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Quotes About Action

Thus our own age is essentially one of understanding, and on the average, perhaps, more knowledgeable than any former generation, but it is without passion. Every one knows a great deal, we all know which way we ought to go and all the different ways we can go, but nobody is willing to move.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
For it is not what happens to me that makes me great, but it is what I do.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
The Highest, after all, is not to comprehend the Highest, but to do it.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
the measure of a person's disposition is this: how far is he from what he understands to what he does, how great is the distance between his understanding and his actions.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Reflection is not the evil; but a reflective condition and the deadlock which it involves, by transforming the capacity for action into a means of escape from action, is both corrupt and dangerous, and leads in the end to a retrograde movement.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
If a man had a little button sewn on the inner pocket of his coat 'on principle' his otherwise unimportant and quite serviceable action would become charged with importance--it is not improbable that it would result in the formation of a society.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
On principle' a man can do anything, take part in anything and himself remain inhuman and indeterminate. 'On principle' a man may interest himself in the founding of a brothel, and the same man can 'on principle' assist in the publication of a new Hymn book because it is supposed to be the great need of the times. But it would be as unjustifiable to conclude from the first fact that he was debauched as it would, perhaps, be to conclude from the second that he read or sang hymns.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
On principle' one can do anything and what one does is, fundamentally, a matter of indifference, just as a man's life remains insignificant even though 'on principle' he gives his support to all the 'needs of the times.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
If anything is to be done, one must try to introduce Christianity into Christendom.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
For my part I can in a way understand Abraham, but at the same time I apprehend that I have not the courage to speak, and still less to act as he did — but by this I do not by any means intend to say that what he did was insignificant, for on the contrary it is the one only marvel.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Mutismul cel mai sigur nu-i s? taci, ci s? vorbe?ti.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Our age is essentially one of understanding and reflection, without passion, momentarily bursting into enthusiasm, and shrewdly relapsing into repose. ... There is no more action or decision in our day than there is perilous delight in swimming in shallow waters.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Only some one who knows how to remain essentially silent can really talk -- and act essentially
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Si Abraham hubiese obrado de otro modo, es posible que aun así hubiese amado a Dios, pero no habría creído, porque quien ama a Dios sin que su amor vaya acompañado de la fe, se refleja en sí mismo, mientras que quien ama a Dios creyendo se refleja en Él.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
For it is not what happens to me that makes me great, but what I do, and there is surely no one who thinks that anyone became great by winning the big lottery prize.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
To be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know, except in so far as a certain understanding must precede every action. The thing is to understand myself…the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
The highest of all is not to understand the highest but to act upon it.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?
~ Soren Kierkegaard
I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations - one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it - you will regret both.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Tyhmät ja touhukkaat ihmiset kuvittelevat, että he toimivat ja toimivat ja toimivat. Sen sijaan käy suorastaan tietynlaisten älypäiden tunnusmerkistä se taituruus, jota osoittaen he välttävät toimimisen.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Indivizii nu erau altceva pentru el decât niÅŸte stimulente;ÅŸi îndat? ce acÅ£iunea provocat? de ei se consuma,el se debarasa de aceÅŸtia.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
order that you shall act according to it, not that you gain expertise in interpreting it.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
Si quien va a obrar pretende juzgarse antes a sí mismo por el resultado, no comenzará nunca.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
la fe resulta ser por un lado la expresión más alta del egoísmo (lleva a cabo lo terrible por amor a sí mismo), y por otro, la más absoluta expresión de la entrega, pues lleva a cabo la acción por amor a Dios. La fe nunca puede mediar en lo general; de hacerlo quedaría anulada. La fe consiste en esa paradoja, y el Particular no logrará nunca que otro le comprenda.
~ Soren Kierkegaard