Thoughtful Action Quotes

Confidence comes from thoughtful action, reflection, and experience. Confidence does not come from reaction. ~ Debasish Mridha

All my actions have their rise in my inalienable love of mankind. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Like every thoughtful parent in every age of history, Neil consoled himself, My generation failed, but this new one is going to change the entire world, and go piously to the polls even on rainy election-days, and never drink more than one cocktail, and end all war. ~ Sinclair Lewis

Acts themselves alone are history, and these are neither the exclusive property of Hume, Gibbon nor Voltaire, Echard, Rapin, Plutarch, nor Herodotus. Tell me the Acts, O historian, and leave me to reason upon them as I please; away with your reasoning and your rubbish. All that is not action is not worth reading. ~ William Blake

Even so, Vigny would say those in uniform have made the greater sacrifice by losing the man in the soldier - what he calls the warrior's abnegation, his renunciation of thought and action. Vigny says a soldier's crown is a crown of thorns, amongst its spikes none more painful than passive obedience.' 'True enough.' 'He sees the role of authority as essentially artificial, the army a way of life in which there is as little room for uncontrolled fervour as for sullen indifference. The impetuous volunteer has as much to learn as the unwilling conscript. ~ Anthony Powell

A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with rows and rows of natural objects, classified with name and form. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Love can never explain in words, but can show in action. ~ Jervin Balmedino

The internal effects of a mutable policy are still more calamitous. It poisons the blessing of liberty itself. It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed? ~ James Madison

Both were men who knew the frontier code and each other. At a time of action speech, beyond the curtest of monosyllables, was surplusage. ~ William MacLeod Raine

Many times it takes just one member of a family to initiate the action to bring a family back together again. ~ Billy Graham

The curse of me and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort. ~ Plato

Who needs a face when the masks in life are endless? ~ Diliana Ovtcharova

I freely admit that the best of my fun, I owe it to Horse and Hound - Whyte Melville (1821-1878)


"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of ~ Whyte Melville

It's great to see a relatable, accessible young woman out there, doing things and breaking the barriers for what would be considered an action movie. ~ Todd Lieberman

Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones. ~ Herbert Simon

Occupying the bottom end of the inequality ladder, and becoming a 'collateral victim' of a human action or a natural disaster, interact the way the opposite poles of magnets do: they tend to gravitate towards each other. ~ Zygmunt Bauman

Beware the man (or jinni) of action when he finally seeks to better himself with thought. A little thinking is a dangerous thing. ~ Salman Rushdie

Has it been found that bodies of men act with more rectitude or greater disinterestedness than individuals? The contrary of this has been inferred by all accurate observers of the conduct of mankind; and the inference is founded upon obvious reasons. Regard to reputation has a less active influence, when the infamy of a bad action is to be divided among a number than when it is to fall singly upon one. ~ Alexander Hamilton

There might be others," Alicia said. "Some of the ones we don't see much. Q-33 North, maybe?" But she was looking at Nobununga, thoughtful.
"Is he the one with the tentacles?"
"No, that's Barry O'Shea. Q-33 North is the sort of iceberg with legs, remember? Up in Norway?"
"Oh, right. ~ Scott Hawkins

If one is to succeed in anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession. ~ Carlos Castaneda

And the fear of not being is born in that space. But in meditation, when this is understood, the mind can enter into a dimension of space where action is inaction. We do not know what love is, for in the space made by thought around itself as the me, love is the conflict of the me and the not-me. This conflict, this torture, is not love. Thought is the very denial of love, and it cannot enter into that space where the me is not. In that space is the benediction which man seeks and cannot find. He seeks it within the frontiers of thought, and thought destroys the ecstasy of this benediction. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

My definition of success: When your core values and self-concept are in harmony with your daily actions and behaviors. ~ John Spence

If God 'foresaw' our acts, it would be very hard to understand how we could be free not to do them. But suppose god is outside and above the Time-line ... You never supposed that your actions at this moment were any less free because God knows what you are doing. Well, He know your tomorrow's actions in just the same way
because He is already in tomorrow and can simply watch you. In a sense, He does not know your action till you have done it: but the moment at which you have done it is already 'NOW' for Him. ~ C.S. Lewis

The most common criticism I've seen is that I write 'popcorn fantasy:' lightweight action-adventure. Some people call it that as they explain why they love it for exactly that reason. I'm cool with that, either way. I just nod and let it go. ~ R.A. Salvatore

Christianity is the gayest religion, you know. Its core commandment to men is to form a deep lifelong partnership with ANOTHER MAN. It demands real man-on-man, man-on-Jesus love action, no holds barred. It's the most homophilic religion in the universe. ~ Joe

My mother pretty much raised me to be a free spirit. Anything my father would say, she would tell me, 'No, it's like this.' ~ Action Bronson

Without knowledge action is useless and knowledge without action is futile. ~ Abu Bakr

31 against war
Weapons are unhappy tools,
not chosen by thoughtful people,
to be used only when there is no choice,
and with a calm, still mind,
without enjoyment.
To enjoy using weapons
is to enjoy killing people,
and to enjoy killing people
is to lose your share in the common good ... ~ Lao-Tzu

Authors of so-called 'literary' fiction insist that action, like plot, is vulgar and unworthy of a true artist. Don't pay any attention to misguided advice of that sort. If you do, you will very likely starve trying to live on your writing income. Besides, the only writers who survive the ages are those who understand the need for action in a novel. ~ Dean Koontz

Pray be always in motion. Early in the morning go and see things; and the rest of the day go and see people. If you stay but a week at a place, and that an insignificant one, see, however, all that is to be seen there; know as many people, and get into as many houses as ever you can. ~ Lord Chesterfield

Plutarch taught me high thoughts; he elevated me above the wretched sphere of my own reflections, to admire and love the heroes of past ages. Many things I read surpassed my understanding and experience. I had a very confused knowledge of kingdoms, wide extents of country, mighty rivers, and boundless seas. This book developed new and mightier scenes of action. I read of men concerned in public affairs, governing or massacring their species. I felt the greatest ardour for virtue rise within me, and abhorrence for vice. ~ Mary Shelley

Writing requires discipline, detailed thinking, good communication skills, a plan of action, clear vision, and a passion for people. CMT Stibbe ~ C.M.T. Stibbe