Doing Nothing Quotes - Page 4

• When children are doing nothing, they are doing mischief.

  Henry Fielding

  Hilarious, Witty, Children

  Henry Fielding (1780). “The history of Tom Jones, a foundling”, p.71

  19 Copy quote

  Show source

• Having precise ideas often leads to a man doing nothing.

  Paul Valery

  Men, Ideas, Precise

  14 Copy quote

• There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one.

  Jerome K. Jerome

  Happiness, Fun, Occupation

  Jerome K. Jerome (2015). “Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow”, p.6, Sheba Blake Publishing

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other. I ­always have to feel that I'm bunking off from something.

  Geoff Dyer

  Book, Writing, Ideas

  "Ten rules for writing fiction" by Geoff Dyer, www.theguardian.com. February 19, 2010.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• I am certainly not regenerating French art, but am struggling hard to accomplish something on an unlucky piece of paper which has done me no harm at all, and on which, believe me, I am doing nothing that is good... I hope things will improve eventually; as it is, I am pretty wretched.

  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

  Art, Believe, Struggle

  29 Copy quote

• If I am doing nothing, I like to be doing nothing to some purpose. That is what leisure means.

  Alan Bennett

  Work, Mean, Purpose

  Alan Bennett (2009). “Alan Bennett Plays 2: Kafka's Dick; Insurance Man; Old Country; Englishman Abroad; Question of Attribution”, p.268, Faber & Faber

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Admirals extolled for standing still, or doing nothing with a deal of skill.

  William Cowper

  War, Skills, Deals

  'Table Talk' (1782) l. 192

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Obviously there are times with acting when exactly what is required is just going through the motions, and when doing nothing is the best thing. But at other times, you have to make that leap beyond the immediate environment of people putting up lights on the set.

  Christian Bale

  Light, People, Acting

  "New Again: Christian Bale". Interview with Graham Fuller, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 17, 2012.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again.

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Happiness, Running, Children

  22 Copy quote

• Al Gore has a hit movie called 'An Inconvenient Truth.' I have an inconvenient truth for him: you're still not the president. ... This past weekend, Al Gore's movie, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' earned more per screen than any film in the country. ... I dare say Gore's movie is the highest grossing PowerPoint presentation in history. ... Global warming: Can we live with it? ... It is time we did something, namely resign ourselves to doing nothing [on screen: Follow Congress' Lead]. ... For instance, when sea levels rise, we'll just build levees [on screen: Worked for New Orleans]

  Stephen Colbert

  Country, Weekend, Past

  4 Copy quote

• Homeopathy may be defined as a specious mode of doing nothing. While it waits on the natural progress of disease and the restorative tendence of nature on the one hand, or the injurious advance of disease on the other, it supplies the craving for activity, on the part of the patient and his friends, by the formal and regular administration of nominal medicine. Although homeopathy will, at some future time, be classed with historical delusions.

  Jacob Bigelow

  Hands, Medicine, Waiting

  Jacob Bigelow (1867). “Modern Inquiries, Classical, Professional, and Miscellaneous”, p.231

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Instead of spending the time and the money and the manpower on the front end, when children first transgress - and when they can be helped and guided and set straight - we are waiting and waiting and doing nothing, until it is too late, and they commit crimes so serious that all society wants to do is punish instead of rehabilitate.

  Edward Humes

  Children, Waiting, Too Late

  Edward Humes (2015). “No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court”, p.106, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• [After the twins' birth,] I spent two years doing nothing. I was a wife and a mom. But you need that time to grow. You can't be afraid of, 'Oh, I'm out of the public, then I'm going to have to make a comeback.' It's ridiculous. No.

  Jennifer Lopez

  Mom, Mother, Years

  "Motherhood Quotes from the Pages of ELLE". www.elle.com. May 11, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• What I'm suggesting is we are going to look back, and we're going to see what happened in Syria, and we're going to see the larger destabilization of the Middle East, the rise of extremism, and we're going to wonder... Why didn't we at least try to force a political solution - at an acceptable cost to us, because no one is saying we should send in ground troops - and if we did it would be worse than doing nothing... If we do not act, we are going to look back and wonder why we didn't.

  Anne-Marie Slaughter

  Thought Provoking, Political, Trying

  4 Copy quote

• My only worry is the painting I'm doing. Nothing else.

  David Hockney

  Worry, Painting

  4 Copy quote

• Doing nothing is sometimes one of the highest of the duties of man.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Faith, Inspiration, Men

  5 Copy quote

• There are always twenty excellent reasons for doing nothing for every one reason for starting anything-especially if it has never been done before.

  Prince Philip

  Twenties, Done, Reason

  8 Copy quote

• If there is one eternal truth of politics, it is that there are always a dozen good reasons for doing nothing.

  John le Carre

  Political, Dozen, Politics

  FaceBook post by John le Carré from Oct 20, 2010

  17 Copy quote

  Show source

• Instead of being afraid of the challenge and failure, be afraid of avoiding the challenge and doing nothing

  Soichiro Honda

  Challenges, Avoiding, Being Afraid

  134 Copy quote

• I know I'm never going to be as successful as my dad, but I get bored doing nothing. I couldn't go from vacation to vacation and have no motivation.

  Tamara Ecclestone

  Motivation, Dad, Successful

  4 Copy quote

• You either fight active evil or you accept it. Doing nothing is acceptance. There is no in-between.

  Bill O'Reilly

  Fighting, Acceptance, Evil

  Bill O'Reilly (2008). “A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir”, p.67, Three Rivers Press

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• You get respect in society if you are aggressive. If you fight then people respect you. If you fight back, people like you for that as well. When Ive been beaten up, if Ive been in a pub doing nothing wrong, the fact I chose not to fight back, that I would never throw a punch back, people say Im weak. I dont think thats a weak thing at all. I think why should I descend to their level? If Ive done nothing wrong, throwing a punch back makes me as bad and corrupt as them. As evil as them, as stupid as them.

  Richey Edwards

  Stupid, Fighting, Thinking

  39 Copy quote

• In speaking of the capitalists who strive only for profit, only to get rich, I do not want to say that these are the most worthless people capable of doing nothing else. Many of them undoubtedly possess great organising talent, which I would not dream of denying. We Soviet people learn a lot from the capitalists. But if you mean people who are prepared to reconstruct the world, of course you will not be able to find them in the ranks of those who faithfully serve the cause of profit. ..The capitalist is riveted in profit and nothing can tear him away from it.

  Joseph Stalin

  Dream, Mean, People

  500 Copy quote

• It was like, `Do you want a job?’ It didn’t matter what the pitch was. I had to get something because I was doing nothing. It sounded all right to me. I initially read for the role that Colin (Hanks) got. Then they called me back for the role that I ended up getting. … I know it sounds kind of funny. OK, they’re aliens and they’re walking among us and they’re in high school. My good friends are always picking on me about it.

  Nick Wechsler

  Jobs, School, Good Friend

  5 Copy quote

• Get rid of the friends who want you to spend your whole day doing nothing with them. They're not your friends. They're your enemies.

  Gene Simmons

  Inspirational, Enemy, Want

  6 Copy quote