Think Before Taking Action Quotes & Sayings

Look for wars to trim transition times. If you decide to do something, do it. You can lose thirty minutes or more puttering around the house, putting things away, getting distracted, and losing intensity before taking whatever action you decide to take. — Laura Vanderkam

She had never driven far alone before. The notion of dividing her lovely journey into miles and hours was silly; she saw it [ ... ] as a passage of moments, each one new, carrying her along with them, taking her down a path of incredible novelty to a new place. The journey itself was her positive action, her destination vague, perhaps nonexistent. [ ... ] Or she might never leave the road at all, but just hurry on and on until the wheels of the car were worn to nothing and she had come to the end of the world. — Shirley Jackson

We have forgotten that courage is a choice, and that permission to move forward with boldness is never given by the fearful masses. Most have forgotten that seeking change always requires a touch of insanity. If taking action before the perfect conditions arise, or before we receive permission, is unreasonable or reckless, then we must be unreasonable and reckless. We must remember we are not the sum of our intentions but of our actions. Bold and — Brendon Burchard

To seek understanding before taking action, yet to trust my instincts when action is called for. Never to avoid danger from fear, never to seek out danger for its own sake. Never to conform to fashion from fear of eccentricity, never to be eccentric from fear of conformity. — Steven Brust

Dear 2600: ... So, in the interest of information gathering and because I am a subscriber, are you going to be checking me out?
This would be unnecessary since we checked you out before you subscribed. That's why we made sure you heard about us and followed the plan by subscribing. Writing this letter, however, was not part of the plan and we will be taking corrective action. — Emmanuel Goldstein

do not just take a risk ; take the risk. When you are taking the risk, ponder! — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

When the situation demands action, know the end of the action before you start the action — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

The very desire to preserve animals was a subjective sentiment of fail in the animal's intrinsic worth. It was a feeling possessed by most of the scientists there, who regarded the wildebeeste migration with the same awe that others feel for the Mona Lisa, but they would not admit this sentiment into their arguments because it could not be backed up by facts; the right and worng of aesthetics being imponderables not open to scientific analysis. At the end of the meeting there was a consensus of opinion on only one fact, that there was an urgent need for research before taking any hasty action. — Iain Douglas-Hamilton

We do not need, and indeed never will have, all the answers before we act ... It is often through taking action that we can discover some of them. — Charlotte Bunch

Chi Wen Tzu always thought three times before taking action. Twice would have been quite enough. — Confucius

He tilts his head forward, so close that our noses actually touch, and he winds my braid around his finger. I hold my breath and try to turn off the part of my brain that insists on analyzing every situation and running it through different scenarios and outcomes before taking action. Instead I press on, determined to worry about the consequences later. Sam from WHO I KISSED. — Janet Gurtler

focusing blame, painting pictures of the better life possible, stirring the pot to the boiling point. Their hope is to turn distress and frustration into anger, to turn anger into action, then to provide the plans and leadership to divert and direct that angry action, with a view to taking ultimate control. We have seen this pattern used effectively and often in recent history. Unfortunately, Wat Tyler was cut down before his demands were made clear, so we may never be able to clearly pinpoint the goals of the Great Society, or its true leadership. — John J. Robinson

One of the biggest mistakes that most people make is clinging to the excuse that the time isn't quite right to take action. Well, let me tell you something: In my experience, conditions are never right at the right time. The timing is always wrong. So if you're waiting for everything to be perfect before taking action, you have a foolproof excuse for never taking action. — Robert Ringer

They think that successful diplomacy requires years of experience and an understanding of all the nuances that have to be carefully considered before reaching a conclusion. Only then do these pinstriped bureaucrats consider taking action. — Donald J. Trump

Many people visualize a God who sits comfortably on a distant throne, remote, aloof, uninterested, and indifferent to the needs of mortals, until, it may be, they can badger him into taking action on their behalf. Such a view is wholly false. The Bible reveals a God who, long before it even occurs to man to turn to him, while man is still lost in darkness and sunk in sin, takes the initiative, rises from his throne, lays aside his glory, and stoops to seek until he finds him. — John R.W. Stott

