c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
He had no tolerance for acts of betrayal or cruelty and lacked Angelo's taste for the minute details of a business deal. He was a man totally in the moment, who knew only to respond to the action with an action. He was a pure gangster.
— Lorenzo Carcaterra, Gangster
Don't envy what people have, emulate what they did to have it.
— Tim Fargo
Let us banish fear. We have been in this mental state for three centuries. I am a radical. I am ready to act, if I can find brave men to help me.
— Carter G. Woodson
Count the deed, not the thought.
— Lloyd Alexander, Taran Wanderer
Theories might inspire you, but experiments will advance you.
— Amit Kalantri
It requires a certain kind of bravery, I suppose, to choose the status quo. There's a certain boldness to inaction.
— Karen Thompson Walker, The Age of Miracles
It is easy to sit up & notice. What is difficult is getting up & taking action.
— Al Batt
The next second a great blast of hot light erupted over Toad and Jed, but they didn't stop. Toad was trying to punch every bit of Jed that he could reach. There was a great howling of fright and a heavy-booted foot nearly missed Toad's fingers. Jed knocked Toad off him and rose to his feet. He swung his foot back, readying to kick. With a roar, Hazel flew at Jed. Her sharp claws latched onto his back, piercing through the leather vest. Jed roared in pain. His hands scrabbled for Hazel, but she flew in the air, beating her wings against his face. With a bellow, he turned on his heel and raced out of the pub.
— M.L. LeGette, The Orphan and the Thief
A creature--a frightfully, awful creature--was mere feet from her. Its eyes were enormous, the size of goose eggs and milky white. Its gray, slippery skin was stretched taut upon its face. Its mouth was wide and full of needle teeth. Its hands rested on the rock, hands that were webbed and huge with each finger ending in a sharp, curved nail. It was as tall as a human man, yet oddly shrunken and hunched.
— M.L. LeGette, The Orphan and the Thief
Your right actions might hurt someone, so if required apologize for your right actions, but don't stop taking right actions.
— Amit Kalantri
By doing ordinary actions efficiently you will become the best among ordinary, but you will not be an extraordinary.
— Amit Kalantri
My action is my prayer.
— Amit Kalantri
Too many leaders fancy themselves on being philosophers, but not enough pride themselves on decisive action.
— Noel DeJesus, 44 Days of Leadership
Taking action is the best source of inspiration.
— Amit Kalantri
You have gone through enough theory, now it's time to take actions.
— Amit Kalantri
I take my actions because of my passion not because of compulsion.
— Amit Kalantri
I have frequently experienced myself the mood in which I felt that all is vanity; I have emerged from it not by any philosophy, but owing to some imperative necessity of action.
— Bertrand Russell
You can't flirt with me during a lockdown. My eyes narrow. It's unethical.
— Cheyanne Young, Powered
Even if it doesn't work, there is something healthy and invigorating about direct action
— Henry Miller, Remember To Remember
Then I flipped my hair across his face and said, "Do you like my hair, baby? It's Winterfresh, like a mountain spring.
— Cheyanne Young, Powered
What is greater than painIs a greater brainMore powerful than anything.
— Ricardo Derose
It is not selfishness or unselfishness that distinguishes love from non-love
—  it is the aim of the action.
If God created the universe, there was a time when he commenced to create. Back of that commencement there must have been an eternity. In that eternity what was this God doing? He certainly did not think. There was nothing to think about. He did not remember. Nothing had ever happened. What did he do? Can you imagine anything more absurd than an infinite intelligence in infinite nothing wasting an eternity?
— Robert G. Ingersoll, Some Mistakes of Moses
Fools put trust in promises
—  The wise in action.
Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
— Don Marquis
An act of love is not an act for you and not for me. It is an act for you as well as for me. Love is for us.
— Vironika Tugaleva
Success is more than a desire
—  it's a behavior. Act accordingly.
Taking action and doing, is one key to success. Keeping logistics in mind - enormous things are possible.
— Gisela Hausmann "Naked Determination 41 Stories About Overcoming Fear"
If you don't stop fear, fear will stop you. Somebody's gotta stop. My advice? Don't let it be you. Whatever IT is. Do IT afraid
— Saji Ijiyemi
We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.
— Henry Melvill
Okay, so he wasn't dreaming anymore, but did this fall into same song second verse? He would just have to play this out and see what happened.
— Kindle Alexander
Napoleon, the greatest of the conquerors, is a sufficient proof that great men of action are criminals, and therefore, not geniuses. One can understand him by thinking of the tremendous intensity with which he tried to escape from himself. There is this element in all the conquerors, great or small. Just because he had great gifts, greater than those of any emperor before him, he had greater difficulty in stifling the disapproving voice within him. The motive of his ambition was the craving to stifle his better self.
— Otto Weininger, Sex and Character: An Investigation of Fundamental Principles
Write as an audience member. Write what you want to see, feel and hear.
— Carol Hovsepian, The Poet and The Painter
The most time consuming process in the world is probably "thinking".
— Amit Kalantri
Mina’s mouth dropped open, and he bent his head as if to kiss her. She jammed her gun barrel under his chin. He grinned.
