--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Boredom is the laboratory where new…" description: "\"“Boredom is the laboratory where new enthusiasms prepare themselves,”\" — Steven Heighton" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc1/steven-heighton-30959_boredom_boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enth_2339856.jpg" --- # Boredom is the laboratory where new enthusiasms prepare… ![“Boredom is the laboratory where new enthusiasms prepare themselves,” quote by Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc1/steven-heighton-30959_boredom_boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enth_2339856.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc1/steven-heighton-30959_boredom_boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enth_2339856.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc1/steven-heighton-30959_boredom_boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enth_2339856.jpg) > ““Boredom is the laboratory where new enthusiasms prepare themselves,”” [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Boredom creates space for new passions to emerge and develop. **In simple terms:** Boredom sparks new interests. Key Takeaway Embrace idle moments creatively. Themes creativity exploration growth Mood curious optimistic Type reflective inspirational When to use this quote - career change - art projects - learning new skills Key Concepts Stimulation novelty self‑discovery Questions to Reflect On - How can boredom be harnessed? - What new interests can arise? A Different Perspective Risk of unproductive idling. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Boredom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boredom/) [Boredom Laboratory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boredom-laboratory-5658872/) [Enthusiasms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enthusiasms-1411714/) [Enthusiasms Prepare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enthusiasms-prepare-5658873/) [Laboratory New](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laboratory-new-5658875/) [New Enthusiasms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-enthusiasms-5658874/) ## Related quotes > [The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/the-first-thing-a-writer-should-be-is-excited-he-should-be-a-thing-of/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [A Settlement is above all a place for enthusiasms, a spot to which those who have a passion for the equalization of human joys…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-addams/a-settlement-is-above-all-a-place-for-enthusiasms-a-spot-to-which/) [Jane Addams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-addams/) > [“His manner showed a curious mixture of longing and enthusiasm, which is to say that his enthusiasms were always of a wistful sort, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/his-manner-showed-a-curious-mixture-of-longing-and-enthusiasm-which/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [My enthusiasms...constitute my reserves, my unexploited resources, perhaps my future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/my-enthusiasms-constitute-my-reserves-my-unexploited-resources/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [I had a lot of enthusiasms that were very contradictory, I was never very doctrinaire in the type of design I wanted to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bierut/i-had-a-lot-of-enthusiasms-that-were-very-contradictory-i-was-never/) [Michael Bierut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bierut/) > [“The journey of life requires alot of enthusiasms, great passion and commitment.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/the-journey-of-life-requires-alot-of-enthusiasms-great-passion-and/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [I have a very personal view of what I want in a café. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about what other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-freeman/i-have-a-very-personal-view-of-what-i-want-in-a-caf-i-don-t-spend-a/) [James Freeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-freeman/) > [I tried to stir the imagination and enthusiasms of students to take risks, to do what they were most afraid of doing, to widen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-broughton/i-tried-to-stir-the-imagination-and-enthusiasms-of-students-to-take/) [James Broughton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-broughton/) > [“The enthusiasm that characterizes our time is, unlike current events, hopeful and, like all enthusiasms, playful. The energy that flashes through our electronics has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-m-hallowell/the-enthusiasm-that-characterizes-our-time-is-unlike-current-events/) [Edward M. Hallowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-m-hallowell/) > [All noble enthusiasms pass through a feverish stage, and grow wiser and more serene.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-ellery-channing/all-noble-enthusiasms-pass-through-a-feverish-stage-and-grow-wiser/) [William Ellery Channing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-ellery-channing/) > [“Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms -- you’ll be able to use them better when you’re older.