The first action of my life was the taking hold of my nose with both hands. My mother saw this and called me a genius:-my father wept for joy and presented me with a treatise on Nosology. This I mastered before I was breeched. — Edgar Allan Poe

It's like what those cheesy action-movie heros always say before they finish taking out the bad guys: I started this, and I'm going to finish it. Except even in the movie of my own life, I've never been the heroine. I've never been Action Girl. I've only ever been Kristen's supporting character. — Hannah Harrington

This feat I also had no idea how to accomplish, but ignorance had never stopped me from taking action before. — Viet Thanh Nguyen

Do not only think about it, but feel about it, also, before taking appropriate action. — T.F. Hodge

Form a clear mental vision of your ideal life before you start taking action to achieve it. — Amey Hegde

Life is very short. You have to know what is the single most important thing in your life; stay focused on the mission; everything else is secondary. Don't wait too long for the perfect condition to appear before taking action - there is no such thing as the ideal situation. You create the opportunity and make the most of the talent God has given you. At the end of your life, you want to look back and say, "It's been all worthwhile. I have tried my best." — Khoo Swee Chiow

The familiar childhood admonition of 'counting to 10' before taking action works because it emphasizes the two key elements of anger management
time and distraction. — Bill Vaughan

Do that which consists in taking no action;
Pursue that which is not meddlesome;
Savor that which has no flavor.
Make the small big and the few many;
Do good to him who has done you an injury.
Lay plans for the accomplishment of the difficult before it becomes difficult;
Make something big by starting with it when small.
Difficult things in the word must needs have their beginnings in the easy;
Big things must needs have their beginnings in the small.
Therefore it is because the sage never attempts to be great that he succeeds in becoming great.
One who makes promises rashly rarely keeps good faith;
One who is in the habit of considering things easy meets with frequent difficulties.
Therefore even the sage treats some things as difficult.
That is why in the end no difficulties can get the better of him. — Lao-Tzu

Identify the problem.")
I love the late Japanese psychotherapist Shoma Morita's advice to stop trying to fix yourself and start living instead: "Give up on yourself. Begin taking action now, while being neurotic or imperfect, or a procrastinator, or unhealthy, or lazy, or any other label by which you inaccurately describe yourself. Go ahead and be the best imperfect person you can be and get started on those things you want to accomplish before you die. — Shoma Morita

That power he had to deplete things before getting them, that stark premonition he had of "afterward" ...Before taking the first step toward action, he had already tasted the saturation and sorrow that follow victories... — Clarice Lispector

Don't just jump into action just because people are taking action. Know and understand the next real action and reaction that will follow the action before you take any action. — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

For what is more foolish than for a man to study nothing else than how to please himself? To make himself the object of his own admiration? And yet, what is there that is either delightful or taking, nay rather what not the contrary, that a man does against the hair? Take away this salt of life, and the orator may even sit still with his action, the musician with all his division will be able to please no man, the player be hissed off the stage, the poet and all his Muses ridiculous, the painter with his art contemptible, and the physician with all his slip-slops go a-begging. Lastly, you will be taken for an ugly fellow instead of youthful, and a beast instead of a wise man, a child instead of eloquent, and instead of a well-bred man, a clown. So necessary a thing it is that everyone flatter himself and commend himself to himself before he can be commended by others. — Erasmus

Lord Chi Wen thought three times before taking any action. When the Master heard this, he said: Twice is plenty enough. — Confucius

A rap at the back door made her jump, and she peered through the window for a long time before she eased open the door a crack. She left the security chain on. 'What do you want, Richard?'
Richard Morrell's police cruiser was parked in the drive. He hadn't flashed any lights or howled any sirens, so she supposed it wasn't an emergency, exactly. But she knew him well enough to know he didn't pay social visits, at least not to the Glass House.
'Good question,' Richard said. 'I guess I want a nice girl who can cook, likes action movies, and looks good in short skirts. But I'll settle for you taking the chain off the door and letting me in. — Rachel Caine