Petty Quotes - Page 9

• Fight only in direst need
  Not for lust or petty greed
  Honor those that do give birth
  Respect them well for their full worth

  Anne McCaffrey

  Fighting, Giving, Greed

  Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey (2012). “Dragon Harper”, p.104, Random House

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• The man of meditation becomes the man of understanding because his energy accumulates. He is not wasting it. He is not interested in trivia; he does not put any energy at all into petty things. So whenever the time arises to give, he has to give. Energy is understanding. Be conscious of it and use your energy very consciously, and use your energy in such a way that you don't simply go on wasting it.

  Rajneesh

  Men, Giving, Meditation

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• It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and Italy without feeling sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions by which they were kept in a state of perpetual vibration between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy . . . great improvement . . . were either not known at all, or imperfectly known to the ancients.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Education, Feelings, Republic

  "The 100 best nonfiction books: No 81 - The Federalist Papers by 'Publius' (1788)" by Robert McCrum, www.theguardian.com. August 21, 2017.

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• 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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• Petty laws breed great crimes.

  Ouida

  Law, Liberty, Libertarian

  Ouida (2016). “Wisdom, Wit and Pathos of Ouida”, p.260, Ouida

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• We are prudent people. We are afraid to let go of our petty reality in order to grasp at a great shadow.

  Antoine de Saint-Exupery

  Letting Go, Reality, Order

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• All that was required of them (i.e. the brain-washed masses) was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.

  George Orwell

  Memorial Day, Ideas, Evil

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• You cannot live sheltered forever without being exposed, and at the same time be a spiritual adventurer. Be audacious. Be crazy in your own way, with that madness in the eyes of man that is wisdom in the eyes of God. Take risks, search and search again, search everywhere, in every way, do not let a single opportunity or chance that life offers pass you by, and do not be petty and mean, trying to drive a hard bargain.

  Arnaud Desjardins

  Spiritual, Crazy, Mean

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• Ultimately there can be no freedom for self unless it is vouchsafed for others; there can be no security where there is fear, and a democratic society presupposes confidence and candor in the relations of men with one another and eager collaboration for the larger ends of life instead of the pursuit of petty, selfish or vainglorious aims.

  Felix Frankfurter

  Freedom, Selfish, Men

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• Great suffering brings with it the power of great endurance. When sorrow is deepest all the forces of patience and courage are banded together to do their duty. So while we are cowards before petty troubles, great sorrows make us brave by rousing our truer manhood.

  Rabindranath Tagore

  Encouragement, Brave, Suffering

  Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore (1968). “Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore: Being a Treasury of Over Ten Thousand Invaluable and Inspiring Thoughts, Views, and Obervations on about Eight Hundred Subjects of Popular Interest, Collected from the Speeches and Writings of These Three Great Leaders of Modern India”

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• His [Henry Cavendish's] Theory of the Universe seems to have been, that it consisted solely of a multitude of objects which could be weighed, numbered, and measured; and the vocation to which he considered himself called was, to weigh, number and measure as many of those objects as his allotted three-score years and ten would permit. This conviction biased all his doings, alike his great scientific enterprises, and the petty details of his daily life.

  George Wilson

  Science, Years, Numbers

  George Wilson (1851). “The life of the Hon. Henry Cavendish: including abstracts of his more important scientific papers, and a critical inquiry into the claims of all the alleged discoverers of the composition of water”, p.186

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• Never be petty. Do not feed resentments against anyone. I prefer good-hearted sinners to so called good people who are intolerant and devoid of compassion. Being spiritual is to have an open mind, understand and forgive, and be friends with everyone.

  Paramahansa Yogananda

  Spiritual, Wisdom, Compassion

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• That sense – the only true patriotism – comes slowly and springs from the heart: it is founded upon respect for the family and love for the soil. Premature ‘liberty’ of this kind would have been a disaster: we should have been torn to pieces by petty squabbles before we had ever reached political maturity, which, as things were, as made possible by the long quiet years under monarchical government; for it was that government which, as it were, nursed our strength and enabled us ultimately to produce sound fruit from liberty, as only a politically adult nation can.

  Livy

  Spring, Heart, Maturity

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• If we have chosen the position in life in which we can most of all work for mankind, no burdens can bow us down, because they are sacrifices for the benefit of all; then we shall experience no petty, limited, selfish joy, but our happiness will belong to millions, our deeds will live on quietly but perpetually at work, and over our ashes will be shed the hot tears of noble people.

  Karl Marx

  Selfish, Sacrifice, People

  Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Wolfgang Schirmacher (1997). “German socialist philosophy”, Continuum Intl Pub Group

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• Shakespeare wrote great poetry and preposterous plays. Who really cares, for example, which petty tyrant rules Milan? Or who succeeds to the throne of Denmark? Or why the barons ganged up on Richard II?

  Edward Abbey

  Play, Tyrants, Example

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.35, RosettaBooks

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• You all know that even when women have full rights, they still remain fatally downtrodden because all housework is left to them. In most cases housework is the most unproductive, the most barbarous and the most arduous work a woman can do. It is exceptionally petty and does not include anything that would in any way promote the development of the woman.

  Vladimir Lenin

  Women, Rights, Doe

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• I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply:
  men should be tough, fair, and courageous, never petty,
  never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either.

  John Wayne

  Real, Fighting, Men

  John Wayne, Carol Lea Mueller (2007). “The Quotable John Wayne: The Grit and Wisdom of an American Icon”, p.53, Taylor Trade Publications

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• People are very hungry for something new. I think they are interested in being called to be a part of something larger than the sort of small, petty, slash-and-burn politics that we have been seeing over the last several years.

  Barack Obama

  Thinking, Years, People

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• Poverty entails fear and stress and sometimes depression. It means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships.

  J. K. Rowling

  Stress, Mean, Hardship

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• According to the dictionary, knock has two definitions: "to strike something with a sharp blow," and "to find fault with, a harsh and often petty criticism." Perhaps in human relationships both of these meanings could apply. Almost all men will respond to sincere praise and rebel at harsh and cutting criticisms.

  Marvin J. Ashton

  Cutting, Blow, Men

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• The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. ... so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment.

  Abdu'l-Bahá

  Book, Men, Mind

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• Success is meaningless if you can't sleep at night because of harsh things said, petty secrets sharpened against hard and stony regret, just waiting to be plunged into the soft underbelly of a 'friendship.'

  Margaret Cho

  Regret, Congratulations, Sleep

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• Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe.

  Robert W. Service

  Inspirational, Success, Climbing

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• Always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty.

  Richard M. Nixon

  Giving, Discouraged, Great Presidents

  Address to members of administration on leaving office as president, 9 Aug. 1974

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• I have found it very important in my own life to try to let go of my wishes and instead to live in hope. I am finding that when I choose to let go of my sometimes petty and superficial wishes and trust that my life is precious and meaningful in the eyes of God something really new, something beyond my own expectations begins to happen for me. (Finding My Way Home)

  Henri Nouwen

  Letting Go, Meaningful, Eye

  Henri J.M. Nouwen (2017). “You Are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living”, Convergent Books

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