But their intervention makes our acts to serve ever less merely the immediate claims of our instincts.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
If you’re going through hell, keep going.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
To act and act wisely when the time for action comes, to wait and wait patiently when it is time for repose, put man in accord with the rising and falling tides (of affairs), so that with nature and law at his back, and truth and beneficence as his beacon light, he may accomplish wonders. Ignorance of this law results in periods of unreasoning enthusiasm on the one hand, and depression on the other. Man thus becomes the victim of the tides when he should be their Master.
—Helena Blavatsky (1831–91) Ukrainian-American Theosophist, Leader, Philosopher
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
The firefly only shines when on the wing; so it is with the mind; when we rest we darken.
—Gamaliel Bailey (1807–59) American Journalist
Don’t wait for extraordinary circumstance to do good; try to use ordinary situations.
—Charles F. Richter (1900–85) American Physicist, Geologist
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Mastery.- We have reached mastery when we neither mistake nor hesitate in the achievement.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
A nation’s character is the sum of its splendid deeds; they constitute one common patrimony, the nation’s inheritance. They awe foreign powers, they arouse and animate our own people.
—Henry Clay (1777–1852) American Politician
Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn’t be done.
—Amelia Earhart (1897–1937) American Aviator
No two things differ more than hurry and dispatch. Hurry is the mark of a weak mind, dispatch of a strong one. A weak man in office, like a squirrel in a cage, is laboring eternally, but to no purpose, and is in constant motion without getting on a job; like a turnstile, he is in everybody’s way, but stops nobody; he talks a great deal, but says very little; looks into everything but sees nothing; and has a hundred irons in the fire, but very few of them are hot, and with those few that are, he only burns his fingers.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Doing is a quantum leap from imagining. Thinking about swimming isn’t much like actually getting in the water. Actually getting in the water can take your breath away. The defense force inside of us wants us to be cautious, to stay away from anything as intense as a new kind of action. Its job is to protect us, and it categorically avoids anything resembling danger. But it’s often wrong. Anything worth doing is worth doing too soon.
—Barbara Sher (1935–2020) American Career Coach
If you only do what you know you can do – you never do very much.
—Tom Krause (1934–2013) Finnish Opera Singer
Say no to the drug of gradualness. It was Martin Luther King, Jr., who spoke out strongly against making slow changes. Either we risk or we don’t, he said. Either we change or we don’t. There’s no acceptable middle ground because it lulls us into complacency. Lasting changes rarely occur when we ease our way into the future. They come when we leap. The leap themselves can be small or large. Once we take action, we see things differently and for many of us there’s no going back.
—Robert K. Cooper (b.1957) American Author, Psychologist
If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
No man lives without jostling and being jostled; in all ways he has to elbow himself through the world, giving and receiving offense.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ‘crackpot’ than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost.
—Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874–1956) American Business Executive
Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting, but never hit soft.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
When our actions do not, our fears make us traitors.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The lion who breaks the enemy’s ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–73) Persian Muslim Mystic
A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
—Edward Everett Hale (1822–1909) American Unitarian Clergyman, Writer
So many fail because they don’t get started—they don’t go. They don’t overcome inertia. They don’t begin.
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.
—Mark Victor Hansen (b.1948) American Speaker, Author, Entrepreneur
Example is leadership.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Philosopher, Musician, Physician
Life, in all ranks and situations, is an outward occupation, an actual and active work.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Linguist, Statesman
The secret of getting things done is to act!
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
Boyhood is a most complex and incomprehensible thing. Even when one has been through it, one does not understand what it was. A man can never quite understand a boy, even when he has been the boy.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
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