Words are the wings of actions. [ Larater ]
Actions speak louder than words. [ Proverb ]
Strong reasons make strong actions. [ Shakespeare ]
To the valiant actions speak alone. [ Smollett ]
Brave actions never want a trumpet. [ Proverb ]
Words are for women, actions for men. [ Proverb ]
Prodigious actions may as well be done
By weaver's issue, as by prince's son. [ Dryden ]
Thy credit wary keep, 'tis quickly gone;
Being got by many actions, lost by one. [ Randolph ]
From the great,
Illustrious actions are a debt to Fame.
No middle path remains for them to tread,
Whom she hath once ennobled. [ Glover ]
A woman's thought runs before her actions. [ William Shakespeare ]
Not always actions show the man; we find
Who does a kindness is not therefore kind. [ Pope ]
For good or evil must in our actions meet;
Wicked is not much worse than indiscreet. [ Donne ]
Good actions carry their warrant with them. [ Proverb ]
We must not stint
Our necessary actions, in the fear
To cope malicious censurers; which ever,
As ravenous fishes, do a vessel follow
That is new trimmed, but benefit no further
Than vainly longing. [ William Shakespeare, Henry VIII ]
Pride is to be feared even in good actions. [ Proverb ]
Bad thoughts quickly ripen into bad actions. [ Bishop Porteous ]
It is human actions paint the chart of time. [ Montgomery ]
Innocent actions carry their warrant with them. [ Proverb ]
Our common friends are but spies of our actions. [ Proverb ]
Great actions crown themselves with lasting bays;
Who well deserves needs not another's praise. [ Heath ]
My tastes are aristocratic; my actions democratic. [ Victor Hugo ]
I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Nor actions, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on. [ William Shakespeare ]
Men's actions are not to be judged of at first sight. [ Proverb ]
Words shew the wit of a man, but actions his meaning. [ Proverb ]
Our own actions are our security, not others' judgments. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]
Friendship and company are a bad excuse for ill actions. [ Proverb ]
Good actions are the best sacrifices we can offer to God. [ Proverb ]
Good impulses are naught, unless they become good actions. [ Joubert ]
Good actions done in secret are the most worthy of honour. [ Pascal ]
Benevolence and feeling ennoble the most trifling actions. [ Thackeray ]
Good actions are the invisible hinges of the doors of heaven. [ Victor Hugo ]
Our actions are our own; their consequences belong to Heaven. [ Francis ]
They favor learning whose actions are worthy of a learned pen. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
Trifles discover a character, more than actions of importance. [ Shenstone ]
The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. [ I Samuel ii. 3 ]
Only the actions of the just smell sweet and blossom in the dust. [ James Shirley ]
Neither praise nor dispraise thyself: thy actions serve the turn. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]
When we commend good actions we make them in some measure our own. [ Proverb ]
Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it a charm. [ Richter ]
An able man shows his spirit by gentle words and resolute actions. [ Chesterfield ]
Riches are for spending, and spending for honour and good actions. [ Bacon ]
Naked glory is the true and honorable recompense of gallant actions. [ Le Sage ]
Good-will, like a good name, is got by many actions and lost by one. [ Jeffrey ]
Our actions must clothe us with an immortality loathsome or glorious. [ Colton ]
Cowards have done good and kind actions, but a coward never pardoned. [ Schiller ]
Unless we put heart and soul into our labor we but brutify our actions. [ H. W. Shaw ]
We should esteem a person according to his actions, not his nationality. [ Varenes ]
Selfishness is the grand moving principle of nine-tenths of our actions. [ Rochefoucauld ]
Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others. [ S. Smiles ]
Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions characterize the great. [ Goldoni ]
Our actions are like the terminations of verses, which we rhyme as we please. [ Rochefoucauld ]
It is not your posterity, but your actions, that will perpetuate your memory. [ Proverb ]
To praise great actions with sincerity may be said to be taking part in them. [ Rochefoucauld ]
Many actions, like the Rhone, have two sources, - one pure, the other impure. [ Hare ]
The most subtle flattery that a woman can receive is by actions, not by words. [ Mme. Necker ]
Good purposes should be the directors of good actions, not the apology for bad. [ Proverb ]
Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in the past. [ T. Edwards ]
