Quotes About Action

I had to decide what I was going to do, and what I was going to be. I was standing there, waiting for someone to do something, till I realized the person I was waiting for was myself.

If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.

we must be a beacon of hope, because if you tell people there's nothing they can do, they will do worse than nothing.

A language is everything you do.

She would roll up her sleeves and dispense with sentimentality, and do whatever blood-soaked, bad-smelling thing had to be done. She would become adept with axes.

The CorpSeCorps always substituted rumour for action, if action would cost them anything. They believed in the bottom line.

It's a gamble every time you get up in the morning

Kick in the door, and what did I tell you? Caught in the act, sinfully Scrabbling. Quick, eat those words.

Some of the best things are done by those with nowhere to turn, by those who don't have time, by those who truly understand the word helpless. They dispense no thought with the calculation of risk and profit, they take no thought for the future, they're forced to spearpoint into the present tense. - Margaret Atwood (The Blind Assassin)

Maybe acting as if she believes in such a future will help to create it, which is the kind of thing the Gardeners used to say.

too many postponements & regrets

At the outset Verna had not intended to kill anyone.

If you knew what was going to happen, if you knew everything that was going to happen next—if you knew in advance the consequences of your own actions—you'd be doomed. You'd be ruined as God. You'd be a stone. You'd never eat or drink or laugh or get out of bed in the morning. You'd never love anyone, ever again. You'd never dare to." ? Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

Kick in the door, and what did I tell you? Caught in the act, sinfully Scrabbling. Quick, eat those words. Maybe

I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before. You do that first, in your head, and then you make it real. So that's how they do it, I thought. I seemed never to have known that before.

She who does not hesitate is lost.

But perhaps it is too late for that. You take the first step, and to save yourself from the consequences, you take the next one. In times like ours, there are only two directions: up or plummet.

Ignorieren ist nicht das gleiche wie Ignoranz, man muß etwas dazu tun.

But once you've climbed a ladder, what use is it? You kick it away, if you don't intend to go down it again.

Maybe acting as if she believes in such a future will help to create it

Gök gürültüsü iyidir, etkileyicidir ama as?l iÅŸ gören ÅŸimÅŸektir Mark Twain

Ah, but who will bell the cat?" "I am not sure what you mean." "It is a country saying. A council of mice met to decide what to do about the tomcat who was on the loose. They agreed the best plan was to attach a bell to his neck so they could hear him coming and hide. It was a fine plan—but it needed a mouse brave enough to risk his life jumping on the cat.

It's better to break one's heart than to do nothing with it.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.