Quotes About Action

The nervous system has a rule that says, 'Any trial action that is followed by reward should be repeated. Any trial action that is followed by nothing, or, worse, followed by punishment, for example pain, should not be repeated.

Refugees are not like you and me. They are you and me. That terrible river of the wretched and damned flowing through Europe is my family. And there is no time in the future in which they might be helped. The only time we have is now.

Probably many people's vision of "thinking something through" is of this nature: you do precisely what you want to do—if you can.

I'm a verb, Frank. Verbs don't answer questions.

I think I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb signifies to be; to do; to suffer. I signify all three.

Be sure you're not completely wrong, then go ahead.

I need to discuss science vs. engineering. Put glibly: In science if you know what you are doing you should not be doing it. In engineering if you do not know what you are doing you should not be doing it.

at the commencement of the battle-cruiser action the German Von der Tann had fought an unimpeded ship-to-ship duel with the British Indefatigable. In fourteen minutes' firing with her eleven-inch guns the Von der Tann had sunk the Indefatigable without receiving a single hit from the Indefatigable's twelve-inch.

No such thing as time travel, he'd rumbled patiently, once. Only live with what you've done, and try in the future to do what you're happy to live with.

Face the facts. Then act on them. It's the only mantra I know, the only doctrine I have to offer you, and it's harder than you'd think, because I swear humans seem hardwired to do anything but. Face the facts. Don't pray, don't wish, don't buy into centuries-old dogma and dead rhetoric. Don't give in to your conditioning or your visions or your fucked-up sense of . . . whatever. Face the facts. Then act.

Religion's just politics with higher stakes, Tak. You know that, you saw it in action on Sharya. No reason these people can't do the same when it comes to the crunch. These people are sheep. They'll do whatever their holy men tell them.

Ringil, preparing to hand out some straightforward reassurance, felt mischief sparkle through him instead. It was the call of impending risk, he knew, the itch to action—and a long building irritation with Nyanar that finally flared to life. He put on a breezy grin. "But my lord Nyanar! That's what gives life its savor, is it not? Where would we be if the future were always known?

Now." The monosyllable had all the give of a depleted uranium slug. "You had better come and see us now.

Non illegitimi te carborundum, the graffiti in prisoner-of-war camps is said to have run. The rough translation, very important for artists, is "Don't let the bastards get you down." Artists who take this to heart survive and often prevail. The key here is action. Pain that is not used profitably quickly solidifies into a leaden heart, which makes any action difficult.

Art? You just do it. MARTIN RITT

Leap and the net will appear.

Anger is a call to action. It is challenging and important to let our light shine. It is important to name ourselves rather than wait for someone else to do it, or pretend that we can continue to bear it when we can't. When we complain that others do not take ourselves and our values seriously, we are actually saying that we don't. If our aesthetics matter so much to us, we must act on them in a concrete and specific form.

Understand that WHAT must come before the HOW. First choose WHAT you would do. The HOW usually falls into place of itself.

As a rule of thumb, it is best to just admit that there is always one action you can take for your creativity daily.

For example, if you remembered the smell of fresh-baked bread, a visit to a bakery could be a wonderful Artist Date.) Never Too Late The joke runs like this: Question: Do you know how old I will be by the time I learn to play the piano? Answer: The same age you'll be if you don't. A year from now you will wish you had started today. —KAREN LAMB

Grab for time to write instead of wait for time.

possibility is far more frightening that impossibility ... If we do, in fact, have to deal with a force beyond ourselves that involves itself in our lives, then we may have to move into action on those previously impossible dreams ... we discount answered prayers ... call it coincidence ... call it luck ... call it anything but what it is -- the hand of God ... activated ... when we commit to our own soul

We procrastinate because we think we must write our entire project. But to break procrastination, we need only write our first thought. Our second, third, and fourth thoughts follow. Soon we are writing, and procrastination is a thing of our past.

Your jealousy map will have three columns. In the first column, name those whom you are jealous of. Next to each name write why. Be as specific and accurate as you can. In the third column, list one action you can take to move toward creative risk and out of jealousy.