We must not stint our necessary actions in the fear to cope malicious censurers. [ William Shakespeare ]
Many actions calculated to procure fame are not conducive to ultimate happiness. [ Addison ]
The mind that too frequently forgives bad actions will at last forget good ones. [ Reynolds ]
Actions, looks, words, steps, form the alphabet by which you may spell Character. [ J. C. Lavater ]
Actions, looks, words, steps from the alphabet by which you may spell characters. [ Lavater ]
Emulation admires and strives to imitate great actions; envy is only moved to malice. [ Balzac ]
Call him wise whose actions, words, and steps are all a clear because to a clear why. [ Lavater ]
The higher character a person supports, the more he should regard his minutest actions. [ Not traceable ]
We should often be ashamed of our best actions if the world saw the motives which inspire us. [ La Rochefoucauld ]
The hearts of men are their books, events are their tutors, great actions are their eloquence. [ Macaulay ]
Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good actions; try to use ordinary situations. [ Richter ]
Negligence and inattention to minute actions will, ultimately, be prejudicial to a man's virtue. [ J. Hamilton ]
To know the true opinions of men, one ought to pay more respect to their actions than their words. [ Descartes ]
There are words which are worth as much as the best actions, for they contain the germ of them all. [ Mme. Swetchine ]
The introduction of noble inventions seems to hold by far the most excellent place among human actions. [ Bacon ]
We should be as careful of our words as of our actions, and as far from speaking ill as from doing ill. [ Cicero ]
It is motive alone that gives real value to the actions of men, and disinterestedness puts the cap to it. [ Bruyere ]
Wisdom is the olive that springeth from the heart, bloometh on the tongue, and beareth fruit in the actions. [ Grymestone ]
He is incapable of a truly good action who knows not the pleasure in contemplating the good actions of others. [ Lavater ]
Many shining actions owe their success to chance, though the general or statesman runs away with the applause. [ Lord Karnes ]
Men must have righteous principles in the first place, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions. [ Luther ]
Actions are the first tragedies in life, words are the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless. [ Oscar Wilde, Lady Windemere's Fan ]
A man's diary is a record in youth of his sentiments, in middle age of his actions, in old age of his reflections. [ J. Q. Adams ]
Praise, of all things, is the most powerful excitement to commendable actions, and animates us in our enterprises. [ La Bruyere ]
The true worth of a soul is revealed as much by the motive it attributes to the actions of others as by its own deeds. [ J. Petit-Senn ]
In the eye of that Supreme Being to whom our whole internal frame is uncovered, dispositions hold the place of actions. [ Blair ]
He who has no taste for order will be often wrong in his judgment, and seldom considerate or conscientious in his actions. [ Lavater ]
Although men flatter themselves with their great actions, they are not so often the result of a great design as of chance. [ La Rochefoucauld ]
Of all human actions, pride seldomest obtains its end; for, aiming at honor and reputation, it reaps contempt and derision. [ Walker ]
It is in vain to expect any advantage from our profession of the truth, if we be not sincerely just and honest in our actions. [ Rev. Dr. Sharp ]
We should often have reason to be ashamed of our most brilliant actions if the world could see the motives from which they spring. [ Rochefoucauld ]
Demean thyself more warily in thy study than in the street. If thy public actions have a hundred witnesses, thy private have a thousand. [ Quarles ]
You may fail to shine, in the opinion of others, both in your conversation and actions, from being superior, as well as inferior to them. [ Greville ]
Men of real merit, and whose noble and glorious deeds we are ready to acknowledge, are yet not to be endured when they vaunt their own actions. [ Aeschines ]
The generality of men are wholly governed by names in matters of good and evil, so far as the qualities relate to and affect the actions of men. [ South ]
Motives are better than actions. Men drift into crime. Of evil they do more than they contemplate, and of good they contemplate more than they do. [ Bovee ]
Self-love is always the mainspring, more or less concealed, of our actions; it is the wind which swells the sails, without which the ship could not go. [ Mme. du Chatelet ]