— Meljean Brook, The Iron Duke
Are you throwing darts at the challenges in your life? Hoping something sticks? Try using a laser instead! Choose the biggest challenge you have and take action as focused and precise as a laser. Darts can go anywhere, lasers only go where you aim them...
— James A. Murphy, The Waves of Life Quotes and Daily Meditations
This was an urban legend that didn't make it on to Snopes.com
— Jackie Sonnenberg, All That Glitters
I had to ask myself why I'm continuing to engage in behavior I knew hurt. What was my payoff? Did it confirm my belief I was not enough? Did I think I needed to suffer? Did I think I could save him? Why not save myself instead? What a miserable realization that I knew all of this yet failed to take action.
— Paula Heller Garland
We have to accept that any action we take might promote an equal and opposite reaction that we do not want. We have to realize that even the most noble actions or most obviously correct course can have its dark side that we cannot control or reason our way out of. The fighter of the "just war" must understand that her actions will result in the deaths of other humans; many of whom may be innocent. The pacifist who refuses all war must realize that his inaction might likewise result in the deaths of the innocent. There are no actions without contradiction—and yet we must act, for not to act is also a contradictory action with both positive and negative effects.
— John Hunter, World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements
Reading can only take you so far, up to the moment where you must take action with your own hands
— Rae Carson, The Shadow Cats
Everybody is talking about the Law of Attraction. Nobody is talking about the Law of Action.
— Mokokoma Mokhonoana
In the play of living we engage in three fundamental forms of action. We begin things, we continue to be engaged in things, and we bring things to an end. We are each obligated to be capable of fulfilling these three forms of action relative to every condition in our experience. To suffer disability relative to any of these three forms of action relative to any condition in our experience is to accumulate a tendency relative to that condition. Such is the way we develop our conventional "karmas." By virtue of such accumulations we are obliged to suffer repetitions of circumstances, in this life and from life to life, until we overcome the liability in our active relationship to each condition that binds us.In the manifest process of existence, we and all other functions in the play are under the same lawful obligation to create, sustain, and destroy conditions or patterns that arise. The inhibition or suppression of the ability to create conditions (or to realize that conditions are your creation and responsibility) is reflected as "tamas," or rigidity, inertia, indolence, and laziness. The inhibition or suppression of the ability to sustain (or to realize that the maintenance of conditions is your responsibility) is reflected as "rajas," or unsteadiness of life and attention, and negative and random excitation or emotion. The inhibition or suppression of the ability to destroy or become free of conditions (or to realize that the cessation of conditions is your responsibility) is reflected as artificial "sattwa," sentimentality, romance, sorrow, bondage to subjectivity, and no comprehension of the mystery of death.
— Adi Da Samraj, The Eating Gorilla Comes in Peace: The Transcendental Principle of Life Applied to Diet and the Regenerative Discipline of True Health
Action without Vision is Blind
— Vision without Action is Lame...
Speaking about work isn’t working.
— Mokokoma Mokhonoana
I have only a second rate brain, but I think I have a capacity for action.
— Theodore Roosevelt
He was of the mold from which great men are made. Having said of anything 'Let it be done' he at once felt not only that it was accomplished, but that he had done it himself.
— Heywood Broun, Seeing Things at Night
I can only tell you that I've done this thing, and was compelled, somehow, to do so.
— Jasper Siegel Seneschal, Citations: A Brief Anthology
Books have great value, actions have greater value.
— Brandon Sanderson, The Well of Ascension
I know.” The two words ghosted against the skin of her neck, sending goose bumps down her spine. “But I want to touch you. I want to put my hands all over you. I want to kiss every inch of you and taste you as you come apart in my arms. I want to feel you wrapped around me with nothing but my name on your lips and the sheets a tangled mess beneath us. I want…” He exhaled heavily into her ear. “I want. I want. I want!
— Airicka Phoenix, Octavian's Undoing
When we feel like giving up, like we are beyond help, we must remember that we are never beyond hope. Holding on to hope has always motivated me to keep trying. I have found this hope by connecting with others. I’ve found it not only in individuals who have dealt with eating disorders but also in people who have battled addictions and those who have survived abuse, cancer, and broken hearts. I have found much-needed hope in my passions and dreams for the future. I’ve found it in prayer. Real hope combined with real actions has always pulled me through difficult times. Real hope combined with doing nothing has never pulled me through. In other words, sitting around and simply hoping that things will change won’t pick you up after a fall. Hope only gives you strength when you use it as a tool to move forward. Taking real action with a hopeful mind will pull you off the ground that eighth time and beyond.
— Jenni Schaefer, Goodbye Ed, Hello Me: Recover from Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Life
Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.
— Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
You were never born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Don't think that way. You were born with a diamond spoon in your palm. Carry it by your own hand. Now, feed yourself
— Israelmore Ayivor
If an action must be taken that will benefit the majority at the cost of the minority, is it morally indefensible? If an action taken for the benefit of a majority occurs at the expense of a minority, is it moral action?
— Garth Nix, Shade's Children
In our ability to think about something differently lies the power to make it different.
