Idle Quotes

438 Idle quotes by 328 unique authors

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavors with his utmost care to hide his poverty from… — Samuel Johnson
Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying or meditating or endeavoring something for the public good. — Thomas a Kempis
Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talks… — William Lyon Mackenzie King
Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content,… — Charles Kingsley
What is the meaning of 'gossip?' Doesn't it originate with sympathy, an interest in one's neighbor, degenerating into idle curiosity and love of tattling? Which… — Lucy Larcom
The sure conviction that we could if we wanted to is the reason so many good minds are idle. — Georg C. Lichtenberg
Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Fortunately, something always remains to be harvested. So let us not be idle. — Gustav Mahler
I think being idle is quite hard for me to do. — Tatiana Maslany
It is better to have a fair intellect that is well used than a powerful one that is idle. — Bryant H. McGill
The last time I was pulled over was in 2005. I was going 55 in a 35 mile per hour zone - which I don't… — Danica Patrick
If I'm alone too long I think too much, and I'm not interested in doing that. That won't lead anywhere good, I'm sure. If I'm… — Lisa Marie Presley
It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle… — Pythagoras
Idle youth, enslaved to everything; by being too sensitive I have wasted my life. — Arthur Rimbaud
Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to… — Franklin D. Roosevelt
All universal moral principles are idle fancies. — Marquis de Sade
Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving. — William Shakespeare
To be idle requires a strong sense of personal identity. — Robert Louis Stevenson
To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle. — Henry David Thoreau
Regrets are idle; yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently. — Charles Dudley Warner
For Satan always finds some mischief still for idle hands to do. — Isaac Watts
I shall forget you presently, my dear, So make the most of this, your little day, Your little month, your little half a year, Ere… — Edna St. Vincent Millay
The thirst for something other than what we have…to bring something new, even if it is worse, some emotion, some sorrow; when our sensibility, which… — Marcel Proust
And therefore, — since I cannot prove a lover, To entertain these fair well-spoken days, — I am determined to prove a villain, And hate… — William Shakespeare
Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am, Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary, Looks down, is erect, or bends an arm on… — Walt Whitman

Who Wrote These Idle Quotes

328 authors contributed a total of 438 Idle Quotes, led by these top contributors: