.

.

Right action focuses on doing good for others

• Doing nothing for others is the undoing of one’s self. We must be purposely kind and generous, or we miss the best part of existence.  The heart that goes out of itself gets large and full of joy.  This is the great secret of the inner life.  We do ourselves the most good doing something for others.  Horace Mann
• It is not enough merely to exist. It’s not enough to say, “I’m earning enough to support my family. I do my work well. I’m a good father, husband, churchgoer.” That’s all very well. But you must do something more. Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it’s a little thing, do something for those who need help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For remember, you don’t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too. Albert Schweitzer
• We are here on earth to do good for others What the others are here for, I don’t know. W H Auden
• While I crawl upon this planet I think myself obliged to do what good I can, in my narrow domestic spheres, to my fellow creatures, and to wish them all the good I cannot do. Lord Chesterfield
• Right speech,  Morals and ethics,  Goodness,  Virtue,  Action

.

Right action concerns itself with the doing of the action, not the fruit of the action

• It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result. Mahatma Gandhi
• Action

.

Right action never does harm to others

• If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them. The Dalai Lama
• In Zen Buddhism an action is considered good when it brings happiness and well-being to oneself and others, evil when it brings suffering and harm to oneself and others. Thich Thien-An
• Never say anything to hurt anyone. Moreover refrain from double talk, from shrewd and canny remarks that are designed to advance our interests at someone’s disadvantage. We are to turn our back upon evil, and in every way possible, do good, help people and bring blessings into their lives. Norman Vincent Peale

.

Right action brings happiness and well-being

• In Zen Buddhism an action is considered good when it brings happiness and well-being to oneself and others, evil when it brings suffering and harm to oneself and others. Thich Thien-An
• What would our world be like if we ceased to worry about “right” and “wrong,” or “good” and “evil,” and simply acted so as to maximize well-being, our own and that of others? Would we lose anything important? Sam Harris
• Whenever you engage in a selfless action that contributes to the welfare of others, this will create a vibratory pattern that will lead you into higher states of mind. Frederick Lenz
• Happiness,  Well-being

.

.

Let right action arise from love

• It is love alone that leads to right action. What brings order in the world is to love and let love do what it will. Jiddu Krishnamurti
• If love is truly a verb, if help is a verb, if forgiveness is a verb, if kindness is a verb, then you can do something about it. Betty Eadie
• Love as Action is Right Conduct. Swami
• When my actions are motivated by love, my energy multiplies and accumulates. Attention to my ego (when I seek power and control over others or seek approval from others) consumes the greatest amount of energy. When my internal reference point is my spirit, when I am immune from criticism and unafraid of any challenge, I harness the power of love. Deepak Chopra
• Love is a value that is actualized through loving actions. Stephen Covey
• A five-word sentence that could change the world tomorrow is “What would love do now?” Neale Donald Walsch
• All human actions are motivated at their deepest level by two emotions–fear or love. In truth there are only two emotions– only two words in the language of the soul…. Fear wraps our bodies in clothing, love allows us to stand naked. Fear clings to and clutches all that we have, love gives all that we have away. Fear holds close, love holds dear. Fear grasps, love lets go. Fear rankles, love soothes. Fear attacks, love amends. Neale Donald Walsch
• Love

.

Let right action arise from compassion

• Compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others. Pema Chodron
• When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable. Thich Nhat Hanh
• Compassion

.

Let right action arise from awareness, attention and mindfulness

• Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred. Thich Nhat Hanh
• In your everyday life, you can practice this by taking any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and giving it your fullest attention, so that it becomes an end in itself. Eckhart Tolle
• Whatever activity you choose, the point is to focus on the activity itself. Pay attention to the way your body feels. Pay attention to the work in front of you. Pay attention to what you feel (but do not become attached to any feelings). Rachel Rofe
• Try it for an hour. Every single thing you do should be done mindfully, and given equal importance — whether that’s putting something away, walking from one spot to another, picking up the phone, or talking to someone. Leo Babauta
• Turn your actions into concentrated practices. Belsebuub
• Doing one thing at a time means to be total in what you do, to give it your complete attention. This is surrendered action—empowered action. Eckhart
• The basis of Right Action is to do everything in mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hanh
• Awareness,  Attention,  Mindfulness

.

