#Initiative Quotes

“Personal initiative, competitive selection, the profit motive, corrected by failure and the infinite process of good housekeeping and the personal ingenuity-here constitute the life of a free society.”

“I like things to happen, and if they don't happen I like to make them happen.”

“If you travel the earth, you will find it is largely divided into two classes of people-people who say 'I wonder why such and such is not done" and people who say "Now who is going to prevent me from doing that thing?"”

“It is better to be making the news than taking it, to be an actor rather than a critic.”

“In the acquisition of a new habit, or the leaving off of an old one, we must take care to launch ourselves with as strong and decided an initiative as possible.”

“It is better to do the wrong thing that to do nothing.”

“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.”

“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.”

“Expect change. Analyze the landscape. Take the opportunities. Stop being the chess piece; become the player. It's your move.”

“Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.”

“A bit of baseball wisdom: You can't steal second with your foot on first.”

“Success comes from taking the initiative and following up or persisting.”

“Success comes from taking the initiative and following up... persisting... eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life?”

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

“While the worriers are worrying, the planners are planning and the accountants are figuring out why we can't afford it, I'm busy getting started.”

“To let oneself be carried on passively is unthinkable.”

“Do Something Now. If not you, who? If not here, where? If not now, when?”

“I put myself in the way of things happening, and they happened.”

“When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.”

“Then get busy and find out how to do it.”

“You do not get power so that you can go out and do things, you go out and do things and you will get the power”

“Most people never pick up the phone and call. Most people never ask, and that’s what separates the people who do things from the people who just dream about them.”

“Most people do not ever pick up the phone. They never ask, and that is what separates the people that do things from the people that just dream about them. You have to act, and you have to be willing to fail. You have to be willing to crash and burn, because if you are afraid of failing, you will not get very far.”

“To begin is the most important part of any quest and by far the most courageous.”

“Men who do things without being told draw the most wages.”

“Let me be the one To do what is done.”

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”

“If you don't ask, you don't get it”

“It's a sure thing that you'll not finish if you don't start.”

“Start going the extra mile and opportunity will follow you.”

“Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand & work with whatever tools you may have.”

“No one could become an efficient leader or take the initiative in any great undertaking without belief in himself.”

“Are you waiting for success to arrive, or are you going out to find where it is hiding?”

“If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way. Don't wait for great opportunities. Seize common, everyday ones and make them great.”

“Initiative is as essential to success as a hub is essential to a wagon wheel.”

“Successful people move on their own initiative but they know where they are going before they start.”

“You don't have to be very brilliant. You don't have to have such a wonderful education. You can be an outstanding success if you will only take what little you have, whether it's little or much, and start using it, putting it into operation, doing something about it, and doing something with it. And, of course, that calls for initiative.”

“If it isn't your job to do it, perhaps it is your opportunity”

“Most of us go through life as failures, because we are waiting for the 'time to be right' to start doing something worthwhile. Do not wait. The time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”

“Men of action usually win - that is one of their distinctive features.”

“No man [or woman] is free until he learns to do his own thinking and gains the courage to act on his own personal initiative.”

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

“If not now then when, if not me then who?”

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”

“We often wait for the resources before we make a move.”

“Do what's right, first. Don't sit around and wait for someone else to do the right thing first.”

“We don't have to wait for something nice to happen to us, we can be aggressive and do something nice for ourselves.”

“People can open doors for you, but you ... must walk through.”

“The final and best means of strengthening demand among consumers and business is to reduce the burden on private income and the deterrence to private initiative which are imposed by our present tax system, and this administration pledged itself last summer to an across-the-board, top-to-bottom cut in personal and corporate income taxes to be enacted and become effective in 1963.”

“Successful leaders have the courage to take action while others hesitate.”