--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Worrying is as futile as boredom, but…" description: "\"Worrying is as futile as boredom, but harder work.\" — Mason Cooley" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/835/mason-cooley-92_boredom_worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-har_1548408.png" --- # Worrying is as futile as boredom, but harder work. ![“Worrying is as futile as boredom, but harder work.” quote by Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/835/mason-cooley-92_boredom_worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-har_1548408.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/835/mason-cooley-92_boredom_worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-har_1548408.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/835/mason-cooley-92_boredom_worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-har_1548408.png) > “Worrying is as futile as boredom, but harder work.” [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The statement equates worrying with boredom, noting that while both are unproductive, worrying is more mentally taxing, implying that both should be avoided. **In simple terms:** Worrying is a draining, useless activity. Key Takeaway Reduce both boredom and worry. Themes mental health productivity emotional regulation Mood thoughtful motivational Type self‑help philosophical When to use this quote - daily routines - self‑care - focus strategies Key Concepts psychology stress management time use Questions to Reflect On - What habits can replace worry? - How to turn boredom into productivity? A Different Perspective Boredom can be a catalyst for constructive activity if redirected. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Boredom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boredom/) [Boredom Harder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boredom-harder-5781287/) [Fear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear/) [Futile Boredom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/futile-boredom-5781286/) [Harder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harder/) [Harder Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harder-work-383613/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) [Worry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worry/) [Worrying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worrying/) [Worrying Futile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worrying-futile-5781285/) ## Related quotes > [The Ancient Mariner seizes the guest at the wedding feast and will not let go until he has told all his story: the prototype…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-ancient-mariner-seizes-the-guest-at-the-wedding-feast-and-will/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [A yawn is more disconcerting than a contradiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/a-yawn-is-more-disconcerting-than-a-contradiction/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The life of pleasure breeds boredom. The life of duty breeds resentment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-life-of-pleasure-breeds-boredom-the-life-of-duty-breeds-resentment/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Boredom turns to panic if my beloved leaves before the usual time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/boredom-turns-to-panic-if-my-beloved-leaves-before-the-usual-time/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Eagerness to please attracts bullies and bores.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/eagerness-to-please-attracts-bullies-and-bores/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [People are reluctant to cite boredom as grounds for divorce.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/people-are-reluctant-to-cite-boredom-as-grounds-for-divorce/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > ["The harder you work, the luckier you get" is true in all things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-murray/the-harder-you-work-the-luckier-you-get-is-true-in-all-things/) [Al Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-murray/) > [I like the gray movies. I don't know if audiences always... it makes them work a little harder. And they have to work hard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dustin-lance-black/i-like-the-gray-movies-i-don-t-know-if-audiences-always-it-makes-them/) [Dustin Lance Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dustin-lance-black/) > [The idea that the harder you work, the better you're going to be is just garbage. The greatest improvement is made by the man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bowerman/the-idea-that-the-harder-you-work-the-better-you-re-going-to-be-is/) [Bill Bowerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bowerman/) > [The harder you had to work to open a package, the less you ended up caring about what was inside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/the-harder-you-had-to-work-to-open-a-package-the-less-you-ended-up/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Ironically, now that my children are older and gone quite a bit, I find it harder to work when they're not around. Too much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-hoffman/ironically-now-that-my-children-are-older-and-gone-quite-a-bit-i-find/) [Alice Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-hoffman/) > [The harder you work for something, the greater you'll feel when you finally make it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mild-z-de-asis/the-harder-you-work-for-something-the-greater-you-ll-feel-when-you/) [Mild'z De Asis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mild-z-de-asis/) > [Nothing replaces hard work. The harder you work, the luckier you get.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-schultz/nothing-replaces-hard-work-the-harder-you-work-the-luckier-you-get/) [Ed Schultz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-schultz/) > [“Good leaders don’t just give people more work, they give them harder work—a bigger challenge that prompts deep learning and growth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liz-wiseman/good-leaders-don-t-just-give-people-more-work-they-give-them-harder/) [Liz Wiseman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liz-wiseman/) > [All work is the avoidance of harder work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-richardson/all-work-is-the-avoidance-of-harder-work/) [James Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-richardson/) ## More by Mason Cooley > [Nostalgia keeps dissolving the ironic narratives in which I have contained my past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/nostalgia-keeps-dissolving-the-ironic-narratives-in-which-i-have/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The modernist writers found despair inspirational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-modernist-writers-found-despair-inspirational/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Even the most abject have a sense of superiority based on powerful though undefined merits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-abject-have-a-sense-of-superiority-based-on-powerful/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Money comes to life as it is spent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/money-comes-to-life-as-it-is-spent/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Even the most fickle are faithful to a few bad habits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-fickle-are-faithful-to-a-few-bad-habits/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Rage is exciting, but leaves me confused and exhausted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/rage-is-exciting-but-leaves-me-confused-and-exhausted/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Literary tradition is full of lies about poverty-the jolly beggar, the poor but happy milkmaid, the wholesome diet of porridge, etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/literary-tradition-is-full-of-lies-about-poverty-the-jolly-beggar-the/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Experience teaches us, but we scarcely know what.