67 Quotes About Inaction

Good things come to those who wait, but if you want them now, then that’s fine too. Whether you’re waiting for a promotion, for the weather to clear, or just to see what happens next, these action quotes about inaction are here for you.

But the only way never to do the wrong thing...
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But the only way never to do the wrong thing is never to do anything. Jim Butcher
Make voyages. Attempt them. There's nothing else.
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Make voyages. Attempt them. There's nothing else. Tennessee Williams
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Children understood at a very young age that doing nothing was an expression of power. Doing nothing was a choice swollen with omnipotence. It was, in fact, godly. And this, she now realized, was the reason why the gods did nothing. Proof of their omniscience. After all, to act was to announce awful limitations, for it revealed that chance acted first, the accidents were just that--events beyond the will of the gods--and all they could do in answer was to attempt to remedy the consequences, to alter natural ends. To act, then, was an admission of fallibility. . Steven Erikson
The only man who never makes mistakes is the man...
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The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything. Theodore Roosevelt
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Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt
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The breeding ground of fear is procrastination and inaction. We overcome them not by preparation, but by taking action. Debasish Mridha
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never...
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It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. Theodore Roosevelt
If you try and lose then it isn't your fault....
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If you try and lose then it isn't your fault. But if you don't try and we lose, then it's all your fault. Orson Scott Card
You are where you are right now because of the...
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You are where you are right now because of the actions you've taken, or maybe, the inaction you've taken. Steve Maraboli
Inaction only makes a task more daunting in your eye....
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Inaction only makes a task more daunting in your eye. Act quickly, before you overthink, get anxious or give up. Avina Celeste
Your life will be simplified when you choose inaction when...
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Your life will be simplified when you choose inaction when no action is required and choose action when action is required! Mehmet Murat Ildan
Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy it reproduces itself by crippling...
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Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy it reproduces itself by crippling our willingness to act. Howard Zinn
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As long as [man] does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about this new repentance.. Wallow in it.. Write a book about it; that is often an excellent way of sterilising the seeds which [Heavenly Father] plants in a human soul.. Do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm [the cause of evil] if [it is kept] out of his will.. The more often he feels without acting, the less he will ever be able to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel. C.s. Lewis
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Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong - these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history. Winston S. Churchill
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How can you follow your heart, unless you know why you have allowed it to be empty for so long and didn't have the courage to fix it? Shannon L. Alder
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Anything or everything can happen. You determine how good or bad they are Constancev Chuks Friday
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The situation on Earth today is too dire for us to act from habit–to reenact again and again the same kinds of solutions that brought us to our present extremity. Where does the wisdom to act in entirely new ways come from? It comes from nowhere, from the void; it comes from inaction. When we see it, we realize it was right in front of us all along. It is never far away; yet at the same time it is in a different universe–a different Story of the World. . Charles Eisenstein
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What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? Vincent Van Gogh
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To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. Joseph Chilton Pearce
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Doing nothing was as honourable as any available course of action. Think of Hamlet, think of Job, think of Jesus before Pilate. Johnny Rich
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Not long ago, I learned that if I let other people tell me how God was supposed to work in my life I would be dead. If I would have given into someone else’s version of God then I would have done nothing to improve my situation. The notion that “if it was meant to be, it will be”, is a pacifying, yet harmful quote, that many spiritualists use to soften the blow of anger. God is not passive. He is relentless, and he will build you through fire. He will put in your heart a need for answers. The intensity of what bothers your soul is often his voice trying to take you from the limited vision of mankind to the full view of the best life he would like to offer you. He is above any pastor, any bishop, any prophet, any church, any cleverly crafted sermon or multi-meaning verse. He is the master of his craft and the author of your forever. Inner peace is only found through action. Fear may darken the trail, but the light of peace stands at the end of such a journey ----waiting with truth. Shannon L. Alder
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Often what people don't say or leave out, tells the real story. Shannon L. Alder
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Never mistake the uncomfortable feeling of insecurity and the fear of the unknown with the Holy Ghost’s promptings. Sometimes those feelings are simply Satan keeping you stuck where you are because he knows you will have a half-life there. He knows that you will spend half of your life disconnected, discontented and convincing your mind of what its heart will never accept. He knows when you have settled, gave up and didn’t try. Inaction is his greatest weapon, while regret is his second. Shannon L. Alder
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I no longer follow the voices of the sane. I follow the ill because they see farther, feel much more and change what the sane will not. This is the paradox of philosophers---trying to understand mass delusion among great people that have faith and knowledge, yet they can’t graduate from their institutions of religious theology to apply the knowledge they have gained for the shifting of Zion---- from words to action; from comfort to uncomfortable; from self serving to self giving; from competition to supporting; to tradition to unity; from bias to acceptance; from me to us. Shannon L. Alder
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Fate is nothing but the past in the future. It is only an excuse for inaction. Omid Banyasad
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You may not have a clue of what lies ahead, but it’s better to act on life than simply let life act on you. Nick Vujicic
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Investing is a simple process of taking into account the present value and future value. The other major factor to understand here, is what you lose as a result of inaction. Consider what you can gain and what you can lose in your decision. J.R. Rim
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But I know I will do neither; nothing. I have all the time in the world, and yet, I can't be bothered. Sara Baume
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In bed our yesterdays are too oppressive: if a man can only get up, though it be but to whistle or to smoke, he has a present which offers some resistance to the past–sensations which assert themselves against tyrannous memories. George Eliot
