Quotes About Action

I still have my talent. My life. You're the one who told me not to live in fear. I'm listening to you. If I don't act on my instincts, then I'm afraid to act on what I know is right. And this is right. I feel it in my heart. In my soul. I know what to do.

She wondered what he'd make of the murder. "Well, well," he would say, "veddy bad. But would it be better if we did not know about it? No. Certainly not. And if we know, must we not do something about it? Certainly. If only to pray.

Living is not merely a matter of staying alive, is it? It is what you do with your life and the fact of your survival that counts.

Emotion,' she told him, 'is not a reliable guide for our words and actions.' 'There you are wrong,' he said. 'Deep, true emotion is our surest guide. We make our greatest mistake when we allow our heads to rules ours hearts.' 'Emotion is our human weakness.,' she said, 'reason our strength.' 'And love,' he said, 'is our destiny.

What is the use of having powers, doctor, when one has no field upon which to exert them?

Things are always easier when imagination ceases and action begins

Well, Mr. Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?" "To remember it--to docket it. We may come on something later which will bear upon it.

when a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it.

See the value of imagination. It is the one quality which Inspector Gregory lacks. We imagined what might have happened, acted upon the supposition, and find ourselves justified. Let us proceed.

There are heroisms all round us waiting to be done. It's for men to do them, and for women to reserve their love as a reward for such men.

nodded, resisting a temptation to take over and direct the search himself for the missing truck and driver. Action would be a therapy. The cold of several days, and dampness with it, had

But who will be proved right? It will only be known later. Meanwhile he is bound to act on credit and sell his soul to the devil, in the hope of history's absolution.

The old disease, thought Rubashov. Revolutionaries should not think through other people's minds. Or, perhaps they should? Or even ought to? How can one change the world if one identifies oneself with everybody? How else can one change it? He who understands and forgives -- where would he find a motive to act? Where would he not?

Should we sit with idle hands because the consequences of an act are never quite to be foreseen, and hence all action is evil?

Courage is to never let your actions be influenced by your fears.

Noi toÈ›i am crezut c? istoria ar putea fi tratat? ca o experien?? de fizic?. Deosebirea este c? în fizic? poÈ›i repeta o experien?? de o mie de ori, dar în istorie o singur? dat?.[...] - ?i acum ce s? facem? întreb? Ivanov. S? st?m cu mâinile încruciÈ™ate pentru c? urm?rile unei acÈ›iuni nu pot fi pe deplin prev?zute È™i de aici rezult? c? orice acÈ›iune este d?un?toare?

The world is an oyster but you don't crack it open on a mattress

You want to live? You better figure out your life.

Grab a chance and you won't be sorry for what might have been

Mensch kann tun was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will. (One can choose what to do, but not what to want.)

How is it possible that suffering that is neither my own nor of my concern should immediately affect me as though it were my own, and with such force that is moves me to action?

Man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills.

Der Mensch kann wohl tun was er will, aber er kann nicht wollen was er will.

The true basis and propaedeutic for all knowledge of human nature is the persuasion that a man's actions are, essentially and as a whole, not directed by his reason and its designs; so that no one becomes this or that because he wants to, though he want to never so much, but that his conduct proceeds from his inborn and inalterable character, is narrowly and in particulars determined by motivation, and is thus necessarily the product of these two factors.