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/experience-teaches-us-but-we-scarcely-know-what/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The body has a mind of its own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-body-has-a-mind-of-its-own/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [In retirement, I look for days off from my days off. Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/in-retirement-i-look-for-days-off-from-my-days-off-mason-cooley/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [My intentions go one way, my desires another. Thus I feel both self-indulgent and deprived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/my-intentions-go-one-way-my-desires-another-thus-i-feel-both-self/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The Puritan sours his pleasures by disguising them as duties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-puritan-sours-his-pleasures-by-disguising-them-as-duties/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Unlike the actual, the fictional explains itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/unlike-the-actual-the-fictional-explains-itself/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Vacations prove that a life of pleasure is overrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/vacations-prove-that-a-life-of-pleasure-is-overrated/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Outside literature, high-flown sentiments are merely exasperating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/outside-literature-high-flown-sentiments-are-merely-exasperating/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) [Explore all 1,401 Mason Cooley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## More Boredom quotes > [I am fairly tired--bored beyond endurance--by the world we live in, and its ideals, and am ready to say so, not violently, but kindly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/i-am-fairly-tired-bored-beyond-endurance-by-the-world-we-live-in-and/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [Life is what you make it¦If one refuses to use ones imagination..it will be boring.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-what-you-make-it-if-one-refuses-to-use-ones-imagination-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Boredom is vastly underrated. Boredom means that nothing is trying to kill you every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/boredom-is-vastly-underrated-boredom-means-that-nothing-is-trying-to/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [I'm bored of being bored because being bored is very boring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sachithra/i-m-bored-of-being-bored-because-being-bored-is-very-boring/) [Sachithra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sachithra/) > [When people look in the mirror, sometimes they see are their shells in the mirror, nothing else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-people-look-in-the-mirror-sometimes-they-see-are-their-shells-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I don't think anyone wants to do the same thing over and over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-bachmann/i-don-t-think-anyone-wants-to-do-the-same-thing-over-and-over-again/) [Eric Bachmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-bachmann/) > [“A car is one of the most interesting inventions, but driving is one of the most boring activities.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/a-car-is-one-of-the-most-interesting-inventions-but-driving-is-one-of/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [The most total opposite of pleasure is not pain but boredom, for we are willing to risk pain to make a boring life interesting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/the-most-total-opposite-of-pleasure-is-not-pain-but-boredom-for-we/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [We shop out of boredom, for release, for excitement, for a sense of achievement, for a sense of control over our unruly existences. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-gunn/we-shop-out-of-boredom-for-release-for-excitement-for-a-sense-of/) [Tim Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-gunn/) > [That human life must be some kind of mistake is sufficiently proved by the simple observation that man is a compound of needs which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/that-human-life-must-be-some-kind-of-mistake-is-sufficiently-proved/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [Isn’t ‘not to be bored’ one of the principal goals of life?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/isn-t-not-to-be-bored-one-of-the-principal-goals-of-life/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [The worst sin, the ultimate sin for me, in anything, is to be bored.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-turner/the-worst-sin-the-ultimate-sin-for-me-in-anything-is-to-be-bored/) [Ted Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-turner/) > [Exploitation and manipulation produce boredom and triviality; they cripple man, and all factors that make man into a psychic cripple turn him also into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/exploitation-and-manipulation-produce-boredom-and-triviality-they/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [“To me, at least in retrospect, the really interesting question is why dullness proves to be such a powerful impediment to attention. Why we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/to-me-at-least-in-retrospect-the-really-interesting-question-is-why/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [Listen deeply. Meditate on that which is arising. Even if it's boredom or difficulty or maybe a feeling of being stuck, that in itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rodney-yee/listen-deeply-meditate-on-that-which-is-arising-even-if-it-s-boredom/) [Rodney Yee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rodney-yee/) [Browse all 1,505 Boredom quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boredom/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Worrying is as futile as boredom, but harder work.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mason Cooley" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-harder-work/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Boredom" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-harder-work/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/835/mason-cooley-92_boredom_worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-har_1548408.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/835/mason-cooley-92_boredom_worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-har_1548408.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/835/mason-cooley-92_boredom_worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-har_1548408.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Worrying is as futile as boredom, but harder work.” — Mason Cooley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mason Cooley", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Worrying is as futile as boredom,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-harder-work/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/worrying-is-as-futile-as-boredom-but-harder-work/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```