Let right action arise from your sense of who you are and your values

• Who we are being, including who we consider ourselves to be, always informs or determines what actions we see to take. Brad Swift
• What we do flows from who we are. Paul Vitale
• A value in action is a virtue. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
• You are in integrity when the life you are living on the outside matches who you are on the inside. Alan Cohen
• The highest level of creativity consists in being, not doing. When the being is intense enough, when the words are spoken enough, when the thoughts are thought enough, the doing will automatically follow. Marianne Williamson
• Integrity comes when a person’s words and behaviors match up. True integrity—the true test of character—is to live what you say is important to you—even when you don’t feel like it—to live your values above and beyond your moods. James Arthur Ray
• Integrity is the integration of ideals, convictions, standards, beliefs—and behavior. When our behavior is congruent with our professed values, when ideals and practice match up, we have integrity. Nathaniel Branden
• The highest morality is personal integrity—living in harmony with your own value system. Alan Cohen
• Keep your thoughts and feelings in harmony with your actions. The surest way to realize your purpose is to eliminate any conflict that exists between what you’re thinking and feeling and how you are living your days. Wayne Dyer
• Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Mahatma Gandhi
• There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do. Freya Stark
• Values

.

Let right action arise from your principles and ideals

• Principles connect your values to your actions; they are beacons that guide your actions, and help you successfully deal with the laws of reality. It is to your principles that you turn when you face hard choices. Ray Dalio
• An ideal is the most practical thing in the world, for it is a force behind action that must be reckoned with by the frankest materialist. Edward H. Griggs
• Man must cast out of himself everything which separates him from God. He must will to live the divine life, and he must rise above all moral temptations; he must forsake every course of action that is not in accord with his highest ideals. Wallace D. Wattles
• Words without actions are the assassins of idealism. Herbert Hoover
• Principles,  Ideals

.

Let right action arise from being present in the moment

• Aliveness is about the freedom to use whatever works in the moment. Right action at right time. Which is another name for true compassion. A freedom that is only fully felt when one is completely immersed in the present moment of now, and free of the burden of beliefs, which manifest as thoughts. A clear mind fully aware of reality as it is now, and operating with absolute synchronicity within time and space, that is the real beginning of Aliveness. Matt Thornton
• There is no power greater than right action in the present moment. Yaga Vasistha
• Live in the present

.

Let right action arise from calmness, stillness and inner wisdom

• When you don’t know what to do, get still. Get very still until you do know what to do. Oprah Winfrey
• Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed. Being still, looking, and listening activates the non-conceptual intelligence within you. Let stillness direct your words and actions. Eckhart Tolle
• Your soul – that inner quiet space – is yours to consult. It will always guide you in the right direction. Wayne Dyer
• We’re constantly bombarded with input. And when we allow our actions to flow from the ramblings of the monkey mind, we become really blocked. Brad Swift
• Quietening the chattering mind promotes directed action. Kare Anderson
• When you have the constant focus of going within and then acting, your life will unfold in magical ways. Elizabeth Joy
• Meditation is the action of silence. Jiddu Krishnamurti
• Do you have the patience to wait till your mind settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?    Lao Tzu
• Anything that helps you maintain unruffled equanimity is right action. Sri Sathya Sai Baba
• Then, if action is possible or necessary, you take action or rather right action happens through you. Right action is action that is appropriate to the whole.  When the action is accomplished, the alert, spacious stillness remains.  Eckhart Tolle
• Calmness,  Stillness,  Inner wisdom

.

Let right action arise from the timeless quality of being

• Anyone who separates being and doing is still enjoying separation. David Deida
• Beingness leads to doingness. Neale Donald Walsch
• The way to do…is to be. Lao Tzu
• The highest level of creativity consists in being, not doing. When the being is intense enough, when the words are spoken enough, when the thoughts are thought enough, the doing will automatically follow. Marianne Williamson
• It’s not so much about doing as about being. Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Not being tense but ready. Not thinking but not dreaming.  Not being set but flexible. Liberation from the uneasy sense of confinement. It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.  Bruce Lee
• When doing becomes infused with the timeless quality of being that is success. Eckhart Tolle
• But there is something you can ‘do’. You can continually cease doing, efforting, resisting, denying or trying at all. You can continually move into pure being. Which means to follow the path of your soul – and allow authentic doing to arise from this place. It is to follow the heart felt pull and to trust that when you ‘do’ this, all answers, solutions and goals will simply fall into place. Chris Bourne
• Being

.

Let right action arise come from an inner acceptance of what is in the moment

• When you are one with what is, the universal intelligence arises to create right action. Eckhart Tolle
• You accept the “isness” of this moment. Then you take action and do all that you can to get out of the mud. Such action I call positive action. It is far more effective than negative action, which arises out of anger, despair, or frustration. Eckhart Tolle
• In the state of surrender, you see very clearly what needs to be done, and you take action, doing one thing at a time and focusing on one thing at a time. Eckhart Tolle
• The action you take after surrender is always more effective than when you fight against life. Eckhart Tolle
• Acceptance

.

