"Action is transitory—a step, a blow— The motion of a muscle—this way or that— 'Tis done; and in the after-vacancy We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed."

"But man, being, as I have said, essentially an active being, he must find in activity his joy, as well as his duty and glory. And labor, like every thing else that is good, is its own exceeding great reward."

"Be thy best thoughts to work divine addressed; Do something,— do it soon — will all thy might; An angel's wing would droop if long at rest, And God Himself inactive were no longer blessed."

"We cannot think first and act afterwards. From the moment of birth we are immersed in action and can only fitfully guide it by taking thought."

"A slender acquaintance with the world, must convince every man, that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends; and that the most liberal professions of good-will are far from being the surest marks of it."

"The wisest man is he who can account for his actions."

"Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing. Is fear preventing you from taking action? Acknowledge the fear, watch it, take your attention into it, be fully present with it. Doing so cuts the link between the fear and your thinking. Don't let the fear rise up into your mind. Use the power of the Now. Fear cannot prevail against it. If there is truly nothing that you can do to change your here and now, and you can't remove yourself from the situation, then accept your here and now totally by dropping all inner resistance. The false, unhappy self that loves feeling miserable, resentful, or sorry for itself can then no longer survive. This is called surrender. Surrender is not weakness. There is great strength in it. Only a surrendered person has spiritual power."

"Not only do men living in democratic societies give themselves over to meditation with difficulty, but they naturally have little esteem for it. The democratic social state and institutions bring most men to act continually; yet the habits of mind suited to action are not always suited to thought. The man who acts is often reduced to contenting himself with that is nearly so because he would never arrive at the end of his design if he wished to perfect every detail. He must constantly rely on ideas that he has not had the leisure to fathom, for it is much more the timeliness of the idea he makes use if than its rigorous exactness that helps him; and all in all, there is less risk for him in making use of some false principle than in wasting his time establishing the truth of all his principles. It is not by long and learned demonstrations that the world is led. There, the quick look at a particular fact, the daily study of the changing passions of the crowd, the chance of the moment and the skill to seize it decide affairs."

"Nothing is more necessary to the cultivation of the advanced sciences or of the elevated portion of sciences than meditation, and there is nothing less fit for meditation than the interior of a democratic society. One does not encounter there, as in aristocratic peoples, a numerous class that stays at rest because it finds itself well-off and another than does not move because it despairs of being better off. Everyone is agitated: some want to attain power, others to take possession of wealth. In the midst of this universal tumult, the repeated collision of contrary interests, the continual advance of men toward fortune, where does one find the calm necessary to the profound combinations of the intellect? how does each man bring his thought to a stop at such and such a point, when everything moves around him and he himself is carried along and tossed about every day in the impetuous current that swirls all things along?"

"Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die."

"So many worlds, so much to do, So little done, such things to be."

"If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten."

"Heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act."

"How my achievements mock me! I will go meet them."

"So smile the Heavens upon this holy act That after hours with sorrow chide us not!"

"What's done can't be undone."

"But I remember now I am in this earthly world; where, to do harm, Is often laudable; to do good, sometime, Accounted dangerous folly."

"From this moment, The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand. And even now, To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done."

"If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly."

"Things done well, And with a care, exempt themselves from fear; Things done without example, in their issue Are to be fear'd."

"We must not stint Our necessary actions, in the fear To cope malicious censurers."

"I profess not talking: only this, Let each man do his best."

"the blood more stirs To rouse a lion, than to start a hare."

"Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant More learned than the ears."

"It is some time since so few have been asked to do so much for so many on so little."

"On the Day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them as to their actions."

"And if God had willed, He could have made you (of) one single people, but He causes to stray whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And you will surely be account for all your actions."

"Our rulers at the present day, with their machines and their preachers, are all occupied in putting into our heads the preposterous notion that activity rather than contemplation is the object of life."

"The man of action is not the headstrong fool who rushes into danger with no thought for himself, but the man who puts into practice the things he knows."

"Those graceful acts, Those thousand decencies that daily flow From all her words and actions."

"Execute their aery purposes."

"Awake, arise, or be forever fall'n!"

"So much one man can do, That does both act and know."

"He nothing common did, or mean, Upon that memorable scene."

"It is well to think well. It is divine to act well."

"Problems or successes, they all are the results of our own actions. Karma. The philosophy of action is that no one else is the giver of peace or happiness. One's own karma, one's own actions are responsible to come to bring either happiness or success or whatever... As you sow, so shall you reap. It's a very old proverb of mankind."

"It is no use for one to stand in the shade and complain that the sun does not shine upon him. He must come out resolutely on the hot and dusty field where all are compelled to antagonize with stubborn difficulties, and pertinaciously strive until he conquers, if he would deserve to be crowned."

"Existence was given us for action, rather than indolent and aimless contemplation; our wrath is determined by the good deeds we do, rather than by the fine emotions we feel. They greatly mistake, who suppose that God cares for no other pursuit than devotion."

"Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action."

"With useless endeavour Forever, forever, Is Sisyphus rolling His stone up the mountain!"

"Let us, then, be up and doing. With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait."

"I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts."

"Things don't just happen, they are made to happen."

"Superman: It's not about where you were born. Or what powers you have. Or what you wear on your chest. ... It's about what you do... It's about action."