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Action Quotes

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Action Quotes

“In man's life, the absence of an essential component usually leads to the adoption of a substitute. The substitute is usually embraced with vehemence and extremism, for we have to convince ourselves that what we took as second choice is the best there ever was. Thus blind faith is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves; insatiable desire a substitute for hope; accumulation a substitute for growth; fervent hustling a substitute for purposeful action; and pride a substitute for an unattainable self-respect.”

MenSelfActionDesireChoicesLostGrowthPrideEssentialsBlindAbsenceSelf RespectConvinceSubstitutesAdoptionComponentsAccumulationExtremismHustleInsatiableBlind FaithUnattainableFerventLost FaithVehemenceSecond Choice
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“In a trader-dominated society, the scribe is usually kept out of the management of affairs, but it given a more or less free hand in the cultural field. By frustrating the scribe's craving for commanding action, the trader draws upon himself the scribe's wrath and scorn.”

HandsActionGivenFieldsDrawsManagementAffairWrathFrustratingCravingScornTradersScribes
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“When watching men of power in action it must be always kept in mind that, whether they know it or not, their main purpose is the elimination or neutralization of the independent individual- the independent voter, consumer, worker, owner, thinker- and that every device they employ aims at turning men into a manipulable animated instrument which is Aristotle's definition of a slave.”

KnowsMenMindActionPurposeIndividualAimIndependentInstrumentsSlaveWorkersDefinitionsConsumersOwnersDevicesVotersThinkerAnimatedEliminationIndependent Voters
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight and die for a word than for anything else. Words shape thought, stir feeling, and beget action; they kill and revive, corrupt and cure. The "men-of-words"- priests, prophets, intellectuals- have played a more decisive role in history than military leaders, statesmen, and businessmen.”

KnowsMenFeelingsActionMovingDiesFightingLeaderRolesSocietyMilitaryHe ManReadyShapesMountainCuresProphetPriestsMultitudesBusinessmanStatesmenBegetsReviveMove MountainsMilitary Leader
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The vigor of a mass movement stems from the propensity of its followers for united action and self-sacrifice. When we ascribe the success of a movement to its faith, doctrine, propaganda, leadership, ruthlessness and so on, we are but referring to instruments of unification and to means used to inculcate a readiness for self-sacrifice. It is perhaps impossible to understand the nature of a mass movement unless it is recognized that their chief preoccupation is to foster, perfect and perpetuate a facility for united action and self-sacrifice.”

MeanSelfActionUsedPerfectUnitedImpossibleSacrificeSocietyMovementMassInstrumentsDoctrineChiefsPropagandaFollowersStemFacilityReadinessSelf SacrificeVigorReferringPreoccupationPropensityUnificationRuthlessness
Book:THE TRUE BELIEVER
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“If we are to understand the human condition, and if we are to accept ourselves in all the complexity, self-doubt, extravagance of feeling, guilt, joy, the slow freeing of the self to its full capacity for action and creation, both as human being and as artist, we have to know all we can about each other, and we have to be willing to go naked.”

IfsKnowsHumansSelfFeelingsActionJoyArtistHumanityHuman BeingsAcceptingDoubtConditionsCreationWillingCapacityGuiltNakedComplexityHuman ConditionExtravaganceSelf-doubt
Book:Journal of a Solitude
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“Let the ground of all thy religious actions be obedience; examine not why it is commanded, but observe it because it is commanded. True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions.”

ActionReligiousObedienceProcrastinating
Book:Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles
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“Aerial spirits, by great Jove design'd To be on earth the guardians of mankind: Invisible to mortal eyes they go, And mark our actions, good or bad, below: The immortal spies with watchful care preside, And thrice ten thousand round their charges glide: They can reward with glory or with gold, A power they by Divine permission hold.”

EyeCareActionEarthSpiritMankindDesignDivineThousandTenGloryGoldMarkRewardsRoundsInvisibleMortalsImmortalPermissionSpyGuardianOur ActionsThrice
Book:The British Poets: Including Translations. In One Hundred Volumes. LXXXVIII
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“Where intellectuals have played a role in history, it has not been so much by whispering words of advice into the ears of political overlords as by contributing to the vast and powerful currents of conceptions and misconceptions that sweep human action along.”

HumansActionPoliticalPowerfulRolesSocietyAdviceEarsCurrentsConceptionMisconceptionWhisperingContributingHuman ActionsWords Of Advice
Book:A Conflict of Visions: Idealogical Origins of Political Struggles
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“Self-interest and mutual interest are inextricably linked. National interests can best be advanced through collective action, ... Calculate not just the human misery of the poor themselves. Calculate our loss: The aid, the lost opportunity to trade, the short-term consequences of the multiple conflicts; the long-term consequences on the attitude to the wealthy world of injustice and abject deprivation amongst the poor.”

WorldHumansLongSelfActionOpportunityLostTermInterestLossPoorAttitudeConflictConsequenceTradeMiseryInjusticeAidsLong TermCollectivesMutualWealthyMultipleLinkedShort TermSelf InterestDeprivationNational InterestsCollective ActionLost OpportunityMutual Interest
Author:Tony Blair
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“It must be an independent House, having a free action of its own, for it is only valuable as being a regulating body, calmly considering the legislation initiated by the popular branch, and preventing any hasty or ill considered legislation which may come from that body, but it will never set itself in opposition against the deliberate and understood wishes of the people.”

PeopleMayBodyActionHouseWishUnderstoodIndependentIllValuableBranchesOppositionConsideringLegislationDeliberatePreventingHasty
Author:John A. Macdonald
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“There is in the universe something for the description and analysis of which the natural sciences cannot contribute anything. There are events beyond the range of those events that the procedures of the natural sciences are fit to observe and describe. There is human action.”

HumansActionUniverseNaturalSocietyEventsFitRangeAnalysisDescriptionProceduresNatural ScienceHuman Actions
Book:The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method
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