Fame is the echo of actions, resounding them to the world, save that the echo repeats only the last part; but fame relates all, and often more than all. [ Thomas Fuller ]
God should be the object of all our desires, the end of all our actions, the principle of all our affections, and the governing power of our whole souls. [ Massillon ]
Pride is of such intimate connection with ingratitude that the actions of ingratitude seem directly resolvable into pride as the principal reason of them. [ South ]
Exploding many things under the name of trifles is a very false proof either of wisdom or magnanimity, and a great check to virtuous actions with regard to fame. [ Swift ]
The stranger who turneth away from a house with disappointed hopes leaveth there his own offences, and departeth, taking with him all the good actions of the owner. [ Hitopadesa ]
Those great actions whose luster dazzles us are represented by politicians as the effects of deep design; whereas they are commonly the effects of caprice and passion. [ Rochefoucauld ]
I am beholden to calumny, that she hath so endeavored and taken pains to belie me. It shall make me set a surer guard on myself, and keep a better watch upon my actions. [ Ben Jonson ]
Great ambition is the passion of a great character. He who is endowed with it may perform very good or very bad actions; all depends upon the principles which direct him. [ Napoleon ]
There is no detraction worse than to overpraise a man, for if his worth proves short of what report doth speak of him, his own actions are ever giving the lie to his honor. [ Feltham ]
He who does not respect confidence, will never find happiness in his path. The belief in virtue vanishes from his heart, the source of nobler actions becomes extinct in him. [ Auffenberg ]
The passage of Providence lies through many crooked ways; a despairing heart is the true prophet of approaching evil; his actions may weave the webs of fortune, but not break them. [ Quarles ]
The great silent man! Looking round on the noisy inanity of the world, - words with little meaning, actions with little worth, - one loves to reflect on the great Empire of Silence. [ Carlyle ]
Repose and cheerfulness are the badge of the gentleman - repose in energy. The Greek battle pieces are calm; the heroes, in whatever violent actions engaged, retain a serene aspect. [ Emerson ]
Nobility of birth does not always ensure a corresponding nobility of mind; if it did, it would always act as a stimulus to noble actions; but it sometimes acts as a clog, rather than a spur. [ Colton ]
Fiction is of the essence of poetry as well as of painting; there is a resemblance in one of human bodies, things, and actions which are not real, and in the other of a true story by fiction. [ Dryden ]
Neutrality is no favorite with Providence, for we are so formed that it is scarcely possible for us to stand neuter in our hearts, although we may deem it prudent to appear so in our actions. [ Colton ]
A good name is properly that reputation of virtue that every man may challenge as his right and due in the opinions of others, till he has made forfeit of it by the viciousness of his actions. [ South ]
We protract the career of time by employment, we lengthen the duration of our lives by wise thoughts and useful actions. Life to him who wishes not to have lived in vain is thought and action. [ Zimmermann ]
It would be well for us all, old and young, to remember that our words and actions, ay, and our thoughts also, are set upon never-stopping wheels, rolling on and on unto the pathway of eternity. [ M. M. Brewster ]
Delusive ideas are the motives of the greatest part of mankind, and a heated imagination the power by which their actions are incited. The world in the eye of a philosopher may be said to be a large madhouse. [ Mackenzie ]
Great people and champions are special gifts of God, whom He gives and preserves; they do their work and achieve great actions, not with vain imaginations or cold and sleepy cogitations, but by motion of God. [ Luther ]
Nothing affects the heart like that which is purely from itself, and of its own nature; such as the beauty of sentiments, the grace of actions, the turn of characters, and the proportions and features of a human mind. [ Shaftesbury ]
Earth has scarcely an acre that does not remind us of actions that have long preceded our own, and its clustering tombstones loom up like reefs of the eternal shore, to show us where so many human barks have struck and gone down. [ Chapin ]
Genius is that power of man which by its deeds and actions gives laws and rules; and it does not, as used to be thought, manifest itself only by over-stepping existing laws, breaking established rules, and declaring itself above all restraint. [ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ]
