Trivial Things Quotes

• People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.

  Charles Bukowski

  Life, Anger, People

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• What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things.

  Alexander Pope

  Spring, Causes, Contests

  'The Rape of the Lock' (1714) canto 1, l. 1

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• It is pretty obvious that the debasement of the human mind caused by a constant flow of fraudulent advertising is no trivial thing. There is more than one way to conquer a country

  Raymond Chandler

  Country, Mind, Way

  1951 Letter to Carl Barndt, 15 Nov.

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• Because, as we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.

  John Cleese

  Thinking, Important, Littles

  23 Copy quote

• Most of our life is unimportant, filled with trivial things from morning till night. But when it is transformed by love it is of interest even to the angels.

  Dorothy Day

  Morning, Angel, Night

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• Man often overstates the trivial things and understates the vital ones!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Men

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• We should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality.

  Oscar Wilde

  Serious Things, Sincere, Triviality

  Oscar Wilde (2004). “The Best of Oscar Wilde: Selected Plays and Writings”, p.23, Penguin

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• A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.

  Karl Marx

  Business, Sight, Analysis

  Karl Marx (1988). “Marx Selections”, MacMillan Publishing Company

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• when all of life becomes crowded with profound and weighty matters, making time to engage in trivial things becomes an even greater priority.

  Galen Beckett

  Profound, Priorities, Matter

  Galen Beckett (2012). “The Master of Heathcrest Hall”, p.92, Spectra

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• Do not become so absorbed with trivial things that you miss learning the doctrine and teachings of the Lord.

  Richard G. Scott

  Teaching, Missing, Doctrine

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• He watched it with that strange interest in trivial things that we try to develop when things of high import make us afraid, or when we are stirred by some new emotion for which we cannot find expression.

  Oscar Wilde

  Expression, Trying, Strange

  Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.27, GENERAL PRESS

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• When you are in deep conflict about something, sometimes the most trivial thing can tip the scales.

  Ethel Merman

  Sometimes, Conflict, Corny

  Ethel Merman, George Eells (1979). “Merman: an autobiography”, Berkley Pub Group

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• Even the smallest and most trivial thing can bring you happiness when you do it for another.

  Sun Myung Moon

  Smallest

  "As a Peace-loving Global Citizen" by Sun Myung Moon, (p. 139), 2009.

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• Those who are patient in the trivial things in life and control themselves will one day have the same mastery in great and important things.

  Joe Hyams

  Things In Life, One Day, Important

  Joe Hyams (2010). “Zen in the Martial Arts”, p.23, Bantam

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• I believe that the mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things, so that all our thoughts shall be tinged with triviality.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Believe, Mind, Habit

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.418, Simon and Schuster

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• I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. And the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you're sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me - so am I.

  Barack Obama

  Believe, Silly, Issues

  "Barack Obama Speech Text: Read The President’s Democratic Convention Remarks", www.huffingtonpost.com. September 6, 2012.

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• When we blather about trivial things, we ourselves become trivial, for our attention gets taken up with trivialities. You become what you give your attention to.

  Epictetus

  Taken, Giving, Attention

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• There's more than one way to be a girl

  Lauren Faust

  Girl, Censorship In Books, Censoring Books

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• But such a tiny and trivial thing as an umbrella can deprive you of the sight of such a stupendous fact as the sun.

  Meher Baba

  Sight, Perspective, Tiny

  Meher Baba (1977). “The Mastery of Consciousness: An Introduction and Guide to Practical Mysticism and Methods of Spiritual Development”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• Women are foils to men in South Korea. It is hard for women to take a lead role even in NGOs for political resistance. Men think women should do trivial things on the margins. They think women should be merely a seasoning for a dish. I feel anger and sorrow seeing this.

  Kim Hyesoon

  Men, Thinking, Korea

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• There is no doctrine more fundamental to our work than the Atonement of Jesus Christ. At every appropriate opportunity, testify of the Savior and of the power of His Atoning sacrifice. Use scriptures that teach of Him and why He is the perfect pattern for everyone in life.4 You will need to study diligently. Do not become so absorbed with trivial things that you miss learning the doctrine and teachings of the Lord. With a solid, personal doctrinal foundation, you will be a powerful source for sharing vital truths with others who desperately need them.

  Richard G. Scott

  Jesus, Powerful, Teaching

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• When I tell children that they are far too dependent on their gizmos, they do not deny it. But they really don't care. This is their real life - texting about trivial things; listening to numbing music on their private headphones. The machines block everything out - you create your own little trivial world.

  Bill O'Reilly

  Children, Block, Real

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• If you want to become a man of letters and perhaps write some Histories one day, you must also lie and invent tales, otherwise your History would become monotonous. But you must act with restraint. The world condemns liars who do nothing but lie, even about the most trivial things, and it rewards poets, who lie only about the greatest things.

  Umberto Eco

  Liars, Lying, Writing

  Umberto Eco (2003). “Baudolino”, p.43, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• We must eschew anything trivial. We must embrace all that is frivolous.... Trivial things take up all your time and dull your senses, whereas frivolity is meaningful, profound, worth living and dying for.... If we devote our lives to frivolity, the world will be a far, far better place. Humanity will be better able to fulfill its primary goal, that of having a good time.

  Cynthia Heimel

  Meaningful, Profound, Goal

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• The span of three or four minutes is pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. People lose hundreds of minutes everyday, squandering them on trivial things. But sometimes in those fragments of time, something can happen you'll remember the rest of your life.

  Lisa Kleypas

  People, Everyday, Three

  Lisa Kleypas (2015). “The Travis Family Series, Books 1-3: Blue-Eyed Devil, Smooth Taking Stranger and Sugar Daddy”, p.434, St. Martin's Press

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