"Napoleon was the most effective man in modern times — some will say of all times. The secret of his character was, that while his plans were more vast, more various, and, of course, more difficult than those of other men, he had the talent at the same time, to fill them up with perfect promptness and precision, in every particular of execution."

"Look around you, and you will behold the universe full of active powers. Action is, so to speak, the genius of nature. By motion and exertion, the system of being is preserved in vigor. By its different parts always acting in subordination one to another, the perfection of the whole is carried on. The heavenly bodies perpetually revolve. Day and night incessantly repeat their appointed course. Continual operations are going on in the earth and in the waters. Nothing stands still. All is alive and stirring throughout the universe. In the midst of this animated and busy scene, is man alone to remain idle in his place? Belongs it to him to be the sole inactive and slothful being in the creation, when in so many various ways he might improve his own nature; might advance the glory of the God who made him; and contribute his part in the general good?"

"Activity in the kingdom of God augments the power of spiritual life, and deepens the consciousness of religious realities."

"Action is transitory, a step, a blow, The motion of a muscle—this way or that."

"Actum ne agas."

"Dicta et facta."

"The sweet remembrance of the just Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust."

"Rightness expresses of actions, what straightness does of lines; and there can no more be two kinds of right action than there can be two kinds of straight line."

"It's a different animal. The action movie requires much more physical dedication and focus, you have to be careful because of potential injuries and so it's very hard and you have to be cautious, while the drama taxes the emotions, and so if you're using some past experienced trauma and try to use it for a scene it might move you beyond expectations."

"Only the actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in their dust."

"Wer gar zu viel bedenkt, wird wenig leisten."

"Prius quam incipias consulto, et ubi consulueris mature facto opus est."

"So much to do; so little done."

"Not always actions show the man; we find Who does a kindness is not therefore kind."

"What the Puritans gave the world was not thought, but action."

"Aut petis, aut urgues ruiturum, Sisyphe, saxum."

"Ferreus assiduo consumitur anulus usu."

"Push on,—keep moving."

"Ce qui est faict ne se peult desfaire."

"Nil actum credens dum quid superesset agendum."

"Trust no future, howe'er pleasant! Let the dead past bury its dead! Act,—act in the living Present! Heart within and God o'erhead."

"The good one, after every action, closes His volume, and ascends with it to God. The other keeps his dreadful day-book open Till sunset, that we may repent; which doing, The record of the action fades away, And leaves a line of white across the page Now if my act be good, as I believe, It cannot be recalled. It is already Sealed up in heaven, as a good deed accomplished. The rest is yours."

"No action, whether foul or fair, Is ever done, but it leaves somewhere A record, written by fingers ghostly, As a blessing or a curse, and mostly In the greater weakness or greater strength Of the acts which follow it."

"Quelque éclatante que soit une action, elle ne doit pas passer pour grande, lorsqu'elle n'est pas l'effet d'un grand dessein."

"Attack is the reaction; I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds."

"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."

"It is not book learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebræ which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies, do a thing—"carry a message to Garcia.""

"Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt; Nothing's so hard but search will find it out."

"The shortest answer is doing."

"Let thy mind still be bent, still plotting, where, And when, and how thy business may be done. Slackness breeds worms; but the sure traveller, Though he alights sometimes still goeth on."

"Do well and right, and let the world sink."

"A fiery chariot, borne on buoyant pinions, Sweeps near me now! I soon shall ready be To pierce the ether's high, unknown dominions, To reach new spheres of pure activity!"

"Zeus hates busybodies and those who do too much."

"Quod est, eo decet uti: et quicquid agas, agere pro viribus."

"A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he’s not a man of action. It is as if a tennis player before returning a ball stopped to think about his views of the physical and mental advantages of tennis. You must act as you breathe."

"It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness."

"Ye been oure lord, dooth with youre owene thyng Right as yow list."

"Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand."

"Hadst thou not Greek enough to understand thus much: The end of man is an action, and not a thought, though it were the noblest."

"To-morrow let us do or die."

"Put his shoulder to the wheel."

"That low man seeks a little thing to do, Sees it and does it. This high man, with a great thing to pursue, Dies ere he knows it."

"Fate quello che noi diciamo e non quello che noi facciamo."

"Better remain silent, better not even think, if you are not prepared to act."

"Of every noble action the intent Is to give worth reward, vice punishment."

"Action implies motion; but there may be motion, as in a clock, where, properly speaking, there is no agent. Many motions necessary to life are continually going on in the human body; as those of the heart, lungs, and arteries: but these are not human actions, because man is not the cause of them. For the same reason, breathing, and the motion of the eyelids, are not actions; because, though we may act for a little time in suspending them, for the purpose of seeing or hearing more accurately, they commonly go on without any care of ours; and, while they do so, we are, in regard to them, not active, but passive. ... All action is the work of an agent, that is, of a being who acts; and every being who acts is the beginner of that motion which constitutes the action."

"Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears."

"He is at no end of his actions blest Whose ends will make him greatest and not best."

"The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new."

"What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted."