"The preamble of thought, the transition through which it passes from the unconscious to the conscious, is action. Only so much do I know, as I have lived. Instantly we know whose words are loaded with life, and whose not."
Action quotes
Action
3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Topics related to Action
Browse quotes that often appear alongside action — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Action quotes (page 19 of 151)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action."
"The emotions you once thought of as negative are merely a call to action. In fact, instead of calling them negative emotions... let's call them Action Signals."
"You always succeed in producing a result."
"Learning is not watching a video, learning is taking action and seeing what happens."
"Your mind, more than your actions, determines your net worth."
"We're going to be able to ask our computers to monitor things for us, and when certain conditions happen, are triggered, the computers will take certain actions and inform us after the fact."
"Dance is movement, is action, and like all action, it reveals us to ourselves in the doing."
"Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame."
"Unwearied ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience."
"All action begins in rest... This is the ultimate truth."
"The Way is ever without action, yet nothing is left undone."
"Men of action usually win - that is one of their distinctive features."
"Just as being nice to the arrogant is no better than being arrogant toward the nice, being accommodating toward anyone committing a nefarious action condones it."
"And the distinction between violent and non-violent action is that the former is exclusively bent upon the destruction of the old, and the latter is chiefly concerned with the establishment of something new."
"Action without a name, a who attached to it, is meaningless."
"Most of what we say and do is unnecessary: remove the superfluity, and you will have more time and less bother. So in every case one should prompt oneself: 'Is this, or is it not, something necessary?' And the removal of the unnecessary should apply not only to actions but to thoughts also: then no redundant actions either will follow."
"A certain harmony should be kept between actions and ideas if we want to fully develop the effects they can produce."
"A man's every action is inevitably conditioned by what surrounds him and by his own body."
"At a distance from the theatre of action, truth is not always related without embellishment, and sometimes is entirely perverted, from a misconception of the causes which produce the effects that are the subjects of censure."