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Action Quotes

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Action Quotes

“All the inducements of early society tend to foster immediate action; all its penalties fall on the man who pauses; the traditional wisdom of those times was never weary of inculcating that "delays are dangerous," and that the sluggish man the man "who roasteth not that which he took in hunting" will not prosper on the earth, and indeed will very soon perish out of it. And in consequence an inability to stay quiet, an irritable desire to act directly, is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind.”

MenActionEarthDesireFallFailingMankindDangerousHe ManQuietConsequenceTraditionalHuntingPenaltiesWearyPausesDelayInabilitySluggishImmediate Action
Book:Physics and Politics: Or, Thoughts on the Application of the Principles of
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“It is important to understand what I mean by semiosis. All dynamic action, or action of brute force, physical or psychical, either takes place between two subjects, whether they react equally upon each other, or one is agent and the other patient, entirely or partially, or at any rate is a resultant of such actions between pairs. But by "semiosis" I mean, on the contrary, an action, or influence, which is, or involves, a cooperation of three subjects, such as a sign, its object, and its interpretant, this tri-relative influence not being in any way resolvable into actions between pairs.”

WayMeanTwoImportantActionThreeForceInfluenceSubjectsObjectsPatientRateContraryAgentsPairsCooperationRelativeBrutesBrute Force
Author:Charles Sanders Peirce
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“We cannot live in peace without Law. And though law cannot be perfect, it may be just if it is written in ignorance of the identity of the claimants and applied equally to all. Then it is a possession not only of the claimants but of the society, which may now base its actions upon a reasonable assumption of the law?s treatment.”

IfsMayActionLawPerfectWrittenIdentityIgnorancePossessionAssumptionReasonableTreatment
Book:The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture
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“We continually forget that the sphere of morals is the sphere of action, that speculation in regard to morality is but observation and must remain in the sphere of intellectual comment, that a situation does not really become moral until we are confronted with the question of what shall be done in a concrete case, and are obliged to act upon our theory.”

DoeDoneActionForgetSituationMoralCasesTheoryMoralityIntellectualRegardObservationCommentSpheresConcreteSpeculationObliged
Book:Democracy and Social Ethics
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“Wherever moral ambition exists, there right exists. And moral ambition itself must be presumed present in subconsciousness, even when the conscious self seems to reject it, so long as society has resources for bringing it into action; in much the same way that the life-saver presumes life to exist in the drowned man until he has exhausted his resources for recovering respiration.”

MenWayLongSelfSeemsActionMoralAmbitionConsciousResourcesRejectsExhaustedRecoveringRespiration
Author:William Ernest Hocking
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“Whenever I write a letter to a family who has lost a loved one in Iraq, or read an email from a constituent who has dropped out of college because her student aid has been cut, I'm reminded that the actions of those in power have enormous consequences--a price that they themselves almost never have to pay.”

WritingHas BeensActionLostPayCuttingStudentsCollegeConsequenceLettersIraqAidsEnormousLoved OnesEmailConstituents
Book:The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
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“Ultimately, the challenges of the 21st century can't be met without collective action. Agreement will almost never be easy, and results won't always come quickly. But I am committed to respecting different points of view, and to forging a consensus instead of dictating our terms... That's how we will advance and uphold our ideals.”

DifferentActionEasyTermChallengesResultsViewsCenturyMetsIdealsCommittedPoint Of ViewCollectivesAgreement21st CenturyConsensusDifferent Points Of ViewForgingDictatingCollective Action
Author:Barack Obama
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“Persecution always says, 'I know the consequences of your opinion better than you know them yourselves.' But the language of toleration was always amicable, liberal, and just: it confessed its doubts, and acknowledged its ignorance ... Persecution had always reasoned from cause to effect, from opinion to action, [that such an opinion would invariably lead to but one action], which proved generally erroneous; while toleration led us invariably to form just conclusions, by judging from actions and not from opinions.”

KnowsActionFormLanguageCausesOpinionDoubtEffectsIgnoranceJudgingConsequenceConclusionPersecutionBetter Than YouToleration
Author:Charles James Fox
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“You are different from the really great man in only one thing: The great man, at one time, also was a very little man, but he developed one important ability: he learned to see where he was small in his thinking, and actions. Under the pressure of some task which was dear to him he learned better and better to sense the threat that comes from his smallness and pettiness. The great man, then, knows when and in what he is a little man.”

ThinkingKnowsMenLittlesImportantDifferentActionAbilityOne ThingTasksPressureThreatDearGreat MenOne TimeReally GreatLittle ManSmallnessPettiness
Author:Wilhelm Reich
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“If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic. It's just I simply can't accept that. It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKindChildrenStatesActionAmericaUnitedCompassionAcceptingUnited StatesAchieveBehaviorLogicTerroristObjectivesInnocentIslamicComparisonUnited States Of AmericaTacticsFlawedDecencyExtremistIslamic Extremists
Author:George W. Bush
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“In order for the State in the person of school officials to justify prohibition of a particular expression of opinion, it must be able to show that its action was caused by something more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint.”

PersonsStatesShowsAbleActionSchoolDesireOrderOpinionParticularExpressionMereOfficialsJustifyFreedom Of SpeechDiscomfortProhibitionViewpointsAccompany
Author:Abe Fortas
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“Forgetfulness, the unhistorical, is ... the atmosphere, in which alone life can come into being. In order to understand it, let us imagine a youth who is seized with a passion for a woman, or a man who is swayed by a passion for his work. In both cases what lies behind them has ceased to exist and yet this state (the most unhistorical that can be imagined) is that in which every action, every great deed is conceived and accomplished.”

MenStatesActionLyingOrderPassionBehindsCasesImagineYouthDeedsAtmosphereAccomplishedForgetfulnessAlone Life
Author:Georg Brandes
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“But what of the voice and judgment of conscience? The difficulty is that we have a conscience behind our conscience, an intellectual one behind the moral. ... We can see quite well that our opinions of what is noble and good, our moral valuations, are powerful levers where action is concerned; but we must begin by refining these opinions and independently creating for ourselves new tables of values.”

WellsActionValuesVoicePowerfulBehindsMoralOpinionJudgmentCreatingIntellectualConscienceConcernedDifficultyTablesNobleLeversRefiningValuation
Author:Georg Brandes
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“An idea is growing in foreign policy circles in Washington ... that there is no turning back. We are stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan for 25 to 40 years, we are embedded in our prideful unilateralism, and nothing can return us to more traditional American values and principles of action. The hubristic creators of this "inevitability" planned it this way. ... Their failures in Iraq have not stopped the fanatic, power-hungry neoconservatives. ... The hard-liners who dominate this administration ... have led us to eternal conflict with Muslims.”

WayYearsIdeasWarHardActionReligionValuesPrinciplesPowerGrowingPolicyReturnConflictEternalIraqCreatorCirclesStuckHungryTraditionalAdministrationAfghanistanForeign PolicyFanaticsEmbeddedInevitabilityAmerican ValuesNo Turning BackPower HungryUnilateralism
Author:Georgie Anne Geyer
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“I cannot get accustomed to war; my brain refuses to understand and explain a thing that is senseless in its basis. Millions of people gather at one place and, giving their actions order and regularity, kill each other, and it hurts everybody equally, and all are unhappy -- what is it if not madness?”

PeopleIfsGivingWarActionOrderHurtBrainMillionsBasesMadnessRefuseUnhappyIt HurtsAccustomedRegularity
Book:The Seven That Were Hanged
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“Philosophy, which formerly raised man to feel conscious of himself because he was a thinking being and to say, 'I think therefore I am," now raises him to say ... "I think, therefore I am not," (unless he takes thought into consideration only in that humble region where it is confused with action).”

ThinkingMenFeelsPhilosophyActionConsciousRaisesRaisedHumbleConfusedConsiderationRegions
Book:The Treason of the Intellectuals
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“There is no gene "for" such unambiguous bits of morphology as your left kneecap or your fingernail. [...] Hundreds of genes contribute to the building of most body parts and their action is channeled through a kaleidoscopic series of environmental influences: embryonic and postnatal, internal and external. Parts are not translated genes, and selection doesn't even work directly on parts.”

BodyActionLeftBitsInfluenceBuildingSeriesEnvironmentalInternalsGenesSelectionFingernailsMorphologyEnvironmental Influences
Book:The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History
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“Art is the principal way in which the human mind has tried to remake the world in a way that makes sense. The carefully edited, slow-motion, action replay of a rugby tackle, a car crash or a sex act has more significance than the original event. Thanks to virtual reality, we will soon be moving into a world where a heightened super-reality will consist entirely of action replays, and reality will therefore be all the more rich and meaningful.”

WorldWayMindHumansArtRealityActionMovingSexRichCarEventsArt IsOriginalsMeaningfulThanksMake SenseSignificanceHuman MindPrincipalCrashRugbyRemakesVirtual RealityEditedSlow MotionReplayCar Crash
Author:J. G. Ballard
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“When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse .”

