Idle Hands Quotes

• 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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• Idle hands are the devil's playthings.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Hands, Devil, Idle

  17 Copy quote

• For Satan always finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.

  Isaac Watts

  Hands, Laziness, Satan

  Isaac Watts, “How Doth The Little Busy Bee”

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• Idle hands make fretful minds.

  Shelley Shepard Gray

  Hands, Mind, Idle

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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

  18 Copy quote

• I can't stand still; I find it very difficult to sit around and do nothing. I've got to have projects on the go because the devil makes work for idle hands. I've got to be going forward all the time.

  Irvine Welsh

  Hands, Devil, Projects

  Source: www.macleans.ca

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• although it has been said that idle hands are the devil's workshop, when it comes to teenagers, both idle and active hands are the devil's workshop.

  Amy Sedaris

  Teenager, Hands, Devil

  19 Copy quote

• You can bet the rent money that whatever politicians do will end up harming consumers. ... Economic ignorance is to politicians what idle hands are to the devil. Both provide the workshop for the creation of evil.

  Walter E. Williams

  Ignorance, Hands, Evil

  16 Copy quote

• You should not have idle hands, you should always be working. All your life.

  Ivan Bunin

  Hands, Should, Idle

  29 Copy quote

• Jewels, lies, slips of paper, dried flowers, memories of thing long past, useless quotations, idle hands, beads, buttons, and mischief.

  Holly Black

  Memories, Lying, Flower

  Holly Black (2013). “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown”, p.23, Hachette UK

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• The devil finds work for idle hands to do. Better to reign in the hell than serve in heaven. We are in bondage to the law in order that we may be free.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Hands, Order, Law

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• In works of labour or of skillI would be busy too:For Satan finds some mischief stillFor idle hands to do.

  Isaac Watts

  Hands, Would Be, Satan

  'Against Idleness and Mischief' from 'Divine Songs for Children' (1715)

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• There are moments in life when a man retreats defensively, when he must give ground, when he must surrender less important positions in order to protect the more important ones. But should it come to the very last, the most important one, at this point a man must halt and stand firm if he doesn't want to begin life all over again with idle hands and a feeling of being shipwrecked.

  Milan Kundera

  Men, Hands, Order

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• The people who are unemployed want to do the work, but the system is such a catastrophic failure that it cannot bring together idle hands and work. This is all hailed as a great success, and it is a great success - for a very small sector of the population.

  Noam Chomsky

  Hands, People, Together

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• Therefore with idle hands and head I sit
  In late December before the fire's daze
  Punished by crimes of which I would be quit.

  Allen Tate

  Christmas, Hands, Fire

  Allen Tate (2014). “Collected Poems, 1919-1976”, p.103, Macmillan

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• Old Flossie settle down on the other side of What-the-Dickens and dragged some handiwork out of a sack. She armed herself with two thorns shaped into knitting needles. A wodge of curlicued metallic scrubbing pad supplied the threat. 'I knit handcuffs as a hobby,' explained Old Flossie happily, and set to work. 'Idle hands get up to no good, so I like to be prepared in case I meet up with any idle hands.

  Gregory Maguire

  Knitting, Hands, Two

  6 Copy quote