Let right action arise from the right attitude

• The most significant change in a person’s life is a change of attitude – right attitudes provide right actions. William J Johnston
• Attitude

.

Let right action arise from kindness …

• The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention. Kahlil Gibran
• No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves. Lawrence G. Lovasik
• Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. Anne Herbert
• Try to make at least one person happy every day. … If you cannot do a kind deed, speak a kind word. If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought. Count up, if you can, the treasure of happiness that you would dispense in a week, in a year, in a lifetime! Lawrence G. Lovasik
• Whatever you do, do with kindness. Whatever you say, say with kindness. Wherever you go, radiate kindness. Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• Kindness

.

… for no act of kindness is ever wasted

• No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. Aesop
• Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Scott Adams
• There is no such thing as a simple act of compassion or an inconsequential act of service. Everything we do for another person has infinite consequences. Caroline Myss
• The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention. Oscar Wilde
• The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. William Wordsworth
• Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end. Scott Adams
• You never know what happiness a simple act of kindness will bring about. Bree Abel

.

Let right action arise from clear thinking and reflection

• Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. Peter Drucker
• What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action. Meister Eckhart
• The ancestor of every action is a thought. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action. Meister Eckhart
• Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in public and private life, have been the consequences of action without thought. Bernard Baruch
• We must dare to think about ‘unthinkable things’ because when things become unthinkable, thinking stops and action becomes mindless. James W. Fulbright
• Thought is the parent of the deed. Thomas Carlyle
• Each human being was given two possibilities: action and contemplation. Both lead to the same place. Paulo Coelho
• To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Thinking,  Reflection

.

Let right action arrive from pure intention

• Goodness has to come from the heart; that’s one thing I know for sure. I also know for sure that not everything that comes from my heart is goodness, and that’s something I’m working on.  Goodness has to be pure in intention, and I know that my good acts aren’t always intended solely for the good of the recipients.  I’m working on that, too.  When I truly do good, there’s a very good chance that no one ever will notice it, and I’ll never be recognized as someone who has done something good.  When I can live with that and be at peace with it, I know that I’ll have reached a very high level of living.  Tom Walsh
• Intention

.

Let right action arise from your sense of what is right, even if no-one is looking

• Action indeed is the sole medium of expressing for ethics. Jane Addams
• Anything that helps you maintain unruffled equanimity is right action. Sri Sathya Sai Baba
• Character is doing the right thing even when it costs more than you want to pay. Michael Josephson
• Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.  C. Watts
• Every time I’ve done something that doesn’t feel right, it’s ended up not being right. Mario Cuomo
• In the end you should always do the right thing even if it’s hard. Nicholas Sparks
• Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching. Jim Stovall
• Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is published around the world — even if what is published is not true. Richard Bach
• One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole. Mahatma Gandhi
• Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey
• Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you as your shadow, unbreakable. Buddha
• That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong. William J. H. Boetcker
• The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology. Red Auerbach
• The time is always right to do what is right. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• What is right is often forgotten by what is convenient. Bodie Thoene
• Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. Thomas Jefferson

.

The spirit in which you perform an action is as important as the action itself

• Because we are spiritual beings, it is the spirit of what we do that determines how much fulfillment we derive. You can be going through all the motions and doing all the appropriate and expected actions, but if you are empty or absent inside, your deeds mean little. Only soul satisfaction can fulfill you; everything else will leave you hungry. Rumi
• The ultimate importance is not what you do, it’s how you do it—the state of consciousness brought to the process. Eckhart Tolle
• Your soul doesn’t care what it does for a living – and when your life is over, neither will you. Your souls cares only about what you’re being while you’re doing whatever you’re doing. It is a state of beingness the soul is after, not a state of doingness. Neale Donald Walsch
• At the end of your life, you will know that nothing you have done will matter – only who you have been while you have done it. Have you been happy? Have you been kind? Have you been gracious? Have you been compassionate and considerate of others? And most of all, have you been loving? You will see that it is who you have been, not what you have done, that matters to the soul. And you will see that it is your soul, after all, that is Who You Are. Neale Donald Walsch
• “How” is always more important that “what.” See if you can give much more attention to the doing than to the result that you want to achieve through it. Eckhart Tolle
• In truth it matters less what we do… than how we do it and why. Donna Farhi
• What is the energy that flows into this action I am taking?

.

.

