"Action, you see, is the end that thought achieves. Action is its only purpose. What else is it good for? If we don't act, it's worthless."

Gene Wolfe Literature See all quotes by Gene Wolfe →

React to this quote

More by Gene Wolfe

“What little I have learned in the course of a long life, regarding the gods, I have tried to forget.”

“There are people who love birds so much they free them. There are others who love them so much they cage them.”

“Until we reach the end of time, we don’t know whether something’s been good or bad; we can only judge the intentions of those who acted.”

“No man has a home unless he is master of a place where he must please no one—a place where he can go and lock the door behind him.”

“The best way to be thought honest is to be honest.”

““You’re called a holy man,” she said. “I see you’re wholly deranged.”

Resonant Thoughts

"There was a plea from honourable Members relating to the need for formal Gross National Product figures. Such figures are very inexact even in the most sophisticated countries I think they do not have…"

— John James Cowperthwaite

Economics1915–2006

#leadership

"The Obie-Bunting showdown was only a screen for Archie's real purpose- searching for the traitor. He suspected that the traitor was a member of The Vigils. More than suspected. Few kids outside The Vi…"

— Robert Cormier

Journalism1925–2000

#education

"Everything changed, and it went right on changing. A terrible thought when things were good, a comforting one now. Whatever happened, she could be certain that things wouldn’t stay the way they were n…"

— Daniel Abraham

Literature1924–2025

#art