Idle Quotes - Page 6

• The study of geometry is a petty and idle exercise of the mind, if it is applied to no larger system than the starry one. Mathematics should be mixed not only with physics but with ethics; that is mixed mathematics.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Exercise, Science, Mind

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “The Illustrated "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"”, p.362, Princeton University Press

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• It is idle to expect any great advancement in science from the superinducing and engrafting of new things upon old. We must begin anew from the very foundations, unless we would revolve for ever in a circle with mean and contemptible progress.

  Francis Bacon

  Mean, Science, Circles

  Francis Bacon, Robert Leslie Ellis, William Rawley (1861). “The philosophical works of Francis Bacon, with prefaces and notes by the late Robert Leslie Ellis, together with English translations of the principal Latin pieces”, p.52

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• What does Reverence for Life say abut the relations between [humanity] and the animal world? Whenever I injury any kind of life I must be quite certain that it is necessary. I must never go beyond the unavoidable, not even in apparently insignificant things. The farmer who has mowed down a thousand flowers in his meadow in order to feed his cows must be careful on his way home not to strike the head off a single flower by the side of the road in idle amusement, for he thereby infringes on the law of life without being under the pressure of necessity.

  Albert Schweitzer

  Flower, Home, Animal

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• Worse than idle is compassion if it ends in tears and sighs.

  William Wordsworth

  Compassion, Tears, Ends

  William Wordsworth (1847). “The Poems of William Wordsworth”, p.102

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• Soup simmering, music of idle gossip, yammering kids, domestic chaos - long adjusted to this rolling scene, you show them your lofty calm.

  Gottfried Keller

  Grandma, Kids, Gossip

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• If it is impossible to judge merit and guilt in the field of natural science, then it is not possible in any field, and historical research becomes an idle, empty activity.

  Justus von Liebig

  Science, Judging, Historical

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• I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

  Mary Oliver

  Prayer, Blessed, Fall

  Mary Oliver (2008). “The Truro Bear and Other Adventures: Poems and Essays”, p.65, Beacon Press

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• Heat lingers
  As days are still long;
  Early mornings are cool
  While autumn is still young.
  Dew on the lotus
  Scatters pure perfume;
  Wind on the bamboos
  Gives off a gentle tinkling.
  I am idle and lonely,
  Lying down all day,
  Sick and decayed;
  No one asks for me;
  Thin dusk before my gates,
  Cassia blossoms inch deep.

  Bai Juyi

  Lonely, Morning, Lying

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• We cannot afford to be idle, and though weaker than our opponents in men and military equipments, must endeavor to harass, if we cannot destroy them.

  Robert E. Lee

  Military, War, Men

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• The vigorous man industriously striving for the improvement of his condition acts neither more nor less than the lethargic man who sluggishly takes things as they come. For to do nothing and to be idle are also action, they too determine the course of events.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Men, Events, Libertarian

  Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

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• On a mission your worst enemy is idle time.

  Nipsey Hussle

  Worst Enemy, Missions, Idle Time

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• There was a moment when I was getting death threats and bullshit via the Internet, so I was being a little more conscious and reading local message boards before going to certain towns, just to see if people were making bullshit idle threats on the Internet.

  Jay Reatard

  Reading, People, Bullshit

  Source: music.avclub.com

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• God is very merciful to those whom He sees struggling heart and soul for spiritual realization. But remain idle, without any struggle, and you will see that His grace will never come.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Spiritual, Struggle, Heart

  "Pearls of Wisdom". Book by Swami Vivekananda, edited by the Ramakrishna Mission, 2010.

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• God, I pray light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn up for thee.

  Jim Elliot

  Light, May, Sticks

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• The dangers which threaten us are twofold: First, from the Confederate forces, composed of men whose earnest convictions and reckless bravery it is idle to deny.

  Robert Dale Owen

  Men, Ethos, Bravery

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• It is idle to waste time and discuss whether it was within our power and duty to see whether we could prepare a Bill better than the Remedial Bill.

  Charles Tupper

  Power, Bills, Waste

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• Hunger is an altogether fit companion for the idle man.

  Hesiod

  Work, Men, Hunger

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• There are three sorts of pleasures which are advantageous, and three which are injurious. Finding pleasure in the discriminating study of ceremonies and music, finding pleasure in discussing the good points in the conduct of others, and finding pleasure in having many wise friends, these are advantageous. But finding pleasure in profligate enjoyments, finding pleasure in idle gadding about, and finding pleasure in feasting, these are injurious.

  Confucius

  Friendship, Wise, Three

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• If I could tell the world just one thing
  It would be that we're all OK
  And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
  And useless in times like these
  I won't be made useless
  I won't be idle with despair
  I will gather myself around my faith
  For light does the darkness most fear
  
  My hands are small, I know
  But they're not yours, they are my own
  But they're not yours, they are my own
  And I am never broken

  Jewel

  Love, Light, Times Like These

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• If a brain is exercised properly, anyone can grow intelligence, at any age, and potentially by a lot. Or you can just let your brain idle - and watch it slowly, inexorably, go to seed like a sedentary body.

  Michael Merzenich

  Brain, Age, Watches

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• Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

  Mary Schmich

  Real, Worry, Tuesday

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.31, Agate Digital

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• Woody is the guy who made me want to be a comic. I was in heaven and couldn't stop smiling because he was my idle and 29 years after seeing Take the Money and Run, I was working for him.

  Jon Lovitz

  Smile, Running, Years

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• No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober.

  Samuel Smiles

  Law, Sober, Industrious

  Samuel Smiles (2009). “Self-Help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct”, p.5, The Floating Press

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• Anyone who refuses to marry is shrinking his farmwork, wasting the seed, and leaving idle the appropiate tools created by God; he sins against the purpose of creation and wisdom visible in the evidence of natural structure. The man who refuses to marry has severed a chain of being, a previously unbroken chain linking his own existence to that of Adam.

  Al-Ghazali

  Wisdom, Islamic, Men

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• The much-maligned idle rich have received a bad rap: They have maintained their wealth while many There is scarcely an instance of a man who has made a fortune by speculation and kept it. Andrew Carnegie of the energetic rich, aggressive real estate operators, corporate acquirers, oil drillers, etc. have their fortunes disappear.

  Warren Buffett

  Real, Rap, Men

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