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"Chie Wen Tzu used to think thrice before acting. The Master hearing of it said, Twice is quite enough."
Confucius (551–479 bc), Chinese philosopher, administrator, and writer
Source: Analects (500? bc)
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"Freedom from activity is never achieved by abstaining from action."
Bhagavad Gita, Hindu scripture
Source: 3:4 (300? bc)
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"I acted, and my action made me wise."
Thom Gunn (1929–2004), British poet
Source: “Incident on a Journey,” Fighting Terms (1954)
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"Never confuse movement with action."
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), US author
Source: Quoted in Papa Hemingway (A. E. Hotchner, 1966)
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"The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is the cutting edge of man."
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974), Polish mathematician and philosopher
Source: The Ascent of Man (1973)
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"There are people who make things happen, those who watch what happens, and those who wonder what happened."
Anonymous
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"In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman."
Margaret, Baroness Thatcher (1925–), British former prime minister
Source: Quoted in People (September 15, 1975)
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"Do what you can, where you are, with what you have."
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), US president
Source: Quoted in The Military Quotation Book, Revised and Expanded (James Charlton, 2002)
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"A man of action forced into a state of thought is unhappy until he can get out of it."
John Galsworthy (1867–1933), British novelist and playwright
Source: Maid in Waiting (1932)
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"Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action."
Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005), US management consultant and academic
Source: Attributed
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"One's objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out, and get it over … your problem won’t improve with age."
Warren Buffett (1930–), US entrepreneur and financier
Source: “Interview with Warren Buffett,” Harvard Business Review (Norman Augustine, November–December 1995)
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"Action is at bottom a swinging and flailing of the arms to regain one's balance and keep afloat."
Eric Hoffer (1902–1983), US philosopher
Source: The Passionate State of Mind (1955)
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"When fog prevents a small-boat sailor from seeing the buoy marking the course he wants, he turns his boat rapidly in small circles, knowing that the waves he makes will rock the buoy in the vicinity. Then he stops, listens and repeats the procedure until he hears the buoy clang. By making waves, he finds where his course lies. Often the price of finding these guides is a willingness to take a few risks, to “make a few waves.”"
Richard Armstrong (1903–1986), British author and mariner
Source: Attributed
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"Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), German religious writer
Source: Letters and Papers from Prison (1953)