QuoteProject
To do nothing is the way to be nothing.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Action is necessary for achievement and growth.

This quote emphasizes the importance of taking action in order to create a meaningful existence. It suggests that idleness or inaction leads to stagnation, while actively engaging in life can lead to fulfillment and purpose.

Themes

ActionGrowthAchievePurposeMotivation

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech at a community center, one could use this quote to inspire action towards local improvement projects.

More from Nathaniel Hawthorne

Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, this it overflows upon the outward world.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
A bodily disease which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
All merely graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
There is so much wretchedness in the world, that we may safely take the word of any mortal professing to need our assistance; and, even should we be deceived, still the good to ourselves resulting from a kind act is worth more than the trifle by which we purchase it.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart! Else it may be their miserable fortune, when some mightier touch than their own may have awakened all her sensibilities, to be reproached even for the calm content, the marble image of happiness, which they will have imposed upon her as the warm reality.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead
The thing you set your mind on is the thing you ultimately become.
Nathaniel HawthorneRead

Similar quotes

Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
A battle won is a battle which we will not acknowledge to be lost.
Ferdinand FochRead
I realized, if I don't step into the spotlight, and the person next to me doesn't step in, and the people around me don't step in, then who will?
Simu LiuRead
The truth of the matter is that there's nothing you can't accomplish if: (1) You clearly decide what it is that you're absolutely committed to achieving, (2) You're willing to take massive action, (3) You notice what's working or not, and (4) You continue to change your approach until you achieve what you want, using whatever life gives you along the way.
Tony RobbinsRead
I ain't Martin Luther King. I don't need a dream. I have a plan.
Spike LeeRead
Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them.
Jack CanfieldRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.