IfsWellsDreamActionLyingFourDoorsStreetsYouthLowsWindowNobleLocksApocalypseWrathMonstrousMaidensHopes And DreamsShuttersHorsemenIncongruityFour HorsemenFour Horsemen Of The Apocalypse
Book:The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
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“Though there is a benevolence due to all mankind, none can question but a superior degree of it is to be paid to a father, a wife, or child. In the same manner, though our love should reach to the whole species, a greater proportion of it should exert itself towards that community in which Providence has placed us. This is our proper sphere of action, the province allotted us for the exercise of our civil virtues, and in which alone we have opportunities of expressing our goodwill to mankind.”

ShouldChildrenWholeActionFatherOpportunityCommunityVirtueGreaterWifeMankindExerciseDegreesPaidSpeciesDuesSuperiorsProportionSpheresProvidenceOur LoveBenevolenceGoodwillProvinces
Book:Essays Moral and Humorous: Also Essays on Imagination and Taste
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“Our virtues themselves are not free and floating qualities over which we retain a permanent control and power of disposal; they come to be so closely linked in our minds with the actions in conjunction with which we have made it our duty to exercise them that if we come to engage in an activity of a different kind, it catches us off guard and without the slightest awareness that it might involve the application of those same virtues.”

IfsMindKindMadeDifferentMightActionQualityVirtueAwarenessDutyExerciseActivityMade ItPermanentApplicationDifferent KindsFloatingLinkedConjunctions
Book:In Search Of Lost Time, Vol 2: Within a Budding Grove
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“It is rather an unpleasant fact, that the ugliest and awkwardest of brute animals have the greatest resemblance to man: the monkey and the bear. The monkey is ugly too (so we think) because he is like man--as the bear is awkward, because the cumbrous action of its huge paws seems to be a preposterous imitation of the motions of human hands. Men and apes are the only animals that have hairs on the under eye-lid. Let kings know this.”

ThinkingKnowsMenHumansFactsHandsSeemsEyeActionAnimalHugeHairBearsKingsUglyAwkwardImitationMonkeysBrutesApesResemblancePawsHuman Hands
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Illustrated)
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“Do you, like a skilful weigher, put into the balance the pleasures and the pains, near and distant, and weigh them, and then say which outweighs the other? If you weigh pleasures against pleasures, you of course take the more and greater; or if you weigh pains against pains, then you choose that course of action in which the painful is exceeded by the pleasant, whether the distant by the near or the near by the distant; and you avoid that course of action in which the pleasant is exceeded by the painful.”

IfsActionPainCoursesPleasureGreaterBalancePainfulPleasantYou Choose
Book:The Works of Plato: Charmides, Lysis, Other Dialogues and the Laws
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“Hollywood is a very male business, and it has in vast portions of it - the whole action movie part of it might as well be the United States Army in 1943 in that the ethics of it are, you know, boot camp and action movies and guns and explosions and all the rest of it, and that - so that means that about 50% of the business is not only pretty much closed off to women, but women don't even wanna be in it!”

KnowsWellsMeanStatesWholeMightActionUnitedUnited StatesEthicsGunHollywoodArmyMalesCampsBootsPortionsExplosionsAction MovieBoot CampUnited States Army
Author:Nora Ephron
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“Religions, creeds and forms are only a characteristic outward sign of the spiritual impulsion and religion itself is the intensive action by which it tries to find its inward force. Its expansive movement comes in the thought which it throws out on life, the ideals which open up new horizons and which the intellect accepts and life labours to assimilate.”

TryingActionSpiritualFormForceAcceptingMovementIdealsIntellectCharacteristicsLabourHorizonCreedsInwardNew Horizons
Book:Bulletin
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“Whenever Alexander heard Philip had taken any town of importance, or won any signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his companions that his father would anticipate everything, and leave him and them no opportunities of performing great and illustrious actions.”

ActionFatherOpportunityTakenHeardVictoryImportanceTownsPerformingCompanionRejoiceSignalsAnticipatePhilip
Book:The life of Alexander the Great
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“Art arises in those strange complexities of action that are called human beings. It is a kind of human behavior. As such it is not magic, except as human beings are magical. Nor is it concerned in absolutes, eternities, "forms," beyond those that may reside in the context of the human being and be subject to his vicissitudes. Art is not an inner state of consciousness, whatever that may mean. Neither is it essentially a supreme form of communication. Art is human behavior, and its values are contained in human behavior.”

HumansKindMayMeanArtStatesActionFormValuesHuman BeingsConsciousnessMagicSubjectsStrangeCommunicationBehaviorArt IsConcernedEternityAbsolutesSupremeAriseComplexityHuman BehaviorStates Of ConsciousnessVicissitudes
Author:Baker Brownell
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