Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Related Quotes

Thomas Carlyle

The end of man is an action and not a thought, though it were the noblest.

Action | Man | Thought |

Wang Yang-Ming or Yangming, aka Wang Shouren or Wang Shou-jen, courtesy name Bo'an

Knowledge and action are really two words describing the same, one effort.

Action | Effort | Knowledge | Words |

William Hazlitt

A life of action and danger moderates the dread of death. It not only gives us fortitude to bear pain, but teaches us at every step the precarious tenure on which we hold our present being.

Action | Danger | Death | Dread | Fortitude | Life | Life | Pain | Present | Danger |

Wang Yang-Ming or Yangming, aka Wang Shouren or Wang Shou-jen, courtesy name Bo'an

People today distinguish between knowledge and action and purse them separately, believing that one must know before he can act… They say [they will wait] till they truly know before putting their knowledge into practice. Consequently, to the end of their lives, they will never act and also will never know.

Action | Distinguish | Knowledge | People | Practice | Will |

William Law

Your own self is your own Cain that murders your own Abel. For every action and motion of self has the spirit of Anti-Christ and murders the divine life within you.

Action | Life | Life | Self | Spirit |

William Hazlitt

Be great in act, as you have been in thought. Suit the action to the word, and the word to the action.

Action | Thought |

Thomas Henry Huxley, aka T.H. Huxley and Darwin's Bulldog

The highest conceivable form of human society is that in which the desire to do what is best for the whole, dominates and limits the action of every member of that society.

Action | Desire | Society | Society |

William Hazlitt

We must be doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary to us than thought.

Action | Happy | Thought |

Woodrow Wilson, fully Thomas Woodrow Wilson

Settlements may be temporary, but the action of the nations in the interest of peace and justice must be permanent processes. We may not be able to set up permanent decisions.

Action | Justice | Nations | Peace |

William Ernest Hocking

If the Real is God, it is with God that we have to do from moment to moment of daily living. For each action the world concentrates itself into a point of resistance and support; and that pint is a Thou, not an It.

Action | God | World | God |

William Shakespeare

What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable ! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!... And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

Action | God | Man | Reason | Work |

Wilferd Peterson, fully Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Action releases truth so it can inspire and regenerate; action releases ideas so they can bless and benefit.

Action | Ideas | Truth |

William Shakespeare

Be great in act, as you have been in thought. - Suit the action to the word and the word to the action.

Action | Thought |

William Hazlitt

Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary than thought to the instructive tendencies of the human frame.

Action | Happy | Indolence | Thought | Thought |

Zelig Pliskin

A person whose main goal in life is to be a good person will judge each event and situation by asking himself: “What can I do now that will make me a better person?” The exact details of the situation will not make a major difference to him. He focuses on his own attitudes and behavior, and consequently he will look at each situation as a test of his character and spiritual level. His goal is to become more elevated with each action and statement. If he is missing something which he feels he can use, he will not be irritated for he thinks, “With what I have right now, what is the most elevating behavior I can choose?”

Action | Behavior | Better | Character | Good | Life | Life | Right | Will |

Zig Ziglar, born Hilary Hinton Ziglar

Goals are dreams we convert to plans and take action to fulfill.

Action | Dreams | Goals |

Barry Goldwater

PAC [Political Action Committee] money is destroying the electoral process. It feeds the growth of special interest groups created solely to channel money into political campaigns. It creates an impression that every candidate is bought and owned by the biggest givers.

Action | Growth | Impression | Money |

Barry Commoner

No action is without its side effects.

Action |