Your Move

Actions speak louder than words. Out of all of them, this one’s probably my very favorite quotation.

It’s always been up in the air as to the exact birth of this famous quote. To name a few possible contributors – 16th-century French writer Michel de Montaigne is credited with saying, ‘What you do means more than what you say.’ Prior to that, St. Francis of Assisi followed a similar principle by saying ‘Saying is one thing and doing is another.’

Here’s a few monumental quotes that fall along the same lines, copied from a favorite quote site – The Quote Garden. It moved me to see the many variations… I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.  ~Alfred Adler

Well done is better than well said.  ~Benjamin Franklin

Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.  ~Peter Marshall

Action is eloquence.  ~William Shakespeare

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

Talk doesn’t cook rice.  ~Chinese Proverb

Action is the last resource of those who know not how to dream.  ~Oscar Wilde

Contemplation often makes life miserable.  We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.  ~Nicolas de Chamfort

Deliberation is a function of the many; action is the function of one.  ~Charles de Gaulle, War Memoirs, 1960

Action is the antidote to despair.  ~Joan Baez

Ironically, making a statement with words is the least effective method.  ~Grey Livingston

A nod, a bow,
and a tip of the lid
to the person
who coulda and shoulda
and did.
~Robert Brault, “A Poem Missing the Word Woulda”

He that waits upon fortune is never sure of a dinner.  ~Benjamin Franklin

In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do not be wise in words – be wise in deeds.  ~Jewish Proverb

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.  ~Mark Twain

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.  ~James Baldwin

When deeds speak, words mean nothing.  ~African Proverb

As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say.  I just watch what they do.  ~Andrew Carnegie