Quotations

“If women want any rights more than they've got, why don't they just take them, and not be talking about it.”

Expressing her practical, uncompromising approach to women’s rights · Speech, as reported in contemporary accounts

“Poetry will no longer set the rhythm of action; it will be in advance of it.”

Original: La poésie ne rythmera plus l’action; elle sera en avant. — Rimbaud gives poetry a prophetic role, imagining it as something that anticipates rather than merely reflects change. · Letter to Paul Demeny, 15 May 1871 (French)

Arthur Rimbaud

“The weight of existence lies not in action, but in awareness.”

Original: Die Last des Daseins liegt nicht im Handeln, sondern im Bewusstsein. — Identifies heightened consciousness as the true source of strain · Notebook entry, c. 1913 (German)

Georg Trakl

“Go at them with courage and keep to your morning resolve.”

A practical call to meet difficulties with courage and persistence · Essay, The Heart of the New Thought

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Delay is the deadliest form of denial.”

A compact warning that postponement can be the most insidious way of refusing to act · Imaginary Conversations (as commonly attributed)

Walter Savage Landor

“A person discovers the truth of things only by testing them in action.”

Original: Den Menschen erkennt man nur am Tun. — Character and conviction become meaningful when expressed through conduct rather than words. · Maxims and Reflections (German)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”

Emphasising direction and progress rather than present circumstances · The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“Thinking and doing, doing and thinking: that is the sum of all wisdom.”

Original: Denken und Tun, Tun und Denken, das ist die Summe aller Weisheit. — Goethe joins reflection and action as complementary parts of practical wisdom. · Maxims and Reflections (German)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“The idea of making is the first and most human. To explain is merely to describe a way of making.”

Original: L'idée de faire est la première et la plus humaine. « Expliquer », ce n'est jamais que décrire une manière de faire. — Valéry gives creative action priority over abstract explanation. · L'Homme et la Coquille (French)

Paul Valéry

“I have to find a time to live.”

Original: Il faut être absolument moderne: il faut être absolument moderne. Il faut être absolument moderne. — Rimbaud’s closing movement turns away from poetic illusion towards the difficult necessity of living in the present. · A Season in Hell, Farewell, 1873 (French)

Arthur Rimbaud

“Character is the result of the cultivation of the highest and noblest qualities in human nature, and putting those qualities to practical use.”

Connecting character with both moral cultivation and practical action · Essay, The Heart of the New Thought

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“It is God's own thought put into practical form.”

Describing her preferred spiritual philosophy as something meant to be lived · Essay, A Worn Out Creed

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Then go ahead and change whatever displeases you.”

Combining acceptance with practical self-directed change · Essay, Destiny

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Do not sit down to see it grow.”

A humorous reminder to move on rather than obsess over the results of one's influence · Essay, Thought Force

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Here too, there is a great deal to do.”

Original: Ici aussi, d’ailleurs, il y a beaucoup à faire. — Rimbaud evaluates places primarily through the possibilities they offer for activity and work. · Letter to his family from Aden, 22 September 1880 (French)

Arthur Rimbaud

“The best cure for it is to interest yourself, to lose yourself, in some issue not personal to yourself.”

Advocating outward attention and useful engagement as an antidote to despair. · Speech, Values in Life, 1907

Rudyard Kipling

“One must do his best to keep the natural laws on his side, and then take what comes to him.”

Combining practical responsibility with acceptance of what lies beyond human control · Letter on religious teachings and bereavement

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“Every hope is, in itself, a good deed.”

Original: Jede Hoffnung ist eigentlich eine gute Tat. — Hope is presented not merely as an emotion but as something that can itself have a positive moral effect. · Conversation with Friedrich von Müller, 26 January 1825 (German)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“I am determined to do as much as possible in a certain given time.”

A youthful declaration of practical determination despite his confessed procrastination · Letter to Phineas Barnes, January 31, 1828

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“Pure chance holds sway everywhere; keep your hook in the water, for a fish will appear where you least expect it.”

Original: Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus: quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit. — Encourages constant readiness and open engagement with opportunity. · Ars Amatoria (Latin)

Publius Ovidius Naso

“I am glad to see that men are getting their rights, but I want women to get theirs, and while the water is stirring I will step into the pool.”

A resolute call for women to claim equality rather than wait for permission · Speech, 1867

Sojourner Truth