--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is difficult to estimate the misery…" description: "\"It is difficult to estimate the misery inflicted upon thousands of persons, and the absolute pecuniary penalty imposed upon multitudes of intellectual ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46b/charles-babbage-8461_absolutes_it-is-difficult-to-estimate-the-misery-i_2141060.png" --- # It is difficult to estimate the misery inflicted upon… ![“It is difficult to estimate the misery inflicted upon thousands of persons, and the absolute pecuniary penalty imposed upon multitudes of intellectual workers by the loss of their time, destroyed by organ-grinders and other similar nuisances.” quote by Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46b/charles-babbage-8461_absolutes_it-is-difficult-to-estimate-the-misery-i_2141060.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46b/charles-babbage-8461_absolutes_it-is-difficult-to-estimate-the-misery-i_2141060.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46b/charles-babbage-8461_absolutes_it-is-difficult-to-estimate-the-misery-i_2141060.png) > “It is difficult to estimate the misery inflicted upon thousands of persons, and the absolute pecuniary penalty imposed upon multitudes of intellectual workers by the loss of their time, destroyed by organ-grinders and other similar nuisances.” [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote highlights the massive economic and personal cost of wasted time caused by trivial or disruptive tasks. **In simple terms:** Wasting time hurts both individuals and society. Key Takeaway Minimize distractions to protect productivity. Themes productivity economics time management Mood frustrated reflective Type cautionary analytical When to use this quote - office work - software development - research - creative projects Key Concepts opportunity cost efficiency labor value Questions to Reflect On - How can you quantify your own time loss? - What systems can reduce trivial interruptions? A Different Perspective Distractions may also foster creativity in unexpected ways. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absolutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolutes/) [Destroyed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destroyed/) [Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difficult/) [Estimate Misery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/estimate-misery-3202498/) [Grinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grinder/) [Imposed Multitudes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imposed-multitudes-4457876/) [Inflicted Thousands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inflicted-thousands-4457874/) [Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual/) [Intellectual Workers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual-workers-1467197/) [Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) [Misery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misery/) [Misery Inflicted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misery-inflicted-4457875/) [Multitudes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/multitudes/) [Nuisance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nuisance/) [Organs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organs/) [Penalties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/penalties/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Workers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/workers/) ## Related quotes > [I consider it important, indeed urgently necessary, for intellectual workers to get together, both to protect their own economic status and, also, generally speaking,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-consider-it-important-indeed-urgently-necessary-for-intellectual/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Who can estimate the misery that has been caused by this infamous doctrine of eternal punishment? Think of the lives it has blighted-of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/who-can-estimate-the-misery-that-has-been-caused-by-this-infamous/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [ There's an argument that maybe \[The Grinder\] was better suited for streaming or cable. I don't know. I still like to think there's a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-lowe/there-s-an-argument-that-maybe-the-grinder-was-better-suited-for/) [Rob Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-lowe/) > [I am not going to spend any time whatsoever in attacking the Foreign Secretary. If we complain about the tune, there is no reason…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aneurin-bevan/i-am-not-going-to-spend-any-time-whatsoever-in-attacking-the-foreign/) [Aneurin Bevan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aneurin-bevan/) > [I'm going to be that gnarly guy that gets in somebody's face and makes it ugly. I'm a bit of a grinder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cm-punk/i-m-going-to-be-that-gnarly-guy-that-gets-in-somebody-s-face-and/) [CM Punk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cm-punk/) > [I'm kind of a grinder. I'm a Cinderella, an underdog story who fights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-johnson/i-m-kind-of-a-grinder-i-m-a-cinderella-an-underdog-story-who-fights/) [Zach Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-johnson/) > [I am always jumping into the sausage grinder and deciding, even before I’m half ground, that I don’t want to be a sausage after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessamyn-west/i-am-always-jumping-into-the-sausage-grinder-and-deciding-even-before/) [Jessamyn West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessamyn-west/) > [That's what I grew up loving. Whether it's 30 Rock or The Office or Parks And Rec... I don't know if those still work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-lowe/that-s-what-i-grew-up-loving-whether-it-s-30-rock-or-the-office-or/) [Rob Lowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-lowe/) > [A system-grinder hates the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-system-grinder-hates-the-truth/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Needy knife-grinder! whither are ye going? Rough is the road, your wheel is out of order; Bleak blows the blast-your hat has got a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-canning/needy-knife-grinder-whither-are-ye-going-rough-is-the-road-your-wheel/) [George Canning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-canning/) > [It's nice to be able to explore both sides of my personality. I definitely relate more to Debbie, my character on The Grinder. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-elizabeth-ellis/it-s-nice-to-be-able-to-explore-both-sides-of-my-personality-i/) [Mary Elizabeth Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-elizabeth-ellis/) > [I've been doing It's Aways Sunny for 12 years, and so I have this cable sensibility. When I read the Grinder script, I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-elizabeth-ellis/i-ve-been-doing-it-s-aways-sunny-for-12-years-and-so-i-have-this/) [Mary Elizabeth Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-elizabeth-ellis/) > [I had an old band in Scandinavia, the beginning of Mercyful Fate, so it reminds me of my roots as a teenager. We used…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yenz-leonhardt/i-had-an-old-band-in-scandinavia-the-beginning-of-mercyful-fate-so-it/) [Yenz Leonhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yenz-leonhardt/) > [I'm a grinder…I've never taken more than a week off in my adult life. I truly believe work is a virtue, it gives you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeb-bush/i-m-a-grinder-i-ve-never-taken-more-than-a-week-off-in-my-adult-life/) [Jeb Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeb-bush/) > [We know our job. We are grinders and we are physical and we need to make their (defense) look back over their shoulders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-boughner/we-know-our-job-we-are-grinders-and-we-are-physical-and-we-need-to/) [Bob Boughner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-boughner/) ## More by Charles Babbage > [The whole of the developments and operations of analysis are now capable of being executed by machinery ... As soon as an Analytical Engine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/the-whole-of-the-developments-and-operations-of-analysis-are-now/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [The economy of human time is the next advantage of machinery in manufactures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/the-economy-of-human-time-is-the-next-advantage-of-machinery-in/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [The first steps in the path of discovery, and the first approximate measures, are those which add most to the existing knowledge of mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/the-first-steps-in-the-path-of-discovery-and-the-first-approximate/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [The errors which arise from the absence of facts are far more numerous and more durable than those which result from unsound reasoning respecting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/the-errors-which-arise-from-the-absence-of-facts-are-far-more/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [The triumph of the industrial arts will advance the cause of civilization more rapidly than its warmest advocates could have hoped, and contribute to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/the-triumph-of-the-industrial-arts-will-advance-the-cause-of/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [A powerful attraction exists, therefore, to the promotion of a study and of duties of all others engrossing the time most completely, and which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/a-powerful-attraction-exists-therefore-to-the-promotion-of-a-study/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [Science in England is not a profession: its cultivators are scarcely recognised even as a class. Our language itself contains no single term by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/science-in-england-is-not-a-profession-its-cultivators-are-scarcely/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [Of Cooking. This is an art of various forms, the object of which is to give ordinary observations the appearance and character of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/of-cooking-this-is-an-art-of-various-forms-the-object-of-which-is-to/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [The quantity of meaning compressed into small space by algebraic signs, is another circumstance that facilitates the reasonings we are accustomed to carry on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/the-quantity-of-meaning-compressed-into-small-space-by-algebraic/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [Some kinds of nails, such as those used for defending the soles of coarse shoes, called hobnails, require a particular form of the head,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/some-kinds-of-nails-such-as-those-used-for-defending-the-soles-of/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [That the state of knowledge in any country will exert a directive influence on the general system of instruction adopted in it, is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/that-the-state-of-knowledge-in-any-country-will-exert-a-directive/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [It can happen to but few philosophers, and but at distant intervals, to snatch a science, like Dalton, from the chaos of indefinite combination,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/it-can-happen-to-but-few-philosophers-and-but-at-distant-intervals-to/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [ \[In response to Alfred Tennyson's poem "Vision of Sin," which included the line "Every moment dies a man, every moment one is born."\] If… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/in-response-to-alfred-tennyson-s-poem-vision-of-sin-which-included/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [The difference between a tool and a machine is not capable of very precise distinction; nor is it necessary, in a popular explanation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/the-difference-between-a-tool-and-a-machine-is-not-capable-of-very/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [Unless there exist peculiar institutions for the support of such inquirers, or unless the Government directly interfere, the contriver of a thaumatrope may derive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/unless-there-exist-peculiar-institutions-for-the-support-of-such/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) [Explore all 80 Charles Babbage quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) ## More Absolutes quotes > [At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/at-the-centre-of-the-human-heart-is-the-longing-for-an-absolute-good/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [There is no perfect justice, just as there is no absolute in ethics. 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He said he gave his son for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-graham/those-are-decisions-only-the-lord-will-make-i-believe-the-love-of-god/) [Billy Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-graham/) > [“The Gods know what it is to be eternal, and they love to toy with mortals who use absolutes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josephine-angelini/the-gods-know-what-it-is-to-be-eternal-and-they-love-to-toy-with/) [Josephine Angelini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josephine-angelini/) > [Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/anarchy-is-the-stepping-stone-to-absolute-power/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [I was asked the other day if I would be interested in the Nobel Prize, but I think that for me it would be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/i-was-asked-the-other-day-if-i-would-be-interested-in-the-nobel-prize/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [The only "definitive truth" for Buddhism is the absolute negation of any one truth as the Definitive Truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/the-only-definitive-truth-for-buddhism-is-the-absolute-negation-of/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [The nature of the Absolute is neither perceptible nor imperceptible; and with phenomena it is just the same. 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