“Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism, and doubt.”
“This body, full of faults, has yet one great quality: Whatever it encounters in this temporal life depends upon one's actions.”
“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.”
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
“Each morning sees some task begun, each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose.”
“Suit the action to the world, the world to the action, with this special observance, that you overstep not the modesty of nature.”
“Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.”
“A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he's not a man of action.. You must act as you breathe.”
“Between eighteen and twenty, life is like an exchange where one buys stocks, not with money, but with actions. Most men buy nothing.”
“We do not learn by inference and deduction and the application of mathematics to philosophy, but by direct intercourse and sympathy.”
“No man lives without jostling and being jostled; in all ways he has to elbow himself through the world, giving and receiving offence.”
“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
“I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”
“You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.”
“We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.”
“It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.”
“It is not whether your words or actions are tough or gentle; it is the spirit behind your actions and words that announces your inner state.”
“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.”
“Just as a flower which seems beautiful and has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of the man who speaks them but does them not.”
“Have a bias toward action -- let's see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.”
“The person of intellect is lost unless they unite with energy of character. When we have the lantern of Diogenese we must also have his staff.”
“We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique.”
“You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving.”
“How shall we learn to know ourselves? By reflection? Never; but only through action. Strive to do thy duty; then you shall know what is in thee.”
“The chief difference between words and deeds is that words are always intended for men for their approbation, but deeds can be done only for God.”
“The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.”
“Your difficulty and my difficulty and the difficulty of every individual who ever desired to achieve something worthwhile, comes in the movement.”
“Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together.”
“There should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough.”
“The soul is made for action, and cannot rest till it be employed. Idleness is its rust. Unless it will up and think and taste and see, all is in vain.”