Trifles Quotes - Page 9

• A vulgar man is captious and jealous; eager and impetuous about trifles. He suspects himself to be slighted, and thinks everything that is said meant at him.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Jealous, Men, Thinking

  Lord Chesterfield, David Roberts (2008). “Lord Chesterfield's Letters”, p.161, Oxford University Press

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• There some trifles well habited, as there are some fools well clothed.

  Nicolas Chamfort

  Fool, Wells

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• Let us not overlook vital things, because of the bulk of trifles confronting us.

  Emma Goldman

  Confronting

  Emma Goldman (2015). “Anarchism: Top Crime Collections”, p.126, 谷月社

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• Trifles make the sum of life.

  Charles Dickens

  Words Of Wisdom, Classic

  David Copperfield ch. 53 (1850)

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• Oh, Jeeves,' I said; 'about that check suit.' Yes, sir?' Is it really a frost?' A trifle too bizarre, sir, in my opinion.' But lots of fellows have asked me who my tailor is.' Doubtless in order to avoid him, sir.' He's supposed to be one of the best men in London.' I am saying nothing against his moral character, sir.

  P. G. Wodehouse

  Character, Men, Order

  P. G. Wodehouse (2004). “Introducing Jeeves: Six Classic Stories”, p.65, Courier Corporation

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• Take a moment from time to time to remember that you are alive. I know this sounds a trifle obvious, but it is amazing how little time we take to remark upon this singular and gratifying fact. By the most astounding stroke of luck an infinitesimal portion of all the matter in the universe came together to create you and for the tiniest moment in the great span of eternity you have the incomparable privilege to exist.

  Bill Bryson

  Luck, Together, Sound

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• The Queen of Air and Darkness tilted back her head and laughed. A more ghastly sound I hope never to hear. ‘Do you think I care about these trifles?’ ‘Murder is no trifle, woman,’ Arthur said. ‘No? How many men have you killed, Great King? How many have you slain without cause? How many did you cut down that you might have spared? How many died because you in your battle-rage would not heed their pleas for mercy?’ The High King opened his mouth to speak, but could make no answer.

  Stephen R. Lawhead

  Kings, Queens, Cutting

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• At times the whole world seems to be in conspiracy to importune you with emphatic trifles. Friend, client, child, sickness, fear, want, charity, all knock at once at thy closet door and say,—'Come out unto us.' But keep thy state; come not into their confusion. The power men possess to annoy me I give them by a weak curiosity. No man can come near me but through my act.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Children, Men, Doors

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Emerson's Essays: Top Essays”, p.52, 谷月社

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• Everything belonged to him--but that was a trifle. The thing to know was what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own.

  Joseph Conrad

  Darkness, Heart Of Darkness, Knows

  Joseph Conrad (2012). “Heart of Darkness: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.60, Penguin

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• Men best show their character in trifles, where they are not on their guard. It is in the simplest habits, that we often see the boundless egotism which pays no regard to the feelings of others and denies nothing to itself.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Inspirational, Character, Men

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• Being poor is a mere trifle. It is being known to be poor that is the sting.

  Jerome K. Jerome

  Poor, Mere, Known

  Jerome K. Jerome (2016). “The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow”, p.32, Jerome K. Jerome

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• We all profess that we are bound for heaven, immortality, and glory: but is it any evidence that we really design it if all our thoughts are consumed about the trifles of this world, which we must leave behind us, and have only occasional thoughts of things above?

  John Owen

  Religious, Design, Heaven

  John Owen (1828). “Treatise on Temptation, Or, The Dominion of Sin and Grace: And on the Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded”, p.204

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• The meal was pretentious - a kind of beetroot soup with greasy croutons; pork underdone with loud vulgar cabbage, potato croquettes, tinned peas in tiny jam-tart cases, watery gooseberry sauce; trifle made with a resinous wine, so jammy that all my teeth lit up at once.

  Anthony Burgess

  Wine, Vegetables, Meals

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• Both wit and understanding are trifles without integrity; it is that which gives value to every character. The ignorant peasant, without fault, is greater than the philosopher with many; for what is genius or courage without a heart?

