Quotes About Action

We are all subject to the fates. But we must act as if we are not, or die of despair.

Iorek Byrnison: Can is not the same as must. Lyra Silvertongue: But if you must and you can, then there's no excuse.

He said his name was Kobi Chen-Tulsi. He said, "Tell Threnody Noon that the Prells are going to attack Grand Central." - The Crystal Horizon

Masgard drew his sword and swished it to and fro, practising flashy fencing moves as he advanced on her. When he was a few feet away Hester lunged forward and jabbed her blade at his shoulder. She didn't think she'd done much damage, but Masgard dropped his sword and put his hands to the wound and slithered in the snow and fell over.

Livet är rörelse.

It is interesting that we instinctively make this connection when we talk of "being sensible" about taking wise actions or making wise choices. We also speak of arriving at a more healthy way of seeing and doing as "coming to our senses.

So, then, the best of the historian is subject to the poet; for whatsoever action or faction, whatsoever counsel, policy, or war-stratagem the historian is bound to recite, that may the poet, if he list, with his imitation make his own, beautifying it both for further teaching and more delighting, as it pleaseth him; having all, from Dante's Heaven to his Hell, under the authority of his pen.

I was already at an age when putting off anything was a bad idea.

This is a big reason for the "skeptic" half of my "optimistic skeptic" stance. We live in a world where the actions of one nearly powerless man can have ripple effects around the world—ripples that affect us all to varying degrees.

When a leaf falls from a tree, when a river flows to the sea, when a bee flits from flower to flower, it happens without "action" or "doing." Nature is simply being. In the same way, human beings should simply be.

No need to concern yourself with building a habit over time. Just do it today.

When mind and action are separate, zen is lost.

Not to understand the doer is to have no certain knowledge of what has been done, or why it was undertaken

A philosophy that cannot be lived is no philosophy at all.

1 am not "up to" anything, Cousin Edgar.

Les hommes sont bizarres. Ils commettent le pire sans trop se poser de questions, mais ensuite, ils ne peuvent plus vivre avec le souvenir de ce qu'ils ont fait.

Oh, tu sais! La honte, ce n'est pas un sentiment assez fort pour nous empecher de faire quoi que ce soit... Crois moi!

You must not fall. / When you lose your balance, resist for a long time before turning yourself toward the earth. Then jump. / You must not force yourself to stay steady. You must move forward.

It's impossible, that's for sure. So let's start working.

but the one I cannot, and the other I will not do.

The inferior man lived only in his fantasies, because he lacked willpower and imagination. The superior man made his fantasies a reality. (Martin Darius)

charged with committing, or you can

The woman wore a grey knee-length skirt, what once must have been a nicely pressed white blouse. She carried heels in one hand as she ran in the grass, toward Hoover Drive. A fast zombie in a dark business suit, complete with a thin black tie, was right behind her. He reached for her, swiping passes with bloated blue hands. She serpentined. Left. Right. Doubling back. Good moves. She was like an over-dressed running back. Her shoes the ball.

Sad will be the day for any man when he becomes contented with the thoughts he is thinking and the deeds he is doing - where there is not forever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger which he knows he was meant and made to do.