— Marianne Williamson
Do it, Octavian” She ghosted the tips of her fingers along the hem of his shirt. “Touch me.”He growled low in his throat, his forehead dropping another inch toward her shoulder, his hair tickling the side of her face. “Be my angel, Riley, not my siren. Don’t tempt me.”Moistening her lips with a sweep of her tongue, Riley glided her fingers over his belt, tracing the strip of leather to the silver buckle in the center. She felt rather than heard his deep inhalation and the tremor that raked his powerful body. Driven by his surrender, she used two fingers to walk over the square carvings etched into his abdomen, biting her lip to stop the grin that pulled when he groaned. “I want to be both for you, Octavian,” she whispered, letting her lips brush the curve of his shoulder.
— Airicka Phoenix, Octavian's Undoing
I grab at Smitty and he at me, and, for one horrible, deperately embarrassing second we fly into each others arms like Shaggy and Scooby Don't.
— Kirsty McKay
Ideas have significance for him only as a prelude to action.
— Eric Hoffer, The Ordeal of Change
Just do it.
— Nike Sportswear Slogan
What I’ve come to realize I that I don’t like action for action’s sake. Mindless explosions, super close ups of combat and gore, and unnecessary effects make me zone out incredibly fast.What I do love is a fight that is well choreographed and in which I actually care about the outcome. And hopefully not riddled with cliches.Even more so, I have had a long, deep-seated appreciation for watching chicks kick ass. Watching some lone-wolf-type hero beat the crap out of the bad guys is okay, but watching a BAMF femme do it is 10000% times better.
— J.M.  Richards
Talk is cheap, action is expensive.
— Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
The problem is never the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Think before you rush into action.
— Ziad K. Abdelnour, Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics
Only a philosopher would consider taking Oedipus as a model for a normal, unproblematic relation between an action and the maxim of the act.
— Jerry A. Fodor, The ELM and the Expert: Mentalese and Its Semantics
I cannot do all the good that the world needs. But the world needs all the good that I can do.
— Jana Stanfield
Grace sat down where the chair wasn't.
— Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game
Think, speak, and act. With age comes self-reproach: I might have done more. Therefore now do!
— Théophile Thoré
Men and women who had worn suits for decades traded punches powerful enough to crush elephant skulls, dodged and deflected attacks too fast for the eye to follow, and died suddenly, often before the crowd registered the killing blow.Victors and dead men were separated by a blink of the eye.
— Zachary Jernigan, No Return
The difference between success & failure isn't ability as much as action.
— Orrin Woodward
Commitment is an act, not a word
— Jean-Paul Sartre
We don't avoid the word... just the action.
— Becca Ann, Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend
I must take action of some sort whilst the courage of the day is upon me.
— Bram Stoker, Dracula
We would send them all to hell! And hell they would go!
— Thomas Ferreolus, Sounds of War: Iraq Attack of Thomas Edington
The Iraqi sun quickly heated the air to an unbearable onehundred twenty three degree’s, causing an unquenchable thirst toboil up in him. Thomas then dropped his rifle under his right arm,where it hung beneath his pit by a strap called a fast sling, there theweapon dangled under his sweat soaked uniform.
— Thomas Ferreolus, Sounds of War: Iraq Attack of Thomas Edington
With your visualization intact, commit to act.
— Lorii Myers, No Excuses, The Fit Mind-Fit Body Strategy Book
Waving from side to side in the breeze, her long golden hairshimmered as she handed Thomas a bottle of beer.“When are you coming home to me?” She said eloquently.
— Thomas Ferreolus, Sounds of War: Iraq Attack of Thomas Edington
For every forward action, there is an equally important forward reaction.
— Lorii Myers, No Excuses, The Fit Mind-Fit Body Strategy Book
Don't be vain. What you look like doesn't matter. It's the deed that matters.
— Sarah Addison Allen, The Girl Who Chased the Moon
It’s not enough to fill your head with wondrous ideas—you must initiate action.
— Lorii Myers, No Excuses, The Fit Mind-Fit Body Strategy Book
We must let our every act be out of love, and for the greater good of all.
— Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason
We're going balls to the walls, guys. Our sneak and peak just turned inti a hostage rescue.
— Melissa Cutler, The Trouble with Cowboys
there is nothing to be feared except a result of our own actions
— cG9sYXJhZGl0aWE=
I don't need you to agree with me," she said quietly." I'll go away happy with a little bit of doubt. Doubt is good. It's an emotion we can build on. Perhaps if we feed it with curiosity it will blossom into something useful, like suspicion - and action.
— Jasper Fforde, Shades of Grey
You will find that people will always have opinions about your decisions. Don’t take it personally, it’s simply because they're not courageous enough to take action in their own lives. Be a leader in your life and pay no mind to those who lack the courage to do the same in theirs.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Karma, simply put, is an action for an action ... good or bad.