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Sometimes the best way to learn a lesson isn't just hearing the words, but putting it into practice by experimenting with it and finding its truth for yourself instead of taking someone else’s word for it. A.J. Darkholme
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Inaction is no longer acceptable. Eric Lowitt
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As compassionate beings, we cannot harm others, not even through our inaction. Thomm Quackenbush
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Talk without the support of action means nothing. DaShanne Stokes
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Not to punish evil is equivalent to authorizing it. Leonardo Da Vinci
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Those who claim to be on the side of good yet do nothing to fight evil are on the side of evil. Joyce Rachelle
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In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt
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A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury. John Stuart Mill
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There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still. Franklin D. Roosevelt
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If he acts, if he doesn't, it's meaningless. The whole thing goes forward. No one is important. No one at all. Jesse Ball
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Tolerance never exists without negative judgment. It is the sentiment of having a negative opinion about something yet still putting up with it. Criss Jami
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Take full responsibility of yourself, of your actions and of your inaction. It is only when you can truly and honestly face yourself that you can make any changes for the better. If you had a hand in it then you also have a hand in what you do going forward. Act on what you can do. Don't fret or stress over that which you can't control. Don't assign your responsibility as blame to others. Don't allow others to assign their responsibility as blame on to you. Be fair with yourself and others. Focus on positive momentum. Don't speak cruelly to yourself. Don't berate yourself. What is done is done. Focus instead on what you can do now, in this moment, moving forward. Empower yourself into change and betterment. It is up to you to advocate for your highest potential. That is the work you must do. . Akiroq Brost
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Inaction is the worst action of human beings! Mehmet Murat Ildan
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In action is the worst action of human beings! Mehmet Murat Ildan
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Oh, the others will talk and plan and make oaths and promises, but there are precious few fuckers who will do. Ian McGuire
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We are the sum of our actions, and of our inactions, yes, that is easy enough to understand. What comes harder is finding ourselves the sum of our emotions, which flicker, altered by experience, by the things we cannot bear to tell ourselves, by the trouble we accrue, the flattening and tamping down as we learn how not to be hurt. As we learn protection and the easiest means of protection. Carrie Snyder
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For any business decision, there are only two choices: action or inaction. The best option is to take action." - Ramesh Lohia and Jack T. Parker, consultants, i Six Sigma Kaizen. In Quality Quotes, February 25, 2015, Knowledge Center, ASQ [ AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR QUALITY] Unknown
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Change does not surface when you are not ready to be the catalyst. Your reaction matters, not your inaction. Michael Bassey Johnson
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It requires a certain kind of bravery, I suppose, to choose the status quo. There's a certain boldness to inaction. Karen Thompson Walker
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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
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There was a certain wisdom in doing little, when one was obliged to act in ignorance. C.J. Cherryh
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Well, there was a sort of bastard justice in his view of the case, and so I dropped the matter. When you can't cure a disaster by argument, what is the use to argue? Mark Twain
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Like hatred, guilt can’t be locked in the silence of forgetting, without taking part of your soul with it. Shannon L. Alder
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You are only earning the life you get when your inaction allows people to decide for you. Shannon L. Alder
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Count Ayakura’s abstraction persisted. He believed that only a vulgar mentality was willing to acknowledge the possibility of catastrophe. He felt that taking naps was much more beneficial than confronting catastrophes. However precipitous the future might seem, he learned from the game of kemari that the ball must always come down. There was no call for consternation. Grief and rage, along with other outbursts of passion, were mistakes easily committed by a mind lacking in refinement. And the Count was certainly not a man who lacked refinement. Just let matters slide. How much better to accept each sweet drop of the honey that was Time, than to stoop to the vulgarity latent in every decision. However grave the matter at hand might be, if one neglected it for long enough, the act of neglect itself would begin to affect the situation, and someone else would emerge as an ally. Such was Count Ayakura’s version of political theory. Yukio Mishima
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The simple act of sitting here sipping this cappuccino is its own testament to my commitment to living the writer’s life. Which is to say: doing nothing but doing it exceedingly well. Sol Luckman
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We must remember balance and moderation. Patience can be spiritually enriching and virtuous… but when taken in excess, it turns to procrastination, the poison of inaction. Steve Maraboli
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Satan will tempt you with many things in life, but the most powerful is the temptation to be grateful for what you have, when it is not the best life God had to offer you. Shannon L. Alder
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Not doing anything can be worse than doing the wrong thing. Alexandra Potter
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No one likes a person that "should of" all over the place. Shannon L. Alder
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You have only to rest in inaction and things will transform themselves. Smash your form and body, spit out hearing and eyesight, forget you are a thing among other things, and you may join in great unity with the deep and boundless. Zhuangzi
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I hesitate in everything, often without knowing why. How often I've sought — as my own version of the straight line, seeing it in my mind as the ideal straight line — the longest distance between two points. I've never had a knack for the active life. I've always taken wrong steps that no one else takes; I've always had to make an effort to do what comes naturally to other people. I've always wanted to achieve what others have achieved almost without wanting it. Between me and life there were always sheets of frosted glass that I couldn't tell were there by sight or by touch; I didn't live that life or that dimension. I was the daydream of what I wanted to be, and my dreaming began in my will: my goals were always the first fiction of what I never was. . Fernando Pessoa
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Many times, the thought of fear itself is greater than what it is we fear. Idowu Koyenikan
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I know with unqualified certainty that I want to die. But I also know with equivalent certainty that I won't do anything about it. That I will only remain here and wait for death to indulge me. Sara Baume
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Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity. Gary Ryan Blair
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Action cures fear, inaction creates terror. Douglas Horton
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With the continued support of citizens who refuse to accept inaction at the expense of future generations, we will lead the world toward a sustainable future. Diana DeGette