Quotes About Action

They say detailed news doesn't matter. Since we can't change the stupid, greedy, vicious things that powerful people do, they think we should try to ignore them. No matter how many times we're forced to admit we can't really hide, some of us still find ways to try. Well, we can't hide. So it's best to pay attention to what goes on. The more we know, the better able we'll be to survive.

Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them another five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained another two. But he that had received one went out and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.

I hope people who read Parable of the Sower will think about where we seem to be heading--we the United States, even we the human species. Where are we going? What sort of future are we creating? Is it the kind of future you want to live in? If it isn't, what can we do to create a better future?

Nothing is going to save us. If we don't save ourselves, we're dead.

But an unpleasant thing should be done quickly if it must be done at all.

When civilization fails to serve, it must disintegrate unless it is acted upon by unifying internal or external forces.

Then do this. The knowledge won't harm you if you decide not to use it. You need to do this. You've taken refuge too long in doing nothing at all.

Worship is no good without action. With action, it's only useful if it steadies you, focuses your efforts, eases your mind.

To be always intending to make a new and better life but never to find time to set about it is as to put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to the next until you're dead.

Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts.

Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all.

When you feel authentic love toward others, you will be deeply moved to act. You will not rest until you have found ways to secure the happiness of all those you are able to include in your feelings of love. As you learn to love more and more widely, your love will motivate you to act to benefit not just the few people in your inner circle, but your whole society, and eventually, the whole world. This makes love an immensely powerful basis for social action of any sort.

The fact that you have the intention to work for others is important. Act on your wholesome intentions and altruistic impulses. If you have the thought of benefiting society, that is significant. Nurture and treasure that thought, and act on it as best you can. Doing so will certainly change you, and that in itself can be the start of the change you want to see in your world. – 17th Karmapa

When you feel authentic love toward others, you will be deeply moved to act. You will not rest until you have found ways to secure the happiness of all those you are able to include in your feelings of love. As you learn to love more and more widely, your love will motivate you to act to benefit not just the few people in your inner circle, but your whole society, and eventually, the whole world. – 17th Karmapa

The amount of work that needs to be undertaken is great, and we bear an enormous responsibility. The future of the world depends on this. We cannot wait for others to act. Who is the hero who can save the world? It is you. It is everyone of us. If you accept this challenge, that would be truly heroic. You would be an altruistic hero. – 17th Karmapa

The role of emotional awareness is a second major theme running through the book. For the Karmapa, emotions serve as a force that is essential for translating intellectual understanding into positive action.

I see, indeed I know, that in some sense God is love, and God is wisdom, and God is creative action, yes and God is beauty; but what God actually is, whether the maker of all things, or the fragrance of all things, or just a dream in our own hearts, I have not the art to know. Neither have you, I believe; nor any man, nor any spirit of our humble stature.

Things happen. The only thing that matters is how we deal with the now. Either we face the difficult moral decisions with ever-stronger responses, or we do not. This is what separates the mensch from the asshole. Full stop.

anyone who tells you there's one reason for what they do is a liar.

Move. Get going. Blessed is he who leaves.

What do you expect us to do?" "Set the wheels in motion. Punish the culprits. Change the law." "That's too much. You can't want all those things," he said. "Oh yes I can! And I'm the one to define what I can want," I shouted furiously

But the truth is that anyone who feels Anger, and does not take action, merely spreads the infection.

Power! Did you ever hear of men being asked whether other souls should have power or not? It is born in them. You may dam up the fountain of water, and make it a stagnant marsh, or you may let it run free and do its work; but you cannot say whether it shall be there; it is there. And it will act, if not openly for good, then covertly for evil; but it will act.

It is not my design to drink or to sleep, but my design is to make what haste I can to be gone.