— Stephen Richards
You were not meant for a life of mediocrity! Stop letting the regret of yesterday and the insecurity of tomorrow steal your today. Live this day! Do not allow your spirit to be softened or your happiness to be limited by a day you cannot have back or a day that does not yet exist. Take charge! Seize this day and allow upon this fertile day to be planted the seeds of your happiness and success.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Free yourself from the need to blame others. There are two reasons that you are where you are right now
—  action or inaction.
I find that being considerate of others and keeping what I say and what I do in agreement makes for a great night's sleep.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Stop walking through the motions of a conditioned routine and start consciously taking action on your visualized intent.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Free yourself from fruitlessly worrying about things you can’t control and put your energy towards the things you can. Seize the day and take effective action on things you can change.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
For humans, flying isn't magic, it's physics.
— Alan Alda, Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
When you pray, you are speaking to yourself. When you take action, you are speaking to God.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
What are you waiting for? How long will you keep waiting? Don’t sit back and wait for life to happen to you. Have a plan and take the needed steps to create what you want.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Narrow the focus, take the ascent one step at a time, and it's amazing what odds a man can beat.
— Courtney Schafer, The Tainted City
Have a clear goal and plan. Waste no effort in your journey. Be strong, committed, and effective and you will experience a level of success few will ever know.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Success is not about your techniques, it’s not solely about the wisdom or the knowledge you have, it’s about your mindset and your actions.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Take ACTION! When we DO NOT take action, our potentiality becomes the soil that houses the seeds of our regret.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Focusing on what you don’t want instead of focusing on what do want gets you nowhere. Negativity makes a horrible motivator. Decide what you want and move in that direction.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Happiness, success, peace, and love are experienced when we live accordingly. They are not something you have, they are something you DO.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Life is not about control or making things happen in the ways we think they should happen. In fact, it's rather arrogant for us to be on this planet that's been here for so long and expect to be able to control life on it. If we want to see changes, then our task is to set things in motion, not to micromanage and make them happen in the ways we think they should. If we have something that is possessing us, such as alcohol or our television sets or our cell phones, then it could be time to let it go and move on with our lives. If we're holding on to resentment and anger, we're simply raising our own stress levels and blood pressure, but we're not contributing anything positive to the situation--and it's time to let it go.
— Tom Walsh
If no one on this planet ever loves you, I always will.
— C.J. Reid, RUSH Book Two: California Nights
Morality and legality have nothing to do with one another. I'm more than fine with breaking a law if it disagrees with my values and morals.
— Ashly Lorenzana
When those who are responsible for the leadership of State begin to move in villainous ways; when they begin to destroy the fabric of what it is that our nation is held together with; when they violate the Constitution of our nation and begin to do things that are false to our dreams and our hopes--it is incumbent upon every citizen by right, but also by responsibility, to challenge that administration, to raise their voice in vigorous dissent and to challenge the way in which the state is doing business. And those who fail to do that, should be charged with patriotic treason!
— Teddy Roosevelt
We've got to make change our national pastime and hold protests more regularly than weekend parties.
— Rivera Sun, Steam Drills, Treadmills and Shooting Stars - a story of our times -
Although the principle of equality has always been self-evident, it has never been self-executing.
— Barack Obama
All of us at one point end face up in a ditch, but only a few will choose to look up at the stars and dream.
— Shannon L. Alder
Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.
— Charles F. Kettering
In life, it is important that we act fast. If you don't act fast and act now, someone else will do exactly what you have thought of doing. Someone else would have fired while you were spending time aiming.
— Jan Mckingley Hilado, Rich Real Radical: 40 Lessons from a Magna Cum Laude and a College Drop Out
You will never know what could have been done until you start doing what needs to be done.
— Orrin Woodward
Her eyes narrowing, she turned her attention back to where Stephanie stood with Ben, feeling her own pain turn to intense fury. “Dominic knew her so damn well because he was usually thinking the same thing. She was his female version – two halves fitting perfectly together,” Gena spat out, anger inflected in her voice. “Like him, she’s reckless and like him, once she gets something into her head nothing or no one will change her mind.” Her fury revealed itself in her eyes, as she spat out, “And, like him, she’s going to get herself killed.” - Gena Evans, Nowhere to Run
— Nina D'Angelo, Nowhere to Run
Let your words merely reiterate what your actions have already stated.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Never let what you don't know stop you from doing what you do know.
— Orrin Woodward
Theory and knowledge remain suspect, not because of inherent worthlessness, but because of their historic isolation from action. Without theoretical orientation, however, action is vulnerable to oversimplified and glib imitativeness-even mimicry-and to the use of the gimmick.
— Erving Polster, Gestalt Therapy Integrated: Contours of Theory & Practice
THE MARK OF ATHENA BABY!!!!!!
— Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena
Apathetic people sit back and wait for things to get better before they move. Radical people make things get better, by how they move.
— Shannon L. Alder
The consequences of our actions take hold of us, quite indifferent to our claim that meanwhile we have 'improved.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
We are what we do.
— Erich Fromm
They say that rape is the only crime in which the victim has to prove her innocence. And I want you to know, I believe in your innocence. You don’t have to prove anything to me.
— Alina Klein, Rape Girl
Griping is for those without a plan of action...
