Trifling Quotes - Page 5

• Alas! the joys that fortune brings
  Are trifling, and decay,
  And those who prize the trifling things,
  More trifling still than they.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Joy, Decay, Fortune

  Oliver Goldsmith (1841). “Goldsmith's miscellaneous works”, p.5

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• Fashion is a great restraint upon your persons of taste and fancy; who would otherwise in the most trifling instances be able to distinguish themselves from the vulgar.

  William Shenstone

  Fashion, Fancy, Able

  William Shenstone (1765). “The works in verse and prose, of William Shenstone, esq: in two volumes”, p.196

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• Although there is nothing so bad for conscience as trifling, there is nothing so good for conscience as trifles. Its certain discipline and development are related to the smallest things. Conscience, like gravitation, takes hold of atoms. Nothing is morally indifferent. Conscience must reign in manners as well as morals, in amusements as well as work. He only who is "faithful in that which is least" is dependable in all the world.

  Maltbie Davenport Babcock

  Discipline, Faithful, Amusement

  Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1901). “Thoughts for Every-day Living from the Spoken and Written Words of Maltbie Davenport Babcock”

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• Who does not feel that Nansen's account of his search for the Pole rather loses than gains in ideal satisfaction by the pretense of a few trifling acquisitions for science?

  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

  Satisfaction, Gains, Doe

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• God's love gives in such a way that it flows from a Father's heart, the well-spring of all good. The heart of the giver makes the gift dear and precious; as among ourselves we say of even a trifling gift, "It comes from a hand we love," and look not so much at the gift as at the heart.

  Martin Luther

  Father, Spring, Heart

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• There are no trifles in the human story, no trifling leaves on the tree.

  Victor Hugo

  Tree, Stories, Trifles

  Victor Hugo (1980). “Les misérables”, Viking Pr

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• The botanist looks upon the astronomer as a being unworthy of his regard; and he that is glowing great and happy by electrifying a bottle wonders how the world can be engaged by trifling prattle about war and peace.

  Samuel Johnson

  War, Glowing, Looks

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• Some of you may ask, ?Is there a single ordinance to be dispensed with? Is there one of the commandments that God has enjoined upon the people, that he will excuse them from obeying?' Not one, no matter how trifling or small in our own estimation. No matter if we esteem them non-essential, or least or last of all the commandments of the house of God, we are under obligation to observe them.

  Brigham Young

  People, House, May

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• A battle sometimes decides everything; and sometimes the most trifling thing decides the fate of a battle.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Fate, History, Battle

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• The wife was pretty, trifling, childish, weak; She could not think, but would not cease to speak.

  George Crabbe

  Thinking, Wife, Speak

  George Crabbe, Allan Cunningham (1855). “George Crabbe's Poetical Works: Preface to the Tales”, p.143

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• I look upon prayer-meetings as the most profitable exercises (excepting the public preaching) in which Christians can engage. They have a direct tendency to kill a worldly, trifling spirit, and to draw down a Divine blessing upon all our concerns, compose differences, and enkindle (at least maintain) the flames of Divine love amongst brethren.

  John Newton

  Christian, Prayer, Exercise

  John Newton, Richard Cecil (1824). “The Works of the Rev. J. Newton ...: With the Memoirs of the Author and General Remarks on His Life, Connections, and Character”, p.77

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• The foolish undertake a trifling act, and soon desist, discouraged; wise men engage in mighty works, and persevere.

  Magha

  Wise, Men, Persevere

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• To give importance to trifling matters.

  John Heywood

  Giving, Matter, Importance

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• Nothing is small or great in God's sight. Whatever He wills becomes great to us, however seemingly trifling; and if once the voice of conscience tells us that He requires anything of us, we have no right to measure its importance.

  Jean Grou

  Voice, Sight, Importance

  Jean Nicolas Grou (1876). “The hidden life of the soul [by J.N. Grou]. From the Fr. by the author of A Dominican artist”, p.206

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• Nothing is more unworthy of a wise man, or ought to trouble him more, than to have allowed more time for trifling, and useless things, than they deserve.

  Plato

  Wise, Men, Useless Things

  Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (1967). “Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study”

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• 1) Temperance... drink not to elevation. (2) Silence... avoid trifling conversations. (3) Order: Let all your things have their places... (4) Resolution... perform without fail what you resolve. (5) Frugality... i.e. waste nothing. (6) Industry: Lose no time; be always employ'd... (7) Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently... (8) Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries... (9) Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting... (10) Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body... (11) Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles... (12) Chastity (13) Humility : Imitate Jesus.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Jesus, Humility, Thinking

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• [The] liberty of divorce does not contribute to happiness and virtue. The facility of separation would destroy all mutual confidence, and inflame every trifling dispute . . .

  Edward Gibbon

  Divorce, Liberty, Doe

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, with notes by Milman and Guizot. Ed. by W. Smith”, p.297

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• For our discussion is on no trifling matter, but on the right way to conduct our lives.

  Plato

  Matter, Way, Discussion

  'The Republic' VIII, 352d

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• Women remain children all their lives, for they always see only what is near at hand, cling to the present, take the appearance of a thing for reality, and prefer trifling matters to the most important.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Children, Reality, Hands

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2016). “The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer (illustrated)”, p.63, Full Moon Publications

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• Christian hypocrites who pretend to hate life and love death. He may talk about the soul-what he is after is the girl Love means suffering-those who love drag a chain with them. To her it was not a belief but a certainty Trifling incident gains importance when undue emphasis is laid.

  Georg Ebers

  Girl, Christian, Life And Love

  Georg Ebers “The Historical Romances of Georg Ebers”, Library of Alexandria

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• Those who give too much attention to trifling things become generally incapable of great ones.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Greatness, Giving, Attention

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• Trifling trouble find utterance; deeply felt pangs are silent.

  Seneca the Younger

  Utterance, Trouble, Silent

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• It is strange how the memory of a man may float to posterity on what he would have himself regarded as the most trifling of his works.

  William Osler

  Memories, Men, May

  Sir William Osler (1959). “Men and books: collected and reprinted from the Canadian Medical Association Journal”

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• It has long seemed ridiculous to me to suppose that the nature of things has been so poor and stingy that it provided souls only to such a trifling mass of bodies on our globe, like human bodies, when it could have given them to all, without interfering with its other ends.

  Gottfried Leibniz

  Long, Soul, Body

  Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (2015). “Leibniz: Philosophical Essays”, p.168, Hackett Publishing

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• The greatest of characters, no doubt, would be he, who, free of all trifling accidental helps, could see objects through one grand immutable medium, always at hand, and proof against illusion and time, reflecting every object in its true shape and colour through all the fluctuation of things.

  Johann Kaspar Lavater

  Truth, Character, Hands

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