Quotes About Initiative

I look for what needs to be done

In case of doubt, attack.

Don't take the attitude of waiting for people to be nice to you - be nice to them. Don't sit in front of a cold stove waiting for the heat. Put in the fuel. Act first.

What developed in my early days was the attitude to start attacking the thing I was scared of

You need to wake yourself up and take a grab at life. No one is going to hand it to you.

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. -George Bernard Shaw

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act!

Sometimes," Oisín said, "people simply do things. They get an idea and do it, and it's not tied up with any love or childhood trauma. If we believe there's a dramatic origin story for every human endeavor, we deprive our species of the ability to simply conjure an idea. To just make stuff and do things.

Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.

Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs. —Václav Havel You'll

No matter how big and tough a problem may be, get rid of confusion by taking one little step toward solution. Do something. —George F. Nordenholt

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. —George Bernard Shaw

Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs. —Vaclav Havel

The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation.

Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs. —Václav Havel

Whether it was on the battlefield or during an investigation, if you weren't moving forward then what good were you?

Look here,' she began, 'you can't go on like that, you know. If you are really keen on a thing, and it's a good thing, you ought to go and do it. It is no use waiting till people tell you that you may go. Asking permission is a coward's way of shifting responsibility on to some one else.

I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.

I never worry about action, but only about inaction.

It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.

In heaven's name, let us not wait for other people to come to us and call upon us to do great deeds. Let us instead be the first to summon the rest to a path of honor.

Don't hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did.

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality, nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit.

There are a hundred ways in which a boy can injure—if not indeed kill—himself. The more adventurous he is and the greater his initiative, the more ways he will find. If you protect him from each of the first hundred, he is sure to find the hundred and first. Though most men can look back on their boyhood and tremble at the narrowness of some of their escapes, most boys do in fact survive more or less intact, and the wise father is the trusting father.