We are very near to greatness: one step and we are safe; can we not take the leap?
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action.
—Brendan Behan (1923–64) Irish Poet, Novelist, Playwright
If a man wants his dreams to come true, he must wake up.
—Unknown
Stagnation is something worse than death: it is corruption also.
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Historian, Novelist, Editor
Delay not to seize the hour.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Playwright
In the arena of human life the honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
An acre of performance is worth the whole world of promise.
—Jeremiah Brown Howell
I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Life is essentially a series of events to be lived through rather than intellectual riddles to be played with and solved.
—George Arthur Buttrick (1892–1980) American Protestant Theologian
To avoid an occasion for our virtues is a worse degree of failure than to push forward pluckily and make a fall.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
The first step is always the hardest.
—Common Proverb
Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
Many are called but few get up.
—Oliver Herford (1860–1935) Canadian-American Writer, Illustrator
The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
Doing nothing is the most tiresome job in the world because you cannot quit and rest.
—Unknown
How long will they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look?
—Bob Marley (1945–81) Jamaican Musician, Singer, Songwriter
To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult of all.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
We must not waste life in devising means. It is better to plan less and do more.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Above all, try something.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
Boast not of what thou would’st have done, but do.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
To be always intending to live a new life, but never to find time to set about it; this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day and night to another, till he is starved and destroyed.
—John Tillotson
It is following the line of least resistance that makes men and rivers crooked.
—Unknown
Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done in this world by hesitation.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
Action is eloquence.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
This is a world of action, and not for moping and droning in.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible.
—George C. Lorimer (1838–1904) American Baptist Clergyman
A sedentary life is the real sin against the Holy Spirit. Only those thoughts that come by walking have any value.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.
—Stanley Kubrick (1928–99) American Film Director, Producer
Eighty percent of success is showing up.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you.
—John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish Roman Catholic Mystic
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