Quotes About Action

She wondered what it was about men that wed them more to a way of doing things than to achieving their ostensible goals.

What did Ian Fleming say? Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. And I don't believe in waiting for even that much evidence. It was past time to act.

People talk about morality. Sometimes I think there's just what you can do, and what you can't. Well, I could. And I was going to.

If we are responsible for an action that turns out badly and if it almost turned out well, then we are prime candidates for regret.

It is choosers who create new opportunities for themselves and everyone else. But when faced with overwhelming choice, we are forced to become "pickers," which is to say, relatively passive selectors from whatever is available.

95% of the people who walk the earth are inert, Johnny. 1% are saints, and 1% are assholes. The other 3% do what they say they can do.

It's time to quit fucking around, don't you know that? When you start to see colored footprints on the sidewalk, it's time to quit fucking around and go to the doctor.

Never whistle for the wind unless you want it to blow,' Ã¢â'¬Â she said.

But grownups were always in a turmoil, every possible action muddied over by thoughts of the consequences, by self-doubt, by selfimage, by feelings of love and responsibility.

To resort to this action confesses the bankruptcy of our political policy vis-à-vis that country

The only way to begin is to begin, and begin right now. If you like, begin the minute you finish reading this paragraph. For sure, begin before you finish reading this book. I have no doubt the day is coming when you will be wiser or better informed or more highly skilled than you are now, but you will never be more ready to begin writing than you are right this minute. The time has come.

Lieutenant Paul T. Funkhouser from Evansville, Indiana, a twenty-three-year-old lawyer yet to practice his trade, led the way aboard his motorcycle. He kept riding back and forth to let the drivers know where to go, and then dashing off to the head of the column.

Arab terrorist, international hitman, it's all a bit Andy McNab, isn't it?

up the engines of all of them and began

And after we've killed

True manliness is about the determination to act according to a noble definition of what it means to be a man. This is within the reach of every man, no matter how he looks or sounds.

SOMEONE ONCE TRIED TO SUMMARIZE A PRINCIPLE IN Aristotle's epic work Poetics with these words: "Action is character." Now Aristotle was describing the elements of drama when he wrote his Poetics, so he didn't necessarily mean what I mean here. Still, his basic premise is true: we know what a person's character is by what he does.

Hear me, gentlemen: true men do things—manly things. Mere males who want to seem like men just talk. Manhood is in the doing. There

Passive men wait for knowledge to come to them. Weak men assume what they need to know will seek them out. Men of great character and drive search out the knowledge they need.

Finally, in more serious situations, man humor confronts fear and prepares the heart for action. It's a tool for dealing with danger, quieting panic, and calling comrades to prepare to charge. Call it gallows humor. Call it foxhole humor. Wherever it happens, it is how men use the sometimes crass but always funny comment to force a laugh and encourage their brothers-in-arms.

By doing rather than merely studying, we create a culture. Newcomers and the young feed on that culture. They watch. They do. They, too, are changed. Our culture expands. You Americans create a system of thought. The most you ask is that people contemplate new ideas. You might ask them to give or to sometimes attend meetings, but no contagious culture is created.

If you want to accord with the Tao, just do your job, then let go.

When you pick up one end of the stick, you pick up the other. Therefore, if you decide to take responsibility for your circumstances, you automatically tap into the power to change

You can't talk your way out of a problem you behaved your way into!