Every action is measured by the depth of the sentiment from which it proceeds. Emerson
To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death. Jean Anouilh
Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing. Thomas Jefferson
There is no action so slight, nor so mean, but it may be done to great purpose, and enabled. John Ruskin
Urgent necessity prompts many to do things, at the very thoughts of which they perhaps would start at other times. Cervantes
It is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character, and make it either good or bad. Plutarch
How could there be any question of acquiring or possessing, when the one thing needful for a man, is to become, to be at last, and to die in the fullness of his being. Saint Exupery
In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence…. In time every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out his duties… Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence. Laurence J Peter
The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful; the virtuous are long lived. Confucius
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism. Don Foley
What I must do is all that concerns me, and not what people think. Emerson
Everyone has time if he likes. Business runs after nobody; people cling to it of their own free will and think that to be busy is a proof of happiness. Seneca
A thought that does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action that does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all. Georges Bernanos
To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to do. Khalil Gibran
Involvement with people is always a very delicate thing; it requires real maturity to become involved and not get all messed up. Bernard Cooke
There is nothing more frightening than ignorance in action. Goethe
Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge. The wise instructor accomplishes this by opening to his pupils precisely the attractions the study has for himself. Emerson
It is by losing himself in the objective, in inquiry, creation, and craft, that a man becomes something. Paul Goodman
Though men pride themselves on their great actions, often they are not the result of any great design but of chance. LA Rochefoucauld
We immoralists have the suspicion that the decisive value of an action lies precisely in what is unintentional in it. Nietzsche
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Emerson
Men of action: those men who are too busy with the day’s work to see beyond it. They are essential men, we cannot do without them, and yet we must not allow all our vision to be bound by their limitations. Pearl S. Buck
Saying is one thing and doing is another; we are to consider the sermon and the preacher distinctly and apart. Montaigne
Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying around, I’d rather lie around. No contest. Eric Clapton
Furious activity is no substitute for understanding. H Williams
Is it really so difficult to judge a good action from a bad one? I think one usually knows right away or a moment afterward, in a horrid flash of regret. Mary McCarthy
For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, and though a late, a sure reward succeeds. William Congreve
Good words without deeds are rushes and reeds. Proverb
There are people who want to be everywhere at once and they seem to get nowhere. Carl Sandburg
What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people and new deeds for new. Thoreau
Any theory can be made to fit any facts by means of approximate, additional assumptions. Patrick Cully
The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them should be constant. Epictetus
Progress does not consist in replacing a theory that is wrong with one that is right. It consists in replacing a theory that is wrong with one that is more subtly wrong. S. Hawkins
You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd. Oscar Wilde
Live all you can; it’s a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven’t had that, what have you had? Henry James
Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive within. Schopenhauer
Everything that has been achieved, for good or for bad, is due to the way humans are. The future will be no different. Whether we reach for the stars or plumb the depths, humans will be responsible. Tom Johnston
The truth is, men are very hard to know, and yet, not to be deceived, we must judge them not by their present actions, but for the present only. Napoleon
Life is made up of constant calls to action, and we seldom have time for more than hastily contrived answers. Learned Hand
In theory, there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught, but in life there are many things to draw us aside. Epictetus
Since it is not granted us to live long, let us transmit to posterity some memorial that we have at least lived. Pliny the Younger
For every action there is an equal and opposite government program. Don Troy
The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions. Murphy’s Law
