Idle Quotes - Page 3

• Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.

  Jerome K. Jerome

  Funny, Sweet, Time

  Jerome K. Jerome (2016). “The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow”, p.7, Jerome K. Jerome

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• Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will make me go in a corner and cry by myself for hours.

  Eric Idle

  Domestic Violence, Sticks, May

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• Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me.

  Rihanna

  Bullying, Dry Bones, Useless Life

  Song: S&M, Album: Loud

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• Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Prayer, Cancer

  Mahatma Gandhi (2007). “Gandhi on Non-Violence”, p.87, New Directions Publishing

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• If I'm alone too long I think too much, and I'm not interested in doing that. That won't lead anywhere good, I'm sure. If I'm busy I tend to stay out of trouble. An idle mind is the devil's playground.

  Lisa Marie Presley

  Thinking, Long, Mind

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• As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Courage, Integrity, Silence

  Benjamin Franklin (1928). “Poor Richard's Almanack: Being the Almanacks of 1733, 1749, 1756, 1757, 1758, First Written Under the Name of Richard Saunders”

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• It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Done, Laziness, May

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.86, Rowman & Littlefield

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• He who would not be idle, let him fall in love.

  Ovid

  Falling In Love, Fall, Indolence

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• From secrecy and deception in high places; come home, America. From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; come home, America. From the entrenchment of special privileges in tax favoritism; from the waste of idle lands to the joy of useful labor; from the prejudice based on race and sex; from the loneliness of the aging poor and the despair of the neglected sick - come home, America.

  George McGovern

  Sex, Military, War

  George McGovern (2004). “The Essential America: Our Founders and the Liberal Tradition”, p.166, Simon and Schuster

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• In the great depression, things could only be set right by causing the idle plant to work again . . . Roosevelt . . . spent billions of public money and created a huge public debt, but by so doing he revived production and brought his country out of the depression. Businessmen, who in spite of such a sharp lesson continued to believe in old-fashioned economics, were infinitely shocked, and although Roosevelt saved them from ruin, they continued to curse him and to speak of him as 'the madman in the White House.' . . . [It's one more] striking example of inability to learn from experience.

  Bertrand Russell

  Country, Believe, White

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• I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow.

  Elizabeth von Arnim

  Soul, May, Want

  Elizabeth von Arnim (2016). “The Solitary Summer”, p.2, Elizabeth von Arnim

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• A golf course outside a big town serves an excellent purpose in that it segregates, as though a concentration camp, all the idle and idiot well-to-do.

  Osbert Sitwell

  Golf, Purpose, Towns

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• The Lord had given them the day and the Lord had given them the strength. And the day and the strength had been dedicated to labor, and the labor was its reward. Who was the labor for? What would be its fruits? These were irrelevant and idle questions.

  Leo Tolstoy

  Would Be, Rewards, Fruit

  LEO TOLSTOY (1961). “ANNA KARENINA”

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• These eyes, tho' clear To outward view of blemish or of spot, Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot, Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not Against Heaven's hand or will, not bate a jot Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer Right onward.

  John Milton

  Stars, Eye, Heart

  John Milton (1844). “I. Prose Works: Poetical works. II.”, p.36

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• Never let the brain idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.

  George Carlin

  Alzheimer's, Names, Brain

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• Man is a transitory being, and his designs must partake of the imperfections of their author. To confer duration is not always in our power. We must snatch the present moment, and employ it well, without too much solicitude for the future, and content ourselves with reflecting that our part is performed. He that waits for an opportunity to do much at once, may breathe out his life in idle wishes, and regret, in the last hour, his useless intentions and barren zeal.

  Samuel Johnson

  Regret, Opportunity, Men

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”

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• God loves an idle rainbow, no less than laboring seas.

  Ralph Hodgson

  Sea, Rainbow, God Love

  Ralph Hodgson, “Reason Has Moons”

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• Let the man who does not wish to be idle, fall in love.

  Ovid

  Life, Falling In Love, Men

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• A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation. Lend and borrow to the maximum.

  Henry Miller

  Lying, Book, Shelves

  Henry Miller (1969). “Mémoires, Plaidoiries Et Documents”, p.23, New Directions Publishing

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• All severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle.

  Samuel Johnson

  Happiness, Evil, Doe

  James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone (1824). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., Comprehending an Account of His Studies, and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order: A Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published; the Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain, for Near Half a Century During which He Flourished”, p.412

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• There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, For I am armed so strong in honesty That they pass by me as the idle wind

  William Shakespeare

  Strong, Honesty, Wind

  'Julius Caesar' (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 66

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• Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.

  Samuel Johnson

  Men, Sloth, Calling

  Samuel Johnson, Francis Pearson Walesby, Arthur Murphy (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson: Reviews, politica. tracts, and lives of eminent persons”, p.285

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• I love you. I will love you till the stars crumble, which is a less idle threat than is usual to lovers on parting.

  Robin McKinley

  Stars, Love You, Usual

  Robin McKinley (2014). “The Hero and the Crown”, p.157, Open Road Media

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• Life is not as idle ore,
  But iron dug from central gloom,
  And heated hot with burning fears,
  And dipt in baths of hissing tears,
  And batter'd with the shocks of doom,
  To shape and use.

  Alfred Lord Tennyson

  Life, Iron, Tears

  Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.840, Delphi Classics

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• The slothful are always ready to engage in idle talk of what will be done tomorrow, and every day after.

  John Lyly

  Sloth, Done, Laziness

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