“The law of nature is, do the thing, and you shall have the power: but they who do not the thing have not the power.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“A man is worthy of praise or blame solely on account of those actions which lie within his power to do or not to do.”
— Leonardo da Vinci Primary source“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.”
— T. E. Lawrence Primary source“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
— Theodore Roosevelt Primary source“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary source“It is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.”
— Amelia Earhart Primary source“The absolute balance of Give and Take, the doctrine that every thing has its price—and if that price is not paid, not that thing but something else is obtained, and that it is impossible to get any thing without its price—is not less sublime in the columns of a ledger than in the budgets of states.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.”
— Ian Fleming Primary source“Never leave till tomorrow what you can do today.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“The maxim Nothing avails but perfection may be spelt shorter: Paralysis.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped by merely talking about it. We must act. We must act quickly.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt Primary source“He who has put forth his total strength in fit actions has the richest return of wisdom.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“A life which does not go into action is a failure.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Words may show a man’s wit, but actions his meaning.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use.”
— Leonardo da Vinci Primary source“All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary source“The one thing in the world of value is the active soul.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”
— Thomas Jefferson Primary source“Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“In the end self-confidence mostly comes from a gut-level realization that nobody has ever died from making a wrong business decision, or taking inappropriate action, or being overruled. And everyone in your operation should be made to understand this.”
— Andrew S. Grove Primary source“The first rule of war is to concentrate superior strength for decisive action and to avoid division of force or engaging in detail.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“This is a time for action—not for war, but for mobilization of every bit of peace machinery.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt Primary source“The bird that sits, is easily shot.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“I am a poet in deeds—not often in words.”
— Ian Fleming Primary source“Our spontaneous action is always the best.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“The most effective way to do it is to do it.”
— Amelia Earhart Disputed“The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life and the procedure. The process is its own reward.”
— Amelia Earhart DisputedProductivity Dreams Today Tomorrow Cause and Effect