Contemplation + action = breakthrough

Reformation ends not in contemplation, but in action.

— George Gillespie

“In contemplation as in action, we must distinguish between what may be attained and what is unattainable. Without this, little can be achieved, either…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

You know, Monsieur, that, although the contemplative life is more perfect than the active life, it is not, however, more so than one which…

— Vincent de Paul

“Contemplation over action teaches that it is better to behold God than to try and imitate his power.”

— Daniel Schwindt

“Contemplation, rather than action; that seemed to be my lot in life, and I was ashamed of it even as I craved it.”

— Melanie Benjamin

Ideas are powerful things, requiring not a studious contemplation but an action, even if it is only an inner action. Their acquisition obligates each…

— Midge Decter

But this is that which will dignify and exalt knowledge: if contemplation and action be more nearly and straitly conjoined and united together than…

— Francis Bacon

There always comes a time when one must choose between contemplation and action. This is called becoming a man.

— Albert Camus

Ideas are powerful things, requiring not a studious contemplation but an action, even if it is only an inner action.

— Midge Decter

You cannot grow in the integrative dance of action and contemplation without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain…

— Richard Rohr

As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…

— Susan Sontag

To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a…

— Thomas Merton

“The problem with the contemplative life was that there was no end to contemplation, no fixed time limit after which thought had to be…

— Richard Russo

“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude…

— Thomas Merton

“Inside every pause lived a contemplation”

— Eric Jerome Dickey