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About this quote

What does it mean?
Action precedes ideas, and even failure is considered progress.
In plain terms
Move first and figure it out later.
What can you take from it?
Acting is better than waiting for perfect plans.

Where it applies

  • startups
  • activism
  • learning skills

Putting it to work

  • start small
  • iterate quickly

Questions to consider

  • Is action always better than planning?
  • What counts as progress?

Another view

Some actions cause irreversible harm.

More from Tom Stoppard

  1. Herzen: Marx is a bourgeois from the anus up. Natalie : Alexander! I won't have that word... Herzen: Sorry, middle-class.

    Permalink to quote #49
  2. Turgenev: The names for things don't come first. Words stagger after, hopelessly trying to become the sensation.

    Permalink to quote #51
  3. Alexander: How the world must have been changing while I was holding it still.

    Permalink to quote #48

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