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca/hang-on-to-your-youthful-enthusiasms-you-ll-be-able-to-use-them/) [Seneca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca/) > [Enthusiasms, like stimulants, are often affected by people with small mental ballast](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/minna-antrim/enthusiasms-like-stimulants-are-often-affected-by-people-with-small/) [Minna Antrim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/minna-antrim/) > [We are all experiments in enthusiasms, narrow and preordained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/we-are-all-experiments-in-enthusiasms-narrow-and-preordained/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [a committee, of course, exists for the purpose of damping enthusiasms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stella-benson/a-committee-of-course-exists-for-the-purpose-of-damping-enthusiasms/) [Stella Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stella-benson/) > [“I had schooled myself since the war-days never to speak of my enthusiasms; when other people did not share them, which was usual, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robertson-davies/i-had-schooled-myself-since-the-war-days-never-to-speak-of-my/) [Robertson Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robertson-davies/) ## More by Steven Heighton > [Interest is never enough. If it doesn't haunt you, you'll never write it well. What haunts and obsesses you may, with luck and labour,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/interest-is-never-enough-if-it-doesn-t-haunt-you-you-ll-never-write/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [I'm supportive of practical nationalism, like the kind we need in Canada to avoid being absorbed into a much larger country. The kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/i-m-supportive-of-practical-nationalism-like-the-kind-we-need-in/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [Interest is never enough. If it doesn't haunt you, you'll never write it well. What haunts and obsesses you may, with luck and labour,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/interest-is-never-enough-if-it-doesn-t-haunt-you-you-ll-never-write-2/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [Lyrical poets have to be in touch with visceral experience. I've always tried to avoid virtual experiences. That's emerging in my fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/lyrical-poets-have-to-be-in-touch-with-visceral-experience-i-ve/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [The idiot willingness to choose sides is what feeds the abattoir of history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/the-idiot-willingness-to-choose-sides-is-what-feeds-the-abattoir-of/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [To listen to critics, pro or con, and take their words to heart is to subcontract your self-esteem to strangers. (from Workbook)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/to-listen-to-critics-pro-or-con-and-take-their-words-to-heart-is-to/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [“An Elegy, Years After Sarah” So her ceiling a map of stars. First time we made love late afternoon late winter, and after she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/an-elegy-years-after-sarah-so-her-ceiling-a-map-of-stars-first-time/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [Cast a spell and the small flaws don't matter. (From Workbook)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/cast-a-spell-and-the-small-flaws-don-t-matter-from-workbook/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [I used to be more of a purist about literature. I thought, 'If it's a really propulsive story, then maybe there's something unliterary about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/i-used-to-be-more-of-a-purist-about-literature-i-thought-if-it-s-a/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [“Love . . . requires that you learn to read the lover in her own language, not translate her into yours.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/love-requires-that-you-learn-to-read-the-lover-in-her-own-language/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [I've been a traveller, but I don't travel so much now. I'm trying to do it vicariously through my writing. I'm trying to write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/i-ve-been-a-traveller-but-i-don-t-travel-so-much-now-i-m-trying-to-do/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [It's no sin to tell a good story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/it-s-no-sin-to-tell-a-good-story/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [“Let failure be your workshop. See it for what is is: the world walking you through a tough but necessary semester, free of tuition.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/let-failure-be-your-workshop-see-it-for-what-is-is-the-world-walking/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [I had a book of essays out in 1997 in which I talked about the increasing virtuality of our lives. I've always been afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/i-had-a-book-of-essays-out-in-1997-in-which-i-talked-about-the/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) > [“The dreamtime of creative work is a turnstile to eternity. (from Workbok)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/the-dreamtime-of-creative-work-is-a-turnstile-to-eternity-from-workbok/) [Steven Heighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) [Explore all 17 Steven Heighton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/) ## 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": "“Boredom is the laboratory where new enthusiasms prepare themselves,”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Steven Heighton" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enthusiasms-prepare-themselves/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Boredom" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enthusiasms-prepare-themselves/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc1/steven-heighton-30959_boredom_boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enth_2339856.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc1/steven-heighton-30959_boredom_boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enth_2339856.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc1/steven-heighton-30959_boredom_boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enth_2339856.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Boredom is the laboratory where new enthusiasms prepare themselves,” — Steven Heighton", "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": "Steven Heighton", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-heighton/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Boredom is the laboratory where new...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enthusiasms-prepare-themselves/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-heighton/boredom-is-the-laboratory-where-new-enthusiasms-prepare-themselves/#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 } } ] } ```