Someday is not a day of the week.
—Unknown
Action, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
A mantra to cure procrastinators: It needn’t be perfect; it needn’t be fun; it just has to get done.
—Marty Nemko (b.1950) American Career Coach
The time for action is now. It’s never too late to do something.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
I myself must mix with action lest I wither by despair.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
In matrimony, to hesitate is sometimes to be saved.
—Samuel Butler
The first step is always the hardest.
—Common Proverb
Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
Above all, try something.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
What you theoretically know, vividly realize.
—Francis Thompson (1859–1907) English Poet, Ascetic
The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
That we would do, we should do when we would; for this “would” changes, and hath abatements and delays as many, as there are tongues, are hands, are accidents; and then, this “should” is like a spendthrift sigh, that hurts by easing.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Stagnation is something worse than death: it is corruption also.
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Novelist, Historian
Men are alike in their promises. It is only in their deeds that they differ.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow.—Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done.
—Aaron Burr
Do noble things, do not dream them all day long.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
The hour is ripe, and yonder lies the way.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
I remember reading somewhere about an organization called Procrastinators Anonymous. I think they had been in existence for some years but had never gotten around to having a meeting.
—Unknown
You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What may be done at any time will be done at no time.
—Scottish Proverb
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
He who awaits much can expect little.
—Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927–2014) Colombian Novelist, Short-Story Writer
If we really want to live, we’d better start at once to try.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
You know you are getting old when it takes too much effort to procrastinate.
—Unknown
He who hesitates is probably right.
—Anonymous
Postponement: the sincerest form of rejection.
—Robert Half
Begin while others are procrastinating. Work while others are wishing.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948) French Author
An acre of performance is worth the whole world of promise.
—Jeremiah Brown Howell
Delay not till tomorrow to be wise; tomorrow’s sun to thee may never rise.
—William Congreve (1670–1729) English Playwright, 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
If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything, is ready, we shall never begin.
—Ivan Turgenev (1818–83) Russian Novelist, Playwright
Nothing was ever done so systematically as nothing is being done now.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
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
There is nothing so fatal to character as half-finished tasks.
—David Lloyd George (1863–1945) British Liberal Statesman
If you want a thing done, go. If not, send. The shortest answer is doing.
—English Proverb
Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
A lobster, when left high and dry among the rock, does not have the sense enough to work his way back to the sea, but waits for the sea to come to him. If it does not come, he remains where he is and dies, although the slightest effort would enable him to reach the waves, which are perhaps within a yard of him. The world is full of human lobsters; people stranded on the rocks of indecision and procrastination, who, instead of putting forth their own energies, are waiting for some grand billow of good fortune to set them afloat.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Never put off today what you can put off tomorrow.
—Common Proverb
He that is overcautious will accomplish but very little.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
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
Psychology is action, not thinking about oneself.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
We pass our life in deliberation, and we die upon it.
—Pasquier Quesnel (1634–1719) French Jansenist Theologian
Be wise today; ’tis madness to defer; next day the fatal precedent will plead; thus on, till wisdom is push’d out of life.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
To know just what has do be done, then to do it, comprises the whole philosophy of practical life.
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
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