Do Thoughts Lead to Actions?
Christianity:
Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.
Proverbs 4:23
One day Jesus said to his disciples, "There will always be temptations to sin, but how terrible it will be for the person who does the tempting. It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck than to face the punishment in store for harming one of these little ones."
Luke 17:1-2
Judaism:
You shall not covet.
Exodus 20:17
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Exodus 20:7
It is only with great effort and practice that one can train one's mind to focus on pure thoughts, and keep it from wandering to places it shouldn't.
"The Olah Offering: 'Minding' Our Own Business " by Rabbi Eliyahu Hoffmann
Islam:
“Ward off passing thoughts, for if you do not, they will become ideas. Ward off ideas, for if you do not, they will become desires. Fight them, for if you do not, they will become resolve and determination, and if you do not ward them off, they will become actions. If you do not resist them with their opposite, they will become habits and it will be difficult for you to get rid of them.”
(Al-Fawaa’id by Ibn al-Qayyim, p.33)
Hinduism:
Good thoughts produce good; selfish actions lead to repeated dissatisfactions. Congruency between our words, feelings and actions, keeping our intentions for the highest good, breeds happiness in friendship.
Buddhism:
Conquer all evil thoughts and strive to maintain good thoughts. (Part of the 8-fold path)
Tryon Edwards, 1809-1894, American theologian, author:
Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.
So What's the Trouble with Impure Thoughts? from Indiana Wesleyan University.