Action Vs Words Quotes

As usual, it occurred to me that words were the only thing that could possibly save me from this situation. This was a characteristic misunderstanding on my part. When action was needed, I was absorbed in words; for words proceeded with such difficulty from my mouth that I was intent on them and forgot all about action. It seemed to me that actions, which are dazzling, varied things, must always be accompanied by equally dazzling and equally varied words.

We have only two sources of information about the character of the people around us: we judge them by what they do and by what they say (particularly the first).

Now I see that going out into the testing ground of men it is the tongue and not the deed that wins the day.

Lots of people act well, but few people talk well. This shows that talking is the more difficult of the two.

Members will hear me say repeatedly words are important; deeds are a reality.

The gap is widening between France’s proud diplomatic rhetoric and the nation’s ability to translate words into action.

Saying is one thing and doing is another; we are to consider the sermon and the preacher distinctly and apart.

Words, for all they were flimsy and invisible, had great strength. They could be fortified as a castle wall and sharp as a foil. They could bite, slap, shock, wound. But unlike deeds, words couldn't really help you. No promise ever rescued a person; it was the carrying-through of it that brought about salvation.

Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.

There is obviously a power and a truth in action that doesn't lie, which words easily can do.

The word which is best said came nearest to not being spoken at all, for it is cousin to a deed which the speaker could have better done. Nay, almost it must have taken the place of a deed by some urgent necessity, even by some misfortune, so that the truest writer will be some captive knight, after all. And perhaps the fates had such a design, when, having stored Raleigh so richly with the substance of life and experience, they made him a fast prisoner, and compelled him to make his words his deeds, and transfer to his expression the emphasis and sincerity of his action.

It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things. Names are everything. I never quarrel with actions. My one quarrel is with words. The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.

I'm a little tired of people who have very big moral positions and very small power in reality.

Actions speak louder than words. There is a big difference between what people say and what they do. People might tell you they are excited about your new product, but when they are in a buying situation their behaviour might be totally different.

The most honest of men is the one who thinks and acts best, but the most powerful is the one who writes and speaks best.

They say actions speak louder than words, but actions don't speak. People speak, and people are loud.

Words are cheap. The biggest thing you can say is 'elephant'.

Ninety-five percent of people who walk the earth are simply inert. One percent are saints, and one percent are assholes. The other three percent are people who do what they say they can do.

I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions.

Nobody wants his cause near as bad as he wants to talk about his cause.

I think talk is cheap - when I hear people say what they'd like to happen, I think it's empty.

Words are one thing - deeds something entirely different. Fine words are a mask to cover shady deeds. A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron.

..to write and to live are very different. Many who praise virtue, do no more than praise it.

Fatti maschii, parole femine. Manly deeds, womanly worlds.