Wanton Quotes

• How much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty?

  Bertrand Russell

  World, Cruelty, Endure

  Bertrand Russell, Ray Perkins (Jr.) (2002). “Yours Faithfully, Bertrand Russell: A Lifelong Fight for Peace, Justice, and Truth in Letters to the Editor”, p.411, Open Court Publishing

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• Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war against terrorism.

  Noam Chomsky

  War, Terrorism, Killing

  "9-11". Book by Noam Chomsky, 2001.

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• In all our quest of greatness, like wanton boys, whose pastime is their care, we follow after bubbles, blown in the air.

  John Webster

  Greatness, Boys, Air

  John Webster “The Duchess of Malfi”, W. W. Norton & Company

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• As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.

  William Shakespeare

  God, Sports, Religious

  'King Lear' (1605-6) act 4, sc. 1, l. 36

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• There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust.

  Edgar Allan Poe

  Beautiful, Littles, Might

  Edgar Allan Poe (2014). “Complete Collection of Edgar Allan Poe - 170+ eBooks (Complete Tales, Poems, Novels, Essays, Miscellaneous, Play)”, p.350, Ageless Reads

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• Success hath made me wanton.

  Ben Jonson

  Made

  1609 Volpone, act 3, sc.1.

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• Needless, heedless, wanton and deliberate injury of the sort inflicted by Life's picture story is not an essential instrument of responsible journalism.

  Abe Fortas

  Essentials, Stories, Journalism

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• It would be stupid tameness, and unaccountable folly, for whole nations to suffer one unreasonable, ambitious and cruel man, to wanton and riot in their misery

  Jonathan Mayhew

  Stupid, Men, Suffering

  Jonathan Mayhew (1750). “A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-resistance to the Higher Powers: With Some Reflections on the Resistance Made to King Charles I, and on the Anniversary of His Death: in which the Mysterious Doctrine of the Princes' Saintship and Martyrdom is Unriddled: the Substance of which was Delivered in a Sermon Preached in the West Meeting-house in Boston the Lord's-day After the 30th of January, 1749/50...”, p.40

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• War means blind obedience, unthinking stupidity, brutish callousness, wanton destruction, and irresponsible murder.

  Alexander Berkman

  Peace, War, Stupid

  Alexander Berkman (2010). “Now and After: the ABC of Anarchist Communism”, p.30, Lulu.com

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• Indeed, I was so afraid to dishonour my friends and family by my indiscreet actions, that I rather chose to be accounted a fool, than to be thought rude or wanton.

  Margaret Cavendish

  Rude, Family And Friends, Literature

  Margaret Cavendish (2000). “Paper Bodies: A Margaret Cavendish Reader”, p.46, Broadview Press

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• Discipline means protection from one's own wanton interest.

  Bill Vaughan

  Mean, Discipline, Protection

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• When the history of the 20th century is finally written, one of its key features will be the wanton slaughter of more than 170 million people, not in war, but by their own government. The governments that led in this slaughter are the former USSR (65 million) and the Peoples Republic of China (35-40 million). The point to remember is that these governments were the idols of America's leftists. Part of the reason for these and other tyrannical successes was because the people were first disarmed.

  Walter E. Williams

  War, Idols, America

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• In their pure form, the martial arts demand the intense awareness of the meditative mind, and have nothing to do with anger or wanton aggression. A practitioner is taught from the outset that the skills must never be used for personal gain, but only in self-defence or in the protection of others -- and even then only enough force as is absolutely necessary should be used.

  David Fontana

  Art, Self, Skills

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• I am one of those who hold that poetry is never so blithe as in a wanton and irregular subject.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Poetry, Blithe, Subjects

  Michel de Montaigne (1958). “Complete Essays”, p.145, Stanford University Press

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• A wanton waste of projectiles.

  Mark Twain

  War, Waste, Projectile

  Mark Twain (2012). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.183, Courier Corporation

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• You must labour to acquire that great and uncommon talent of hating with good breeding, and loving with prudence; to make no quarrel irreconcilable by silly and unnecessary indications of anger; and no friendship dangerous, in care it breaks, by a wanton, indiscreet, and unreserved confidence.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Love, Hate, Silly

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• If you suppress the exorbitant love of pleasure and money, idle curiosity, iniquitous pursuits and wanton mirth, what a stillness would there be in the greatest cities.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Cities, Curiosity, Mirth

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• Milton, of all people, gave the most perfect definition of the state of mind required to play jazz: ' with wanton heed and giddy cunning.' That's how you play jazz.

  Paul Desmond

  Play, People, Perfect

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• It’s not a question of whether you will hurt, or of how much you will hurt; it’s a question of what you will do, and how well you will do it, while pain has her wanton way with you.

  Daniel James Brown

  Hurt, Pain, Way

  Daniel James Brown (2013). “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics”, p.40, Penguin

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• She sealed his lips with a wanton kiss; 'Though I forgive your breaking your vows to heaven, I expect you to keep your vows to me.

  Matthew Gregory Lewis

  Kissing, Heaven, Forgiving

  Matthew Gregory Lewis (2012). “The Monk”, p.153, Courier Corporation

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• What’s your name, lad?” “Newton. Newton Pulsifer.” “LUCIFER? What’s that you say? Are ye of the Spawn of Darkness, a tempting beguiling creature from the pit, wanton limbs steaming from the fleshpots of Hades, in tortured and lubricious thrall to your Stygian and hellish masters?” “That’s Pulsifer,” explained Newton. “With a P. I don’t know about the other stuff, but we come from Surrey.” The voice on the phone sounded vaguely disappointed.

  Neil Gaiman

  Phones, Names, Voice

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• I prefer a loose woman to a selfish one and a wanton to a fool.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Selfish, Fool, Loose Women

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• I wish I could be a grandmother. It is wanton extravagance to have had a youth with no one to tell of it to when one grows old.

  Sylvia Townsend Warner

  Grandmother, Grandparent, Wish

  Sylvia Townsend Warner, Claire Harman (1994). “The diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner”, Virago Pr

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• Obedience, fasting, and prayer are laughed at, yet only through them lies the way to real true freedom. I cut off my superfluous and unnecessary desires, I subdue my proud and wanton will and chastise it with obedience, and with God's help I attain freedom of spirit and with it spiritual joy.

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

  Spiritual, Prayer, Real

  Fyodor Dostoevsky (2017). “The Brothers Karamazov (English Russian Edition illustrated): Братья Карамазовы (англо-русская редакция иллюстрированная)”, p.747, Clap Publishing, LLC.

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• We ought never to sport with pain and distress in any of our amusements, or treat even the meanest insect with wanton cruelty.

  Hugh Blair

  Sports, Pain, Cuckoos

  Hugh Blair, Alfred Howard (Esq.) (1810). “The Beauties of Blair: Consisting of Selections from His Works”, p.18

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