John Fowles Quotes

I prefer doing things rather than sitting around talking about doing things.

Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act!

Be a doer, not a stewer.

The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.

The world is full of people who say, 'But I had that idea first,' but did they do anything about it? Nope, they sat on their bum dreaming.

Our chief defect is that we are more given to talking about things than to doing them.

If writers just sit and talk about oppression, they are not going to do much writing.

You don't have to have a great art idea - just get to work and something will happen. So that's pretty much my modus operandi and pretty much my principal position, such as it is.

I've been accused many times of not talking very much, but I guess I don't believe in talking things to death. You can talk too much on most anything and it stops being productive. There is a time for action. Eventually you have to pull the trigger.

The hardest part of doing anything creatively is just getting up and doing.

Once you let go of the idea of waiting for a magical lightning bolt of genius to hit, you can really get to work.

Every day you don't do something, it makes it less likely that you will ever do something. So you've got to get started right away.

When something has to be done, do it! In France we are full of good ideas, but we rarely put them into practice.

Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on

Wringin' your hands only stops you from rollin' up your sleeves.

It's better to do it than to talk about how perfect it could be.

The difference between doing something and not doing something is doing something.

If you have a good idea, get it out there. For every idea I’ve realized, I have ten I sat on for a decade till someone else did it first. Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.

It's surprising how many people get bogged down in analysing, planning, and organizing when what they really need to do is take action.

Lose this day loitering 'Twill be the same old story, Tomorrow and the next, Even more dilatory. Whatever you would do, Or dream of doing, begin it! Boldness has power, genius, and magic in it. Begin it now.

Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly.

Nothing would be done at all if one waited until one could do it so well that no one could find fault with it.

I never worry about action, but only inaction.

I'm not happy not doing anything. When positive things are rolling in, you've got to take them when you can get them.