— Neal Shusterman, UnWholly
Nothing will change until we change - until we throw off our dependence and act for ourselves.
— Myles Horton, The Long Haul: An Autobiography
It is better to have a fair intellect that is well used, than a powerful one that is idle.
— Bryant McGill
The task is not to turn the world upside down but in a given place to do what, from the perspecive of reality, is necessary objectively and to really carry it out.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics
You do what you are
— Glynn Burridge
He was too explosive for her to touch him so intimately. It would lead to the wrong things. And places he'd banned himself from. As her protector, he had to stay away from her. That was how it worked. This, he could not stray from. Not again. Even if it killed him.
— Jennifer Lowery, Hard Core
It is true that in general, energy which is aimed at positive factors usually obtains better results than energy invested in resistance!
— Iris Eshel, Project Management: A Professional Approach to Events
They say in moments of great fear or desperation, a man will always make a choice—either to flee or face his enemy, but choice requires thought, and in the moment when you know for certain that death is stalking you with strides you cannot outrun, there is no time for thought. You do not choose. Like Betto, or Malchus, or Valens, you act, doing either one thing or the other.
— Andrew Levkoff, A Mixture of Madness
Think like a man of action but act like a woman of thought.
— Amit Abraham
I needed to know, Jesse. I needed to get inside his head. To find this son of a bitch, I need to get inside his head.” - Stephanie Carovella
— Nina D'Angelo, Nowhere to Run
There comes an hour when protest no longer suffices
—  after philosophy there must be action
He who wishes to serve his country must have not only the power to think, but the will to act
— Plato
A dream becomes a reality as a result of your actions, and your actions are controlled, to a large extent, by your habits.
— John C. Maxwell
Many people experience the travesty of regret in their end days; the realization that nothing held them back, that nothing was in their way, that there is no one to blame, only themselves. Don't just sit by waiting for your life to happen, make it happen! Don’t just hope your dreams will come alive, breathe life into them! Don't let your fear help you birth a well-nourished regret, take action today! At the end of the day, at the end of the year, at the end of your life, live in such a manner that you can hold your head up high, smile, and be proud of a life well lived.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Tis action moves the world....[in] the game of chess, mind that: ye cannot leave your men to stand unmoving on the board and hope to win. A soldier must first step upon the battlefield if does mean to cross it.
— Susanna Kearsley, The Winter Sea
Out in the field, any connection with home just makes you weaker. It reminds you that you were once civilized, soft; and that can get you killed faster than a bullet through the head.
— Henry Mosquera, Sleeper's Run
Don't mistake thinking for action & don't mistake action for results.
— Orrin Woodward
Who would want to be the prey in a world full of hunters?~Disarming(Reign of Blood #2)
— Alexia Purdy
Many lose through never starting. A job well begun is half done.
— Orrin Woodward
I find placebos uplifting and exhilarating. It means that taking action--no matter what the action is--might help you feel better.
— A.J. Jacobs
Without action, a vision is just a piece of paper. In education, we have lots of paper.
— William Sterrett, Insights Into Action: Successful School Leaders Share What Works
The Piper's playing again, and there's a full orchestra.' There was a long silence as Andrew deciphered the cryptic statement. 'A FULL orchestra?
— D.J. Stutley
We are adjured not to burn the candle at both ends.But how many people have verified that physically possible?
— Idries Shah, Reflections
We are limited only by our unwillingness to take action.
— Steven Redhead, The Solution
Every leader has the courage to make decisions. No decision is usually the worst decision.
— Orrin Woodward
This is not the time to be passive. This is the time to shape, sculpt, paint, participate… the time to get sweaty, to get dirty, to fall in love, to forgive, to forget, to hug, to kiss… this is the time to experience, participate and live your life as a verb.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
You can be on the right track and still get run over if you're not moving.
— Orrin Woodward
The shots left a hard ringing sound within the closeness of the brick walls. Terry held the pistol at arm's length on a level with his eyes--the Russian Tokarev resembling an old-model Colt .45, big and heavy--and made the sign of the cross with it over the dead. He said, "Rest in peace, motherfuckers," turned, and walked out of the beer lady's house to wait at the side of the road.
— Elmore Leonard, Pagan Babies
You won't get ahead until you get off your behind.
— Orrin Woodward
It's better to be one who is told to wait than one who waits to be told.
