"Actions speak louder than words." This statement is an old and common phrase in the English-speaking world. Its meaning is rather simple: an action has more impact than any words. In many instances, this statement is true. A person committing an act can have a profound impact on others in their life, so the actions that people make should only be done when they have been thought upon and seen to be the best course of action. In some cases, however, thinking is not the best course and immediate action should be the response.

People need to think about the actions that they commit before they commit them in order to have a full understanding of the consequences. People should do this because it lessens the chance of the action being problematic for the individual who commits it. The problem with this act of thinking about everything that you are going to do is that when you do not have a lot of time to make a decision, it can influence you or another person. In these instances, you are put into a place where an immediate choice must be made and thinking is the incorrect choice in this matter.

Many decisions can be made quickly, but still give you a chance to think about what would be the best option. Some of these choices could be: "Should I go out to dinner?" "Is it better to do my homework now or later?" "What television show should I watch?" All of these choices are easily answered for two reasons: they are simple questions that have a length of time to be answered and they also do not cause a great amount of harm if the question is answered incorrectly.

The times where this does not work, where a question has little time to be asked and action is the better response than thoughts, are emergencies. During an emergency, you do not have much time to react and so thinking about the different outcomes is a foolish thing to do. By the time when you have come up with a response that would be beneficial for you, the chance to act on it would either have already passed or the circumstances would change once more, potentially making the action unfeasible. In emergencies, you have to act in direct response to the event.

In closing, while it is good to think in most circumstances, as this will lessen many of the problems that one may face in their life as long as they think of the possible consequences of their actions, one must act with expediency and clarity during emergency situations. During the emergency, one must take action before they have a chance to think of a fully developed plan. This does not mean that the individual does not form a plan while they are acting, rather, it means that the individual must take action before the plan is fully created.