actions speak louder than words

English

Proverb

actions speak louder than words

1. It is more effective to act directly than to speak of action.

Antonyms

• the pen is mightier than the sword

Translations

it's more effective to act than speak

• Arabic: الْأَعْمَال أَعْلَى صَوْتًا مِن الْكَلِمَات‏‎ (al-ʾaʿmāl ʾaʿlā ṣawtan min al-kalimāt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 行勝於言, 行胜于言 (xíng shèng yú yán), 事實勝於雄辯 (zh), 事实胜于雄辩 (zh) (shìshí shèng yú xióngbiàn)

• Dutch: daden klinken harder dan woorden, geen woorden maar daden
• Finnish: : teot puhuvat enemmän kuin sanat (fi)
• French: l'action a plus de poids que les mots (lit. the action is more than words)
• German: Taten sagen mehr als Worte
• Japanese: 不言実行 (ja) (ふげんじっこう, fugenjikkō)

• Korean: 후겐 실행 (hugen silhaeng)
• Latin: rēs, nōn verba
• Polish: czyny mówią głośniej niż słowa
• Portuguese: ações falam mais alto que palavras
• Russian: не по слова́м су́дят, а по дела́м (ne po slovám súdjat, a po delám)
• Slovene: dejanja so močnejša od besed
• Spanish: obras son amores, que no buenas razones

See also

• money talks, bullshit walks
• talk is cheap
• talk the talk

References

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, ISBN 0-679-44554-4, p. 2.