— John G. Miller, QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life
Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines	he wrote a poemAnd he called it "Chops"	because that was the name of his dogAnd that's what it was all aboutAnd his teacher gave him an A	and a gold starAnd his mother hung it on the kitchen door	and read it to his auntsThat was the year Father Tracy	took all the kids to the zooAnd he let them sing on the busAnd his little sister was born	with tiny toenails and no hairAnd his mother and father kissed a lotAnd the girl around the corner sent him aValentine signed with a row of X's	and he had to ask his father what the X's meantAnd his father always tucked him in bed at nightAnd was always there to do itOnce on a piece of white paper with blue lines	he wrote a poemAnd he called it "Autumn"	because that was the name of the seasonAnd that's what it was all aboutAnd his teacher gave him an A	and asked him to write more clearlyAnd his mother never hung it on the kitchen door	because of its new paintAnd the kids told him	that Father Tracy smoked cigarsAnd left butts on the pewsAnd sometimes they would burn holesThat was the year his sister got glasses	with thick lenses and black framesAnd the girl around the corner laughed	when he asked her to go see Santa ClausAnd the kids told him why	his mother and father kissed a lotAnd his father never tucked him in bed at nightAnd his father got mad	when he cried for him to do it.Once on a paper torn from his notebook	he wrote a poemAnd he called it "Innocence: A Question"	because that was the question about his girlAnd that's what it was all aboutAnd his professor gave him an A	and a strange steady lookAnd his mother never hung it on the kitchen door	because he never showed herThat was the year that Father Tracy diedAnd he forgot how the end	of the Apostle's Creed wentAnd he caught his sister	making out on the back porchAnd his mother and father never kissed	or even talkedAnd the girl around the corner	wore too much makeupThat made him cough when he kissed her	but he kissed her anyway	because that was the thing to doAnd at three a.m. he tucked himself into bed	his father snoring soundlyThat's why on the back of a brown paper bag	he tried another poemAnd he called it "Absolutely Nothing"Because that's what it was really all aboutAnd he gave himself an A	and a slash on each damned wristAnd he hung it on the bathroom door	because this time he didn't think	he could reach the kitchen.
— Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
He stepped back and threw his arms out."I'm always crazy around you Rose. Here, I'm going to write an impromptu poem for you."He tipped his head back and shouted to the sky:"Rose is in redBut never in blueSharp as a thornFights like one too.
— Richelle Mead, Shadow Kiss
Out of the huts of history's shameI riseUp from a past that's rooted in painI riseI'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI riseInto a daybreak that's wondrously clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave.I riseI riseI rise.
— Maya Angelou
I will not play at tug o' war.I'd rather play at hug o' war,Where everyone hugsInstead of tugs,Where everyone gigglesAnd rolls on the rug,Where everyone kisses,And everyone grins,And everyone cuddles,And everyone wins.
— Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends
The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings
— Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
I have been one acquainted with the night.I have walked out in rain - and back in rain.I have outwalked the furthest city light.I have looked down the saddest city lane.I have passed by the watchman on his beatAnd dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
— Robert Frost
At night I dream that you and I are two plantsthat grew together, roots entwined,and that you know the earth and the rain like my mouth,since we are made of earth and rain.
— Pablo Neruda, Regalo de un Poeta
A Woman's QuestionDo you know you have asked for the costliest thingEver made by the Hand above?A woman's heart, and a woman's life---And a woman's wonderful love.Do you know you have asked for this priceless thingAs a child might ask for a toy?Demanding what others have died to win,With a reckless dash of boy.You have written my lesson of duty out,Manlike, you have questioned me.Now stand at the bars of my woman's soulUntil I shall question thee.You require your mutton shall always be hot,Your socks and your shirt be whole;I require your heart be true as God's starsAnd as pure as His heaven your soul.You require a cook for your mutton and beef,I require a far greater thing;A seamstress you're wanting for socks and shirts---I look for a man and a king.A king for the beautiful realm called Home,And a man that his Maker, God,Shall look upon as He did on the firstAnd say: "It is very good."I am fair and young, but the rose may fadeFrom this soft young cheek one day;Will you love me then 'mid the falling leaves,As you did 'mong the blossoms of May?Is your heart an ocean so strong and true,I may launch my all on its tide?A loving woman finds heaven or hellOn the day she is made a bride.I require all things that are grand and true,All things that a man should be;If you give this all, I would stake my lifeTo be all you demand of me.If you cannot be this, a laundress and cookYou can hire and little to pay;But a woman's heart and a woman's lifeAre not to be won that way.
— Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye
The.World.Is.Not.A.Safe.Place.
— Jandy Nelson, The Sky Is Everywhere
Nobody really knows herExcept the chosen fewHer secrets are kept hiddenBehind that sun-kissed hue.If I reach out to touch herShe’ll just run awayMy Forever and AlwaysWill have to wait another day.
— Simone Elkeles, Chain Reaction
It seems only yesterday I used to believethere was nothing under my skin but light.If you cut me I could shine.
— Billy Collins
While I was looking the other way your fire went outLeft me with cinders to kick into dustWhat a waste of the wonder you wereIn my living fire I will keep your scorn and mineIn my living fire I will keep your heartache and mineAt the disgrace of a waste of a life
— Kristin Cashore, Fire
My child, I know you're not a childBut I still see you running wildBetween those flowering trees.Your sparkling dreams, your silver laughYour wishes to the stars above Are just my memories.And in your eyes the oceanAnd in your eyes the seaThe waters frozen overWith your longing to be free.Yesterday you'd awokenTo a world incredibly old.This is the age you are brokenOr turned into gold.You had to kill this child, I know.To break the arrows and the bowTo shed your skin and change.The trees are flowering no moreThere's blood upon the tiles floorThis place is dark and strange.I see you standing in the stormHolding the curse of youthEach of you with your storyEach of you with your truth.Some words will never be spokenSome stories will never be told.This is the age you are brokenOr turned into gold.I didn't say the world was good.I hoped by now you understoodWhy I could never lie.I didn't promise you a thing. Don't ask my wintervoice for springJust spread your wings and fly.Though in the hidden gardenDown by the green green laneThe plant of love grows next toThe tree of hate and pain.So take my tears as a token.They'll keep you warm in the cold.This is the age you are brokenOr turned into gold.You've lived too long among usTo leave without a traceYou've lived too short to understandA thing about this place.Some of you just sit there smokingAnd some are already sold. This is the age you are brokenOr turned into gold.This is the age you are broken or turned into gold.
