#prompt

It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. ↗

— Mark Twain

#good #impromptu #me #more #prepare

I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know. ↗

— Mark Twain

#answer #did #gratified #i #know

Public emergencies may require the hand of severity to fall heavily on those who are not personally guilty, but compassion prompts, and ever urges to milder methods. ↗

— Mercy Otis Warren

#emergencies #ever #fall #guilty #hand

Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity. ↗

— Gary Ryan Blair

#course #destructive #even #failure #inaction

The beginning of a plot is the prompting of desire. ↗

— Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

#desire #plot #prompting

I now bid farewell to the country of my birth - of my passions - of my death; a country whose misfortunes have invoked my sympathies - whose factions I sought to quell - whose intelligence I prompted to a lofty aim - whose freedom has been my fatal dream. ↗

— Thomas Francis Meagher

#been #bid #birth #country #death

We ought instead of retreating should follow up the enemy and take Richmond. And in full view of all responsible for such declaration, I say to you all, such an order can only be prompted by cowardice or treason. ↗

— Philip Kearny

#declaration #enemy #follow #full #i

Defence was an afterthought, prompted by necessity; and its introduction as a State function, though effected doubtless with a view to the strengthening of the State, was really and in principle the initiation of the State's destruction. ↗

— Benjamin Tucker

#defence #destruction #doubtless #effected #function

Often subtle clues are not obvious enough for the stubborn or stupid. This is when God stops throwing crumbs and starts throwing the whole piece of bread. If you step on moldy bread then you know you have waited too long. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#discerning-whispers #fate #inspiration #promptings #signs

A far greater factor than abolishing poverty is the deterrent effect of swift and certain consequences: swift arrest, prompt trial, certain penalty and - at some point - finality of judgment. ↗

— Warren E. Burger

#certain #consequences #deterrent #effect #factor