Idle Quotes

438 Idle quotes by 328 unique authors

Survival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate. To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one's life… — Yann Martel
An unauthentic word, one which is unable to transform reality, results when dichotomy is imposed upon its constitutive elements. When a word is deprived of… — Paulo Freire
Just to live in the country is a full-time job. You don't have to do anything. The idle pursuit of making a living is pushed… — Elwyn Brooks White
I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow. — Elizabeth von Arnim
It was the slave's continuing desire for recognition that was the motor which propelled history forward, not the idle complacency and unchanging self-identity of the… — Francis Fukuyama
We're silent now, both waiting, till I remind myself that I'm the older one and should therefore initiate conversation. But I don't. I don't want… — Markus Zusak
So it is with minds. Unless you keep them busy with some definite subject that will bridle and control them, they throw themselves in disorder… — Michel de Montaigne
And if he is lying and he double-crosses you, I’ll kill him for you.” From anyone else, it would have been an idle threat, and… — Kim Harrison
And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better - cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is… — Fyodor Dostoevsky
They who love to inform themselves, are never idle. Though I have no business of consequence to take care of, I am nevertheless continually employed.… — Baron de Montesquieu
Librarians are serious people, seldomgiven to idle jocularity. The reason for this, I believe, is because we are overwhelmed by the enormous number of good… — Lynn Austin
History is idle gossip about a happening whose truth is lost the instant it has taken place. — Gore Vidal
A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. — Henry Miller
I have a scholar's love of silence and solitude. To sit and pass hour after hour in idle chatter with a roomful of strangers is… — Susanna Clarke
I love you. I will love you till the stars crumble, which is a less idle threat than is usual to lovers on parting. — Robin McKinley
A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation. Lend and borrow to the maximum. — Henry Miller
Jewels, lies, slips of paper, dried flowers, memories of thing long past, useless quotations, idle hands, beads, buttons, and mischief. — Holly Black
Regret for time wasted can become a power for good in the time that remains, if we will only stop the waste and the idle,… — Arthur Brisbane
All severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle. — Samuel Johnson
Let the man who does not wish to be idle, fall in love. — Unknown Author
If patriotism is good, then Christianity, which gives peace, is an idle dream, and the sooner this teaching is eradicated, the better. But if Christianity… — Leo Tolstoy
It is...idle to pretend, as many do, that there is no contradiction between religion and science. Science contradicts religion as surely as Judaism contradicts Islam-they… — Bryan Appleyard
If a man devotes himself to art, much evil is avoided that happens otherwise if one is idle. — Albrecht Durer
With respect to Committees as you would perceive I am very jealous of their formation. I mean working committees. I think business is always better… — Michael Faraday
Always plenty to do. Cannot well be idle and believe will rather wear out than rust out. — Henry J. Heinz

Who Wrote These Idle Quotes

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