Quote | Author | Date | Note |
---|---|---|---|
Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both. |
John Andrew Holmes | 1904 – 1962 | |
I prefer the talents of action—of war—of the senate—or even of science—to all the speculations of those mere dreamers of another existence. |
Lord Byron | 1788 – 1824 | Knowles, E. (1999). The Oxford dictionary of quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
What we’re saying today is that you’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem. |
Eldridge Cleaver | 1935 – 1998 | Knowles, E. (1999). The Oxford dictionary of quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation…The hand is the cutting edge of the mind. |
Jacob Bronowski | 1908 – 1974 | Knowles, E. (1999). The Oxford dictionary of quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
‘Exactly,’ said Dumbledore, beaming once more. ‘Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.’ |
J. K. Rowling | born 1965 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. |
Leonardo da Vinci | 1452 – 1519 | |
In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. |
Theodore Roosevelt | 1858 – 1919 | |
We are told that it is only people’s objective actions that matter, and their subjective feelings are of no importance. Thus pacifists, by obstructing the war effort, are ‘objectively’ aiding the Nazis; and therefore the fact that they may be personally hostile to Fascism is irrelevant. I have been guilty of saying this myself more than once. The same argument is applied to Trotskyism…To criticize the Soviet Union helps Hitler: therefore “Trotskyism is Fascism”. And when this has been established, the accusation of conscious treachery is usually repeated. This is not only dishonest; it also carries a severe penalty with it. If you disregard people’s motives, it becomes much harder to foresee their actions. |
George Orwell | 1903 – 1950 | |
Don’t do something permanently stupid when you’re temporarily upset. |
Unknown | ||
Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it’s a feather bed. |
Terence Mckenna | 1946 – 2000 | |
Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think. |
Hannah Arendt | 1906 – 1975 | Knowles, E. (1999). The Oxford dictionary of quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. |
Karen Horney | 1885 – 1952 |