Hannah Arendt Quotes

Thought is the soul of act.

Vice: Whatever was passion in the contemplation of man, being brought forth by his will into action.

A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a goal which is worth achieving.

Thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented society, and doing nothing is hard to do. It's best done by disguising it as doing something, and the something closest to doing nothing is walking.

He who does not want does not act.

Only the will is often wanting.

Faith is not Desire. Faith is Will. Desires are things that need to be satisfied, whereas Will is a force. Will changes the space around us.

The wish precedes the event, the will accompanies it.

A Deed knocks first at Thought And then - it knocks at Will - That is the manufacturing spot.

INTENTION, n. The mind's sense of the prevalence of one set of influences over another set; an effect whose cause is the imminence, immediate or remote, of the performance of an involuntary act.

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.

To a resolute mind, wishing to do is the first step toward doing. But if we do not wish to do a thing it becomes impossible.

Every man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.

It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.

If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire must be not to write.

The simplest and most psychologically satisfying explanation of any observed phenomenon is that it happened that way because someone wanted it to happen that way.

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.

Belief initiates and guides action - or it does nothing.

There is always a gap between intention and action.

Wishing is not acting. But willing is acting.

The soul is made for action, and cannot rest till it be employed. Idleness is its rust. Unless it will up and think and taste and see, all is in vain.

Wanting to leave is enough.

Every one may know that to will and not to do, when there is opportunity, is in reality not to will; and that to love what is good and not to do it, when it is possible, is in reality not to love it. Will, which stops short of action, and love, which does not do the good that is loved, is a mere thought separate from will and love, which vanishes and comes to nothing.

We live by action—by acting on desire. Those of us who don't know how to want—whether geniuses or beggars—are related by impotence.