— Antonia Michaelis, The Storyteller
Parting is all we know of Heaven,and all we need of Hell.
— Emily Dickinson
And the poem, I think, is only your voice speaking.
— Virginia Woolf, The Waves
I want to rip off your logic and make passionate sense to you. I want to ride in the swing of your hips. My fingers will dig in you like quotation marks, blazing your limbs into parts of speech.
— Jeffrey McDaniel
A double-edged swordOne side destroysOne releasesI am your Gordian knotWill you release or destroy me?Follow truth and you shall:Find me on waterPurify me through fireTrapped by earth nevermoreAir will whisper to youWhat spirit already knows:That even shatteredanything is possibleIf you believeThen we shall both be free.
— P.C. Cast, Burned
Please be SILENT and LISTEN.I am the SCHOOLMASTERand you are in the CLASSROOM.Just like ELEVEN PLUS TWO equalsTWELVE PLUS ONE,And even a FUNERAL can be REAL FUN,You will find my DICTIONARYis quite INDICATORY.If you want to read my story, just look...THEN UNREAD.
— Pseudonymous Bosch, The Name of This Book Is Secret
The way of love is not a subtle argument. The door there is devastation. Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom. How do they learn it? They fall, and falling, they're given wings.
— Jalaluddin Rumi
I will never hurt you.I will always help you.If you are hungryIll give you my food.If you are frightenedI am your friend.I love you now.And love does not end.
— Orson Scott Card, Songmaster
You sit at the edge of the world,I am in a crater that's no more.Words without lettersStanding in the shadow of the door.The moon shines down on a sleeping lizard,Little fish rain from the sky.Outside the window there are soldiers,steeling themselves to die.(Refrain)Kafka sits in a chair by the shore,Thinking for the pendulum that moves the world, it seems.When your heart is closed,The shadow of the unmoving Sphinx,Becomes a knife that pierces your dreams.The drowning girl's fingersSearch for the entrance stone, and more.Lifting the hem of her azure dress,She gazes --at Kafka on the shore
— Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
And it seems people should not build houses anymoreit seems people should stop working and sit in small rooms on second floorsunder electric lightswithout shades;it seems there is a lot to forgetand a lot not to doand in drugstores, markets, bars,the people are tired, they do not want to move, and I stand there at nightand look through this house and the house does not want to be built
— Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell
For I dance And drink and sing,Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing.If thought is lifeAnd strength and breathAnd the wantOf thought is deathThen am IA happy flyIf I liveOr if I die
— William Blake
But first, on earth as vampire sent,Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent,Then ghastly haunt thy native place,And suck the blood of all thy race.There from thy daughter, sister, wife,At midnight drain the stream of life,Yet loathe the banquet which perforceMust feed thy livid living corse.Thy victims ere they yet expireShall know the demon for their sire,As cursing thee, thou cursing them,Thy flowers are withered on the stem.
— George Gordon Byron
She asks why I like her.Might as well askWhy I breathe.Maybe tomorrow I won'tBreathe or like herAnymore.Maybe tomorrow the tidesWill stop.Maybe tomorrow will bringNo more rainbows.Maybe tomorrowShe will stopAsking useless questions.
— Gail Carson Levine, The Wish
When the spent sun throws up its rays on cloudAnd goes down burning into the gulf below,No voice in nature is heard to cry aloudAt what has happened. Birds, at least must knowIt is the change to darkness in the sky.Murmuring something quiet in her breast,One bird begins to close a faded eye;Or overtaken too far from his nest,Hurrying low above the grove, some waifSwoops just in time to his remembered tree.At most he thinks or twitters softly, 'Safe!Now let the night be dark for all of me.Let the night be too dark for me to seeInto the future. Let what will be, be.
— Robert Frost
Miracles are to come. With you I leave a remembrance of miracles: they are by somebody who can loveand who shall be continually reborn, a human being.