Let your right actions be infused with love

• Never do anything because you have to. The only reason to do something is because you want to and because you know it is the right thing for you to do. Robin Sharma
• It is not how much we do, but how much love we put into the doing. Mother Theresa
• We cannot do great things on this earth. We can only do small things with great love. Mother Teresa
• There is nothing the wise man does reluctantly. Seneca
• If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart. Buddha
• A menial task which must be mine, that shall I glorify and make an art of it. Walter Russell
• You must love anything you must do. Do it not only cheerfully, but also lovingly and the very best way you know how. That love of the work which you must do anyhow will vitalize your body and keep you from fatigue. Walter Russell
• In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love? Igor Stravinsky
• There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly. Publius Terentius
• Instead of focusing on how much you can accomplish, focus on how much you can absolutely love what you’re doing. Leo Babauta
• In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all. Mahatma Gandhi
• It is love alone that leads to right action. What brings order in the world is to love and let love do what it will. Jiddu Krishnamurti
• Love

.

Let your right actions be infused with a sense of stillness and peace

• When the action is accomplished, the alert, spacious stillness remains. Eckhart Tolle
• In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you. Deepak Chopra
• Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there is in silence. Max Ehrmann
• Wherever you go in the midst of movement and activity, carry your stillness within you. Then the chaotic movement around you will never overshadow your access to the reservoir of creativity, the field of pure potentiality. Deepak Chopra
• Stillness and action are relative, not absolute, principles. It is important to find a balance of yin and yang, not just in qigong, but in everyday life. In movement, seek stillness and rest. In rest, be mindful and attentive. Ken Cohen
• Stillness within finds stillness without as the framework through which all activity occurs. Breathe deep and full. Relax always. Grace unfolds from within to dance about in joyous recognition. Rob Campbell
• One’s action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere rushing on. D. H. Lawrence
• Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes. Etty Hillesum
• Formal meditation, however, is no substitute for bringing space consciousness into everyday life. Eckhart Tolle
• You owe it to everyone you love to find pockets of tranquility in your busy world. Georges Bernanos
• Real action is in silent moments. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• To meet everything and everyone through stillness instead of mental noise is the greatest gift you can offer to the universe. Eckhart Tolle
• You may be engaged in several directions and work with enormous zest, yet remain inwardly free and quiet, with a mirror like mind, which reflects all, without being affected. Nisargadatta Maharaj
• You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose. Indira Gandhi
• Stillness,  Inner peace

.

.

Here are some rules of thumb for doing what is right

• The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology. Red Auerbach
• Every time I’ve done something that doesn’t feel right, it’s ended up not being right. Mario Cuomo
• Govern thy life and thy thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one, and read the other. Thomas Fuller
• Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. Thomas Jefferson
• Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is published around the world — even if what is published is not true. Richard Bach
• Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense.  (Hurting yourself is not a sin –  just stupid.)  Robert A. Heinlein
• Anything that helps you maintain unruffled equanimity is right action. Sri Sathya Sai Baba
• In Zen Buddhism an action is considered good when it brings happiness and well-being to oneself and others, evil when it brings suffering and harm to oneself and others. Thich Thien-An
• What would our world be like if we ceased to worry about “right” and “wrong,” or “good” and “evil,” and simply acted so as to maximize well-being, our own and that of others? Would we lose anything important? Sam Harris
• Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly. Thomas Jefferson

.

Here are reasons for only doing what is right

• Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you as your shadow, unbreakable. Buddha
• There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience. French Proverb
• Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. George Eliot
• Action itself, so long as I am convinced that it is right action, gives me satisfaction. Jawaharlal Nehru
• Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble. Henry Royce
• To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius
• It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• The time is always right to do what is right. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole. Mahatma Gandhi
• When we do wrong, we come to suffering. When we do good in the world, we come to happiness. The Bhagavad Gita
• That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong. William J. H. Boetcker

.

.

Do good …

• Sow good services; sweet remembrances will grow from them. Madame de Stael
• Goodness

.

… for it is by doing good that you become good

• Being good is commendable, but only when it is combined with doing good is it useful. Stephen King
• 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. John Wesley
• Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something. Henry David Thoreau

.

True goodness is about good deeds, not just good intentions

• Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can. John Wesley
• Goodness is about what you do. Not who you pray to. Terry Pratchett
• It is not what they profess but what they practice that makes them good. Greek proverb
• Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds. Buddha
• Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action. James Russell Lowell
• To be doing good deeds is man’s most glorious task. Sophocles
• Good deeds from good intentions flow; but good intentions only; build for us a place below.
• The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention. Proverb
• Intention

.

Your actions define who you are

• Our deeds still travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us what we are. George Eliot
• Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. George Eliot
• Every action alters the soul of the doer. Oswald Spengler
• The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action. John Dewey
• Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. Thomas Jefferson

.

.