Well-matured and well-disciplined talent is always sure of a market, provided it exerts itself; but it must not cower at home and expect to be sought for. There is a good deal of cant, too, in the whining about the success of forward and impudent men, while men of retiring worth are passed over with neglect. But it happens often that those forward men have that valuable quality of promptness and activity, without which worth is a mere inoperative property.
      A barking dog is often more useful than a sleeping lion. Endeavor to make your talents convertible to ready use, prompt for the occasion, and adapted to the ordinary purposes of life; cultivate strength rather than gracefulness; in our country it is the useful, not the ornamental, that is in demand.
      ~Washington Irving, letter to Pierre Paris Irving (nephew), 1824 December 7th[the dog/lion line being a less fatal twist of Ecclesiastes 9:4 —tεᖇᖇ¡·g]


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


Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action. ~Walter Anderson, The Confidence Course, 1997


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


Never act until you have clearly answered the question: "What happens if I do nothing?" ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com


If ifs were gifts, every day would be Christmas. ~Charles Barkley


Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other. ~Edmund Burke