Harry Lime, character in ‘The Third Man’ by Graham Greene (1904-1991)
When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.
John Ruskin, British author, art critic (1819-1900)
Too low they build who build beneath the stars.
Edward Young, British poet, dramatist, literary critic (1683-1765)
Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.
Doug Larson, US marketeer, author (b.1926)
Action
You can’t leave footprints on the sands of time if you’re sitting on your butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?
Bob Moawad, US author (b.1946)
Nothing is as easy as it looks.
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in the world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.
George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, essayist (1856-1950)
I never worry about action, but only about inaction.
Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister (1874-1965)
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, US author (1835-1910)
If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.
Jonathan Winters, US actor (b.1925)
It is not enough to have knowledge, one must also apply it. It is not enough to have wishes, one must also accomplish.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, letter-writer (1749-1823)
The great end of life is not knowledge but action.
Thomas Henry Huxley, British biologist, philosopher (1825-1895)
We have to understand that the world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is more important than the eye. The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.
Jacob Bronowski, British mathematician, scientist (1908-1974)
You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Henry Ford, US automobile manufacturer, engineer (1863-1947)
Life doesn’t give you all the practice races you need.
Jesse Owens, US athlete (1913-1980)
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
Confucius, Chinese philosopher, teacher (551-479 BC)
Life is a great canvas – throw all the paint on it you can.
David Daniel Kaminsky, known as Danny Kaye, US comedian, actor (1913-1987)
Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
Napoleon Bonaparte, French soldier, statesman, revolutionary (1769-1821)
Well done is better than well said.
Benjamin Franklin, US statesman, author, scientist (1706-1790)
It is time for all of us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever – the one who recognises the challenges and does something about it.
Vince Lombardi, US football coach (1913-1970)
As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.
Andrew Carnegie, British industrialist, philanthropist (1835-1919)
If you’re in the penalty area and don’t know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we’ll discuss the options later.
Bob Paisley, British football manager (1919-1996)
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey champion (b.1961)
I have found that the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.
Harry S Truman, US President (1884-1972)
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt, US President (1858-1919)
There are really only three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who say, ‘What happened?’
Eppie Lederer, known as Ann Landers, US advice columnist (1918-2002)
Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favourable do nothing.
William Feathers, US author, publisher (1889-1981)
Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.
Maurice Micklewhite, known as Michael Caine, British actor (b. 1922)
Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.
James Dean, US actor (1931-1955)
Advertising
Advertising is of the very essence of democracy. An election goes on every minute of the business day across the counters of hundreds of thousands of stores and shops where the customers state their preferences and determine which manufacturer and which product shall be the leader today, and which shall lead tomorrow.
Bruce Barton, US author, advertising executive (1886-1967)
If you make a product good enough the public will make a path to your door, says the philosopher. But if you want the public in sufficient numbers, you would better construct a highway. Advertising is that highway.
William Randolph Hearst, US newspaper magnate (1863-1951)
Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
Samuel Clemens, known as Mark Twain, US author (1835-1910)
Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.
Samuel Johnson, British poet, lexicographer (1709-1784)
In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope.
Charles Revlon, US businessman (1906-1975)
The philosophy behind much advertising is based on the old observation that every man is really two men – the man he is and the man he wants to be.
William Feather, US author, publisher (1889-1981)