— E.E. Cummings
This poem is very longSo long, in fact, that your attention spanMay be stretched to its very limitsBut that’s okayIt’s what’s so special about poetrySee, poetry takes timeWe live in a timeCall it our culture or societyIt doesn’t matter to me cause neither one rhymesA time where most people don’t want to listenOur throats wait like matchsticks waiting to catch fireWaiting until we can speakNo patience to listenBut this poem is longIt’s so long, in fact, that during the time of this poemYou could’ve done any number of other wonderful thingsYou could’ve called your fatherCall your fatherYou could be writing a postcard right nowWrite a postcardWhen was the last time you wrote a postcard?You could be outsideYou’re probably not too far away from a sunrise or a sunsetWatch the sun riseMaybe you could’ve written your own poemA better poemYou could have played a tune or sung a songYou could have met your neighborAnd memorized their nameMemorize the name of your neighborYou could’ve drawn a picture(Or, at least, colored one in)You could’ve started a bookOr finished a prayerYou could’ve talked to GodPrayWhen was the last time you prayed?Really prayed?This is a long poemSo long, in fact, that you’ve already spent a minute with itWhen was the last time you hugged a friend for a minute?Or told them that you love them?Tell your friends you love them…no, I mean it, tell themSay, I love youSay, you make life worth livingBecause that, is what friends doOf all of the wonderful things that you could’ve doneDuring this very, very long poemYou could have connectedMaybe you are connectingMaybe we’re connectingSee, I believe that the only things that really matterIn the grand scheme of life are God and peopleAnd if people are made in the image of GodThen when you spend your time with peopleIt’s never wastedAnd in this very long poemI’m trying to let a poem do what a poem does:Make things simplerWe don’t need poems to make things more complicatedWe have each other for thatWe need poems to remind ourselves of the things that really matterTo take timeA long timeTo be alive for the sake of someone else for a single momentOr for many momentsCause we need each otherTo hold the hands of a broken personAll you have to do is meet a personShake their handLook in their eyesThey are youWe are all broken togetherBut these shattered pieces of our existence don’t have to be a messWe just have to care enough to hold our tongues sometimesTo sit and listen to a very long poemA story of a lifeThe joy of a friend and the grief of friendTo hold and be heldAnd be quietSo, prayWrite a postcardCall your parents and forgive them and then thank themTurn off the TVCreate art as best as you canShare as much as possible, especially moneyTell someone about a very long poem you once heardAnd how afterward it brought you to them
— Colleen Hoover, This Girl
Very possibly this was the night my white-knight complex, as Solange put it, would get me killed. Someone had better write a poem about it. It was only fair.
— Alyxandra Harvey, Blood Feud
You must find a boy your own age. Someone mild and beautiful to be your lover. Someone who will tremble for your touch, offer you a marguerite by its long stem with his eyes lowered. Someone whose fingers are a poem.
— Janet Fitch, White Oleander
The mind-is not the heart.I may yet live, as I know others live,To wish in vain to let go with the mind-Of cares, at night, to sleep; but nothing tells meThat I need learn to let go with the heart.
— Robert Frost
The whole idea of it makes me feellike I'm coming down with something,something worse than any stomach acheor the headaches I get from reading in bad light--a kind of measles of the spirit,a mumps of the psyche,a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.You tell me it is too early to be looking back,but that is because you have forgottenthe perfect simplicity of being oneand the beautiful complexity introduced by two.But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.At four I was an Arabian wizard.I could make myself invisibleby drinking a glass of milk a certain way.At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.But now I am mostly at the windowwatching the late afternoon light.Back then it never fell so solemnlyagainst the side of my tree house,and my bicycle never leaned against the garageas it does today,all the dark blue speed drained out of it.This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,time to turn the first big number.It seems only yesterday I used to believethere was nothing under my skin but light.If you cut me I could shine.But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,I skin my knees. I bleed.
— Billy Collins
A BOAT beneath a sunny sky,Lingering onward dreamilyIn an evening of July —Children three that nestle near,Eager eye and willing ear,Pleased a simple tale to hear —Long has paled that sunny sky:Echoes fade and memories die:Autumn frosts have slain July.Still she haunts me, phantomwise,Alice moving under skiesNever seen by waking eyes.Children yet, the tale to hear,Eager eye and willing ear,Lovingly shall nestle near.In a Wonderland they lie,Dreaming as the days go by,Dreaming as the summers die:Ever drifting down the stream —Lingering in the golden gleam —Life, what is it but a dream?
— Lewis Carroll
Knock! knock!who's there?me!me who?that's right?what's right?meehoo!that's what I want to know!what's what you want to know?me who?yes, exactly!exactly what?yes, I have exactlywatt on a chain!exactly what on a chain?yes!yes what?no, exactlywatt!that's what I want to know!I told you-exactlywatt!exactly what?yes!yes what?yes it's with me.what's with you?exactlywatt-that's what with me.me who?yes!go away!knock knock...
— Shel Silverstein
Some say an army of horsemensome an army on footothers say ships laden for warare the fairest things on earth.But I say the fairest sighton this dark earthis the face of the one you love.Nor is it hard to understand:love has humbled the heartsof the proudest queens.And I would rather see you now stepping over my thresholdthan any soldier greaved in gold or any iron-beaked ship.
— Alison Croggon, The Singing
...like that star of the waning summer who beyond all stars rises bathed in the ocean stream to glitter in brilliance.
— Homer, The Iliad
Tumbling-hair picker of buttercups violetsdandelionsAnd the big bullying daisies through the field wonderfulwith eyes a little sorryAnother comes also picking flowers
— E.E. Cummings, Poems, 1905 1962