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Also: Engagement

Action is how wisdom changes the world. Without action, our knowledge and insights die with us. Through action, whatever virtue we cultivate in our selves bears fruit around us. When empathy and action come together we become healers. Love and joy, actively expressed, are infectious.


Uninformed or misguided action can be destructive, and much harm is done by people who genuinely seek to do good. But humble thoughtful action is what moves us toward a better world. When dreaming and doing come together we create the future. Action turns our visions into realities.

Action

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Let the beauty we love be what we do.

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http://
Contribution #2726


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They should champion their one true God, exalted be He, through the hosts of forbearance, of submission, of an upright character, of goodly deeds, and of the choicest and most refined words.

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Crisis and Victory
#77
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Contribution #2712


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What profit is there in agreeing that universal friendship is good, and talking of the solidarity of the human race as a grand ideal? Unless these thoughts are translated into the world of action, they are useless. The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people only talk of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of words, the world’s misery would very soon be changed into comfort.

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Paris Talks, p. 16
Contribution #2711


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This people need no weapons of destruction, inasmuch as they have girded themselves to reconstruct the world. Their hosts are the hosts of goodly deeds, and their arms the arms of upright conduct, and their commander the fear of God.

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Source type: Sacred Text
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
p. 74
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Contribution #2709


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The fruits of the tree of man have ever been and are goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character.

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Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
p. 26
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Contribution #2708


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Let your acts be a guide unto all mankind, for the professions of most men, be they high or low, differ from their conduct. It is through your deeds that ye can distinguish yourselves from others. Through them the brightness of your light can be shed upon the whole earth.

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Source type: Sacred Text
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahu'u'llah
p. 305
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Contribution #2706


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Help ye the one true God, exalted be His glory, by your goodly deeds, by such conduct and character as shall be acceptable in His sight.

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Gleainings from the Writings of Bahu'u'llah
p. 272
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Contribution #2705


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Their deeds, alone, testify to the truth of their words.

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Gleanings from the Writings of Bahu'u'llah
p. 180
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Contribution #2704


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O people of God! Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men. This can best be achieved through pure and holy deeds, through a virtuous life and a goodly behavior. Valiant acts will ensure the triumph of this Cause, and a saintly character will reinforce its power.

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Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah
pp.93-94
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Contribution #2703


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O Son of My Handmaiden! Guidance hath ever been given by words, and now it is given by deeds. Every one must show forth deeds that are pure and holy, for words are the property of all alike, whereas such deeds as these belong only to Our loved ones. Strive then with heart and soul to distinguish yourselves by your deeds. In this wise We counsel you in this holy and resplendent tablet.

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The Hidden Words
Persian #76
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Contribution #2702


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O children of Adam! Holy words and pure and goodly deeds ascend unto the heaven of celestial glory. Strive that your deeds may be cleansed from the dust of self and hypocrisy and find favor at the court of glory; for ere long the assayers of mankind shall, in the holy presence of the Adored One, accept naught but absolute virtue and deeds of stainless purity. This is the day-star of wisdom and of divine mystery that hath shone above the horizon of the divine will. Blessed are they that turn thereunto.

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The Hidden Words
Persian #69
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Contribution #2701


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O My Friends! Quench ye the lamp of error, and kindle within your hearts the everlasting torch of divine guidance. For ere long the assayers of mankind shall, in the holy presence of the Adored, accept naught but purest virtue and deeds of stainless holiness.

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The Hidden Words
Persian #35
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Contribution #2700


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O Son of Dust! Verily I say unto thee: Of all men the most negligent is he that disputeth idly and seeketh to advance himself over his brother. Say, O brethren! Let deeds, not words, be your adorning.

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The Hidden Words
Persian #5
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Contribution #2699


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If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

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The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.

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He who carries out one good deed acquires one advocate in his own behalf, and he who commits one transgression acquires one accuser against himself. Repentance and good works are like a shield against calamity.

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Talmud
http://
Contribution #2617


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Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

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Barack Obama
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/barack_obama.html
Viewed on November 5, 2008
Contribution #2516


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How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

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Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.

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It is the duty of men to judge men only by their actions. Our faculties furnish us with no means of arriving at the motive, the character, the secret self. We call the tree good from its fruits, and the man, from his works.

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Sermon - October 15, 1826
Contribution #2388


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Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.

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Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.

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Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it -- but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

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It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.

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The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

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We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.

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A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back -- but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.

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There are two kinds of failures: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought.

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By the choices and acts of our lives, we create the person that we are and the faces that we wear. By the choices and acts of our lives we give to the world wherein our lives are lived, hoping that our neighbors will find our contributions to be of worth, and hoping that the world will be a little more gracious for our time in it.

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Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

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I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.

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I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . . . I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands -- this is not optional -- my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.

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A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.

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Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.

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I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.

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We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life.

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All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.

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Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

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Just as a flower, which seems beautiful has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of a man who speaks them but does them not.

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The first principal of nonviolent action is that of noncooperation with everything humiliating.

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We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique.

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Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.

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One act of beneficence, one act of real usefulness, is worth all the abstract sentiment in the world.

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Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.

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

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The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

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The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.

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They say: Belief is important. I say: No, actions are important. Judge by deed, not by creed.

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Source type: Book
What's God Got to Do with It?
by ed. Tim Page
Page 129 ("How to Be Saved", 1880)
Published by Steerforth Press , Hanover, NH , 2005
http://www.amazon.com/Whats-God-Got-Ingersoll-Separation/dp/1586420968/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224970457&sr=8-1
Contribution #2289


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It's better to be burnished with use than rusty with principle.

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Freedom fighters don't always win, but they're always right.

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Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.

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Virtues Reflection Cards
http://www.virtuesproject.com
Contribution #2208


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