All action takes place, so to speak, in a kind of twilight, which like a fog or moonlight, often tends to make things seem grotesque and larger than they really are.

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.

I’m crepuscular.

Not having hope is not an excuse for not doing something.

Men’s actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted, and who has not been the victim and slave of his action.

It is a no-fail, incontrovertible reality: If you get, give. If you learn, teach. You can’t do anything with that except do it.

What you don’t do can be a destructive force.

The real danger is not inaction. The real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like action is happening when in fact nothing is being done.

Action is the real measure of intelligence.

The sons of Judah have to choose that God may again choose them. The divine principle of our race is action, choice, resolved memory.

Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.

Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong – these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life – in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.

Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.

Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

I know so many people who feel hopeless, and they ask me, ‚What should I do?‘ And I say: ‚Act. Do something.‘ Because that is the best medicine against sadness and depression.

When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.

I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.

The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.

When all is said and done, more is said than done.

Meditation is to get insight, to get understanding and compassion, and when you have them, you are compelled to act.

Meditation is not to avoid society; it is to look deep to have the kind of insight you need to take action. To think that it is just to sit down and enjoy the calm and peace, is wrong.

The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.

‚Speed‘ and ‚Point Break‘ were a lot of running and jumping, and then ‚The Matrix Trilogy‘ had a lot of fights and wire work and green screen elements.

Our faith is released as we say, pray and do the Word.

All fiction is about people, unless it’s about rabbits pretending to be people. It’s all essentially characters in action, which means characters moving through time and changes taking place, and that’s what we call ‚the plot‘.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it’s no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.

Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.

To learn something but not to do is really not to learn. To know something but not to do is really not to know.

Even though you are on the right track – you will get run over if you just sit there.

People who think too much before they act don’t act too much.

Getting stress out of your life takes more than prayer alone. You must take action to make changes and stop doing whatever is causing the stress. You can learn to calm down in the way you handle things.

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.

Whatever you have, you must either use or lose.

When I was kidnapped, my parents snapped into action. They rented out my room.

Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.

Both the man of science and the man of action live always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it.

I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.

Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used.

I believe enlightenment or revelation comes in daily life. I look for joy, the peace of action. You need action. I’d have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.

My old drama coach used to say, ‚Don’t just do something, stand there.‘ Gary Cooper wasn’t afraid to do nothing.

Commitment is an act, not a word.

In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head.

I have a love interest in every one of my films: a gun.

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see one.

I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

The time is always right to do what is right.

I never worry about action, but only inaction.