The only kind of sublimity which a painter or sculptor should aim at is to express by certain proportions and positions of limbs and features that strength and dignity of mind, and vigor and activity of body, which enables men to conceive and execute great actions. [ Burke ]
There is no action so slight, nor so mean, but it may be done to a great purpose, and ennobled therefore; nor is any purpose so great but that slight actions may help it, and may be so done as to help it much, most especially that chief of all purposes, the pleasing of God. [ Ruskin ]
The liberty of a people consists in being governed by laws which they have made themselves, under whatsoever form it may be of government; the liberty of a private man, in being master of his own time and actions, as far as may consist with the laws of God and of his country. [ Cowley ]
A mother should give her children a superabundance of enthusiasm; that after they have lost all they are sure to lose on mixing with the world, enough may still remain to prompt and support them through great actions. A cloak should be of three-pile, to keep its gloss in wear. [ Hare ]
Looking round on the noisy inanity of the world, words with little meaning, actions with little worth, one loves to reflect on the great empire of silence. The noble silent men, scattered here and there each in his department, silently thinking, silently working; whom no morning newspaper makes mention of. [ Carlyle ]
The motives of the best actions will not bear too strict an inquiry. It is allowed that the cause of most actions, good or bad, may be resolved into the love of ourselves; but the self-love of some men inclines them to please others, and the self-love of others is wholly employed in pleasing themselves. This makes the great distinction between virtue and vice. [ Swift ]
By conversing with the mighty dead, we imbibe sentiment with knowledge. We become strongly attached to those who can no longer either hurt or serve us, except through the influence which they exert over the mind. We feel the presence of that power which gives immortality to human thoughts and actions, and catch the flame of enthusiasm from all nations and ages. [ Hazlitt ]
A pure mind in a chaste body is the mother of wisdom and deliberation, sober counsels and ingenuous actions, open deportment and sweet carriage, sincere principles and unprejudicate understanding, love of God and selfdenial, peace and confidence, holy prayers and spiritual comfort, and a pleasure of spirit infinitely greater than the sottish pleasure of unchastity. [ Jeremy Taylor ]
Irresolution is a worse vice than rashness. He that shoots best may sometimes miss the mark; but he that shoots not at all can never hit it. Irresolution loosens all the joints of a state; like an ague, it shakes not this nor that limb, but all the body is at once in a fit. The irresolute man is lifted from one place to another; so hatcheth nothing, but addles all his actions. [ Feltham ]
See a fond mother encircled by her children; with pious tenderness she looks around, and her soul even melts with maternal love. One she kisses on its cheeks, and clasps another to her bosom; one she sets upon her knee, and finds a seat upon her foot for another. And while, by their actions, by their lisping words, and asking eyes, she understands their numberless little wishes, to these she dispenses a look, and a word to those; and whether she grants or refuses, whether she smiles or frowns, it is all in tender love. [ Krummacher ]
If a man were only to deal in the world for a day, and should never have occasion to converse more with mankind, never more need their good opinion or good word, it were then no great matter (speaking as to the concernments of this world), if a man spent his reputation all at once, and ventured it at one throw; but if he be to continue in the world, and would have the advantage of conversation while he is in it, let him make use of truth and sincerity in all his words and actions; for nothing but this will last and hold out to the end. [ Tillotson ]
The province of music is rather to express the passions and feelings of the human heart than the actions of men, or the operations of nature. When employed in the former capacity, it becomes an eloquent language; when in the latter, a mere mimic - an imitator, and a very miserable one - or rather a buffoon, caricaturing what it cannot imitate; the idea of the different stages of a battle, or the progress of a tempest being represented to the eye or the ear, or even the imagination, by the quavering of a fiddler's elbow, or the squeaking of catgut, is preposterous. [ G. P. Morris ]