is a hopeless liability of the race.
Luanne Rice (1955) American author
Source: Follow the Stars Home
Karen Joy Fowler book We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Source: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
“His sentences didn't seem to have any verbs, which was par for a politician. All nouns, no action.”
Jennifer Crusie (1949) American writer
Source: Charlie All Night
Chögyam Trungpa (1939–1987) Tibetan Buddhist lama and writer
Source: The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation
“The smallest of actions is always better than the noblest of intentions.”
Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer
Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist
Source: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990), Ch. 4 : Life and Death and All That p.43
Patrick Lencioni (1965) American writer
Source: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist
Source: The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice and Tribal Wisdom