Idle Quotes

• It is better to sit alone than in company with the bad, and it is better still to sit with the good than alone. It is better to speak to a seeker of knowledge than to remain silent, but silence is better than idle words.

  Muhammad

  Islamic, Holy Prophet, Silence

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• Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depths of some devine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy autumn fields, And thinking of the days that are no more.

  Alfred Lord Tennyson

  Heart, Mean, Eye

  'The Princess' (1847) pt. 4, l. 21, song (added 1850)

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• That the Devil finds work for idle hands to do is probably true. But there is a profound difference between leisure and idleness.

  Henry Ford

  Hands, Differences, Profound

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• I am not ignorant of what is said of my Lord in the Psalm: "You destroy those who speak a lie." And again: "A lying mouth deals death to the soul." And likewise the Lord says in the Gospel: "On the day of judgment men shall render account for every idle word they utter."

  Saint Patrick

  Lying, Men, Soul

  61 Copy quote

• It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few.

  Pythagoras

  Silence, Hazards, Useless

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• God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.

  Jim Elliot

  Christian, Jesus, Light

  140 Copy quote

• Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Motivational, Time

  1603-4 Iago to Cassio. Othello, act 2, sc.3, l.262-4.

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• It is quite true that I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man usually gives to a friend. Somehow, I had never loved a woman. I suppose I never had time. Perhaps, as Harry says, a really grande passion is the privilege of those who have nothing to do, and that is the use of the idle classes in a country

  Oscar Wilde

  Country, Passion, Men

  Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Joseph Bristow, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray : the 1890 and 1891 texts”, p.90, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• I had to stop hoping so much that a ship would rescue me. I should not count on outside help. Survival had to start with me. In my experience, a castaway’s worst mistake is to hope too much and to do too little. Survival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate. To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one’s life away.

  Yann Martel

  Dream, Mistake, Hands

  "Life of Pi". Book by Yann Martel, September 11, 2001.

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• There is nothing worse than an idle hour, with no occupation offering. People who have many such hours are simply animals waiting docilely for death. We all come to that state soon or late. It is the curse of senility.

  H. L. Mencken

  Death, Animal, Offering

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.86, Knopf

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• It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Happy, Work, Men

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• Woe to those who lead idle lives. Idleness is a dreadful illness and must be cured in childhood. If it is not cured then, it can never be cured.

  Carlo Collodi

  Childhood, Woe, Illness

  46 Copy quote

• Painters are not in any way unsociable through pride, but either because they find few pursuits equal to painting, or in order not to corrupt themselves with the useless conversation of idle people, and debase the intellect from the lofty imaginations in which they are always absorbed.

  Michelangelo

  Pride, Order, People

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• Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you damned?

  Leonard Ravenhill

  Christian, Men, Doctors

  Leonard Ravenhill (2004). “Why Revival Tarries”, p.92, Bethany House

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• To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.

  Gautama Buddha

  Positive, Inspiring, Death

  23 Copy quote

• Idle time is the devil's play.

  Mark Dayton

  Play, Devil, Idle Time

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• Look At The Clock When You Are Sitting idle. But Never Look At The Clock When You Are Working.

  Bill Gates

  Looks, Sitting, Clock

  137 Copy quote

• People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.

  A. A. Milne

  Funny, Inspiring, Witty

  "Fictional character: Winnie The Pooh". "Christopher Robin", www.imdb.com. 2018.

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• There is never finality in the display terminal's screen, but an irresponsible whimsicality, as words, sentences, and paragraphs are negated at the touch of a key. The significance of the past, as expressed in the manuscript by a deleted word or an inserted correction, is annulled in idle gusts of electronic massacre.

  Alexander Cockburn

  Past, Keys, Massacres

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• The program should know if someone is at the keyboard or joystick or if it is just sitting there idle. It should know if someone is proficient in its use or a novice.

  Bill Budge

  Sitting, Use, Novices

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• If history is deprived of the Truth, we are left with nothing but an idle, unprofitable tale.

  Polybius

  Tales, Left, Ifs

  Polybius (2003). “The Rise of the Roman Empire”, p.25, Penguin UK

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• The idle always have a mind to do something.

  Luc de Clapiers

  Lazy, Mind, Laziness

  7 Copy quote

• The devil finds work for idle hands.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Inspirational, Life, Hands

  Henry David Thoreau (1995). “Walden: An Annotated Edition”, p.69, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• For Christian faith not to be idle in the world, the work of doctors and garbage collectors, business executives and artists, stay-at-home moms or dads and scientists needs to be inserted into Gods story with the world. That story needs to provide the most basic rules by which the game in all these spheres is played.

  Miroslav Volf

  Christian, Mom, Dad

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• One monster there is in the world, the idle man.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Men, Monsters, World

  Thomas Carlyle (1872). “Past and Present”, p.174

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