Nonsense Quotes - Page 6

• In a letter from Bath to her sister, Cassandra, one senses her frustration at her sheltered existence, Tuesday, 12 May 1801. Another stupid party . . . with six people to look on, and talk nonsense to each other.

  Jane Austen

  Sister, Stupid, Party

  4 Copy quote

• War is utter damn nonsense, a vast cancer fed by lies and self seeking malignity on the part of those who don't do the fighting.

  John Dos Passos

  Peace, Cancer, Lying

  John Dos Passos (1973). “The Fourteenth Chronicle: Letters and Diaries of John Dos Passos”, Harvard Common Press

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• ...people today are so accustomed to pretentious nonsense that they see nothing amiss in reading without understanding, and many of them at length discover that they can without difficulty write in like manner themselves and win applause for it. And so it perpetuates itself.

  George Albert Wells

  Reading, Writing, Science

  George Albert Wells (1991). “Belief and make-believe: critical reflections on the sources of credulity”, Open Court Pub Co

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• Doeg, though without knowing how or why,
  Made still a blundering kind of melody;
  Spurr'd boldly on, and dash'd through thick and thin,
  Through sense and nonsense, never out nor in;
  Free from all meaning whether good or bad,
  And in one word, heroically mad.

  John Dryden

  Knowing, Mad, Poetry

  John Dryden (1873). “Poetical Works: Containing Original Poems, Tales, and Translations”, p.69

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• As charms are nonsense,
  nonsense is a charm.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Charm

  Benjamin Franklin (2013). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.74, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• We know that violent measures against religion are nonsense; but this is an opinion: as socialism grows, religion will disappear. Its disappearance must be done by social development, in which education must play a part.

  Karl Marx

  Play, Done, Development

  Karl Marx (1973). “The Karl Marx Library: On the First International”

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• By amusing myself with all these games, all this nonsense, all these picture puzzles, I became famous... I am only a public entertainer who has understood his time.

  Pablo Picasso

  Games, Idlers, Amusement

  52 Copy quote

• The only reaction against an unbearable society is equally unbearable nonsense.

  Kathy Acker

  Unbearable, Reactions

  Kathy Acker (1997). “Bodies of Work: Essays”, Serpents Tail

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• To appreciate nonsense you must first acquire wisdom, then compromise the two; only then will the fool understand you, and believe himself to be wise.

  Ernest Chapman

  Wise, Believe, Two

  10 Copy quote

• We also heard the usual old nonsense that banning hunting would affect employment if we abolished crime we would put all the police out of work. If we abolished ill-health we would put all the nurses and doctors out of work. Will anybody argue that we should preserve crime and ill-health in order to keep people in jobs?

  Ann Widdecombe

  Jobs, Hunting, Order

  10 Copy quote

• Millions for nonsense, but not one cent for entropy.

  Alfred Bester

  Entropy, Cents, Millions

  Alfred Bester (1974). “Tiger! Tiger!”

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Photography is without mercy--though it's nonsense to say it does not lie. Rather, it lies in a particular, capricious way which makes beggars of ministers and gods of cat's meat men.

  Nick Harkaway

  Photography, Lying, Cat

  7 Copy quote

• To appeal to contemporary man to revert, in this twentieth century, to a pagan-like nature worship in order to restrain technology from further encroachment and devastation of the resources of nature, is a piece of atavistic nonsense.

  Norman Lamm

  Technology, Men, Order

  Seymour J. Cohen, Norman Lamm (1986). “Faith and doubt: studies in traditional Jewish thought”, Ktav Pub Inc

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• People are fond of using the its not what you know, its who you know adage as an excuse for inaction, as if all successful people are born with powerful friends. Nonsense.

  Tim Ferriss

  Powerful, Successful, People

  12 Copy quote

• Some people say: "There is no God; because, if there was a God, God would stop all the suffering." Nonsense! God is oblivious to suffering. God is beyond suffering. That's what makes God, God, by definition.

  Frederick Lenz

  God, People, Suffering

  15 Copy quote

• Liberals have created, and the minority leadership has exploited, a community of dependent people, unaware of the true route to prosperity and happiness: self-reliance and self-investment. Instead, people are told that American is unjust, unfair, and full of disadvantages. They are told that their only hope is for government to fix their problems. What has happened is that generations of people have bought into this nonsense and as result have remained hopelessly mired in poverty and despair -- because the promised solutions don't work. And they will never work -- they never have.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Government, Self, People

  12 Copy quote

• Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Stupid, Islam, West

  "The CIA's Intervention in Afghanistan". Le Nouvel Observateur Interview, www.globalresearch.ca. January, 1998.

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Be as pissed off as you want to be. Don’t hold back because you think it’s unladylike or some such nonsense. We shouldn’t be shamed out of our anger. We should be using it. Using it to make change in our own lives, and using it to make change in the lives around us. (I know, I’m cheesy.) So the next time someone calls you emotional, or asks if you’re PMSing, call them on their bullshit.

  Jessica Valenti

  Emotional, Thinking, Bullshit

  Jessica Valenti (2009). “He's a Stud, She's a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know”, p.69, Seal Press

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Writing is not something you can do or you can't. It's not even something that 'other people do' or 'for smart people only' or even 'for people who finished school and went to University'. Nonsense. Anyone can do it. But no-one can do it straight off the bat. Like plastering, brain surgery or assembling truck engines, you have to do a bit of training - get your hands dirty - and make some mistakes.

  Jasper Fforde

  Mistake, Smart, Dirty

  4 Copy quote

• For awareness you need not go to the Himalayas; you need not go anywhere. Your life gives you enough opportunities to be aware. Somebody insults you - listen to it in full awareness. And you will be surprised - the insult is no more an insult. You may even smile. It does not hurt; it hurts only when received in unawareness. Somebody praises and appreciates you - listen with alertness. And then nobody can persuade you to do foolish things. Nobody can bribe you; flattery becomes impossible. You will smile at the whole nonsense.

  Rajneesh

  Hurt, Opportunity, Insults You

  8 Copy quote

• Bes had indeed put on his ugly outfit. He climbed onto the roof of the limbo and stood there, legs planted, arms akimbo, like superman-exept with only the underwear. I wasn't sure what to say except: "Put some clothes on!" "These children are under my protection," Bes insisted. "I don't know you," I said, "I never met you before today." "Nonsense. You expressly asked for my attention." "I didn't ask for the Speedo Patrol!

  Rick Riordan

  Children, Clothes, Underwear

  8 Copy quote

• That which, perhaps, hears more nonsense than anything in the world, is a picture in a museum.

  Jules de Goncourt

  Museums, World

  11 Copy quote

• A fool contributes nothing worth hearing and takes offense at everything.

  Aristotle

  Hearing, Fool, Offense

  143 Copy quote

• A part of us resists all of this and wants to make it sound as if it's much too religious, an arbitrary thing that we have to do with our life. This is nonsense. This is the real fun.

  Frederick Lenz

  Inspirational, Religious, Fun

  4 Copy quote

• People go through four stages before any revolutionary development: 1. It's nonsense, don't waste my time. 2. It's interesting, but not important. 3. I always said it was a good idea. 4. I thought of it first.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Change, Ideas, People

  20 Copy quote