Famous Quotes

[Contributed by Late Chiruvolu Sudhakar]

1 - 2 - 3 is a good order to do almost anything.

Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.

The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect.

You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.

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

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

Actions lie louder than words.

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.

The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.

A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for his action.

Thought is the seed of action.

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.

There are risks and costs to a program of action but they are far less than the long range risks and costs of comfortable inactions.

We must dare to think 'unthinkable' thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world. We must learn to welcome and not to fear the voices of dissent. We must dare to think about 'unthinkable' things because when things become unthinkable, thinking stops and action becomes mindless.

We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique.

Action without thought is like shooting without aim.

Great leadership does not mean running away from reality. Sometimes the hard truths might just demoralize the company, but at other times sharing difficulties can inspire people to take action that will make the situation better.

One's action ought to come out of an achieved reasoning: not to be mere rushing on.

Our nature is obscured by work done by the compulsion of want or fear. The mother reveals herself in the service of her children, so our true freedom is not the freedom from action but freedom in action, which can only be attained in the work of love.

Every man of action has a strong dose of egoism, pride, hardness, and cunning. But all those things will be regarded as high qualities if he can make them the means to achieve great ends.

Action, to be effective, must be directed to clearly conceived ends.

Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.

Action makes more fortune than caution. Fortune favors the brave.

For me, words are a form of action, capable of influencing change.

Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thoughts, and habits can be acquired. An action repeated becomes an attitude realized.

Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind.

Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not by your intentions. You may have a heart of gold -- but so does a hard-boiled egg.

The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospection.

You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.

At times of great stress it is especially necessary to achieve a complete freeing of the muscles.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.

Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.

To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

Truly great madness can not be achieved without significant intelligence.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

It is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception and compassion and hope.

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.

All great achievements require time.

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.

Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.

First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.

I present myself to you in a form suitable to the relationship I wish to achieve with you.

I'm a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they're interested in.

I never allow myself to become discouraged under any circumstances. The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are first, hard work, second, stick-to-ittiveness, third, common sense.

Patience will achieve more than force does.

Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, Make Me Feel Important. Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life

To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice

Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God

Wise men put their trust in ideas and not in circumstances

Smile: a curve that can set many things straight

I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them

Accuracy of observation is the equivalent of accuracy of thinking

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone

Professionalism is an attitude, not a status. A professional's best resource is his ability to think, to analyze and to draw conclusions in order to make a difference to the context. He achieves progress while upholding his value system.

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have.

Modesty: The art of encouraging people to find out for themselves how wonderful you are. Be modest! It is the kind of pride least likely to offend.

If you haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble. No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

A habit is something you can do without thinking - which is why most of us have so many of them.

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose.

There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good.

In Life you don't get what you deserve You get what you negotiate.

Experience cannot be transferred. We may give wise advice, but we cannot give wisdom to follow it.

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.

Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action.

It is not up to anyone else to make me give my best.

Relationships are a prerequisite for producing results beyond ourselves. They expand our imaginations to infinite possibilities that cannot exist in a life of isolation.

Integrity has no need of rules.

There is no end to achievements if you don't mind who gets the credit.

Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf.

Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.

Quality, quality, quality: never waver from it, even when you don't see how you can afford to keep it up. When you compromise, you become a commodity and then you die.

An organization that is strong and stable and is ready to commit time, money, and patience will be more apt to reap rewards than the quick-hitting opportunist.

There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company, from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

Take a sad song and make it better.

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

Excellence is in the details. Give attention to the details and excellence will come.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Order marches with weighty and measured strides; disorder is always in a hurry.

There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.

As is our confidence, so is our capacity.

One should be able to see things as hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.

Practice making other people 'right.' They will feel validated, become more productive, expand, and take more risks.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention.

He who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger.

The man who most vividly realizes a difficulty is the man most likely to overcome it.

Courage is a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.

Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.

The people with whom you choose to spend your time can easily determine how far ahead you get in life.

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

Your candle looses nothing when it lights another.

Managing is about efficiency. Leading is about effectiveness.

Do a job well for the first time so that you do not have to do it over again or explain why you did not do it well the first time.

People do no care how much you know unless they know how much you care.

Marriage is not just spiritual communion and passionate embraces; marriage is also three meals a day, sharing the workload and remembering to carry out the trash.

Sweat plus sacrifice equals success.

What worries you, masters you.

It is easy to get lost in what is not essential.

A successful marriage is not a gift; it is an achievement.

The only way to do big things is to do little by little.

Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.

You have no idea how big the other fellow's troubles are.

A speech is like a love affair. Any fool can start it, but to end it successfully requires considerable skill.

Making mistakes alone won't teach you anything. You have to do the learning.

Sometimes being kind is more valuable than being correct.

You decide what it is you want to accomplish and then lay out your plans to get there, and then you just do it. It's pretty straightforward.

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

Respecting others is not an indication of what they are, but is an indication of what you are.