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Inspirational, Art, Integrity

  "The Vicar of Wakefield".

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• When the father is going on in his journey, if the child will not goe on, but stands gaping upon vanity, and when the father calls, he comes not, the onely way is this: the father steps aside behind a bush, and then the child runs and cries, and if he gets his father againe, he forsakes all his trifles, and walkes on more faster and more cheerefully with his father than ever.

  Thomas Hooker

  Running, Children, Father

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• When I see the elaborate study and ingenuity displayed by women in the pursuit of trifles, I feel no doubt of their capacity for the most herculean undertakings.

  Julia Ward Howe

  Women, Feminist, Doubt

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• Let no one charge me with ever having abused or encouraged weakness or surrendered on matters of principle. But I have said, as I say again, that every trifle must not be dignified into a principle.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Courage, Weakness, Principles

  Mahatma Gandhi (1965). “Glorious Thoughts of Gandhi: Being a Treasury of about Ten Thousand Valuable and Inspiring Thougths of Mahatma Gandhi, Classified Under Four Hundred Subjects”

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• Transiency is stamped on all our possessions, occupations, and delights. We have the hunger for eternity in our souls, the thought of eternity in our hearts, the destination for eternity written on our inmost being, and the need to ally ourselves with eternity proclaimed by the most short-lived trifles of time. Either these things will be the blessing or the curse of our lives. Which do yon mean that they shall be for you?

  Alexander MacLaren

  Heart, Mean, Blessing

  Alexander Maclaren (1908). “The Book of Esther”

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• Brave old-flowers! Wall-flowers, Gilly flowers, Stocks! For even as the field-flowers, from which a trifle, a ray of beauty, a drop of perfume, divides them, they have charming names, the softest in the language; and each of them, like tiny, art-less ex-votos, or like medals bestowed by the gratitude of men, proudly bears three or four.

  Maurice Maeterlinck

  Gratitude, Art, Wall

  Maurice Maeterlinck (1905). “Old Fashioned Flowers: And Other Out-of-door Studies”

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• . . . nothing in his life Became him like the leaving it; he died As one that had been studied in his death To throw away the dearest thing he owed, As 'twere a careless trifle.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Sympathy, Leaving

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 1, sc. 4, l. 7

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• Do not let trifles disturb your tranquility of mind. The little pin-pricks of daily life when dwelt upon and magnified, may do great damage, but if ignored or dismissed from thought, will disappear from inanition.

  Grenville Kleiser

  Life, Mind, May

  Grenville Kleiser (1917). “Inspiration and Ideals: Thoughts for Every Day”

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• A little reflection will enable any person to detect in himself that setness in trifles which is the result of the unwatched instinct of self-will and to establish over himself a jealous guardianship.

  Harriet Beecher Stowe

  Jealous, Reflection, Self

  Harriet Beecher Stowe (1866). “Little Foxes, Or, The Little Failings which Mar Domestic Happiness”, p.77

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• Others will give away large alms in order to be considered charitable people. Should they not give these out of their own wages, which so often they squander on trifles? If this has happened to you, do not forget that you are obliged to pay back to the person concerned all that you gave to the poor without the knowledge or consent of your employers. Then again, there is the one who has been entrusted by his employer with the supervision of the staff, or of workmen, who gives out wine and all sorts of other things to them if they ask him.

  John Vianney

  Wine, Order, People

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• Do behold the king in his glory, King Sequoia. Behold! Behold! seems all I can say.... Well may I fast, not from bread but from business, bookmaking, duty doing & other trifles.... I’m in the woods woods woods, & they are in mee-ee-ee.... I wish I were wilder & so bless Sequoia I will be.

  John Muir

  Kings, Wish, May

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• Great merit or great failings will make you respected or despised; but trifles, little attentions, mere nothings, either done or neglected, will make you either liked or disliked, in the general run of the world. Examine yourself, why you like such and such people and dislike such and such others; and you will find that those different sentiments proceed from very slight causes.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Running, People, Different

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