I am one of those unhappy persons who inspire bores to the greatest flights of art.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British Poet, Literary Critic
Against boredom the gods themselves fight in vain.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
No one really listens to anyone else, and if you try it for a while you’ll see why.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Boredom flourishes too, when you feel safe. It’s a symptom of security.
—Eugene Ionesco (1909–94) Romanian-born French Dramatist
Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Boredom is not an end-product, is comparatively rather an early stage in life and art. You’ve got to go by or past or through boredom, as through a filter, before the clear product emerges.
—Unknown
Some of the biggest bores I’ve ever known are men who have been highly successful in business, particularly self-made heads of big companies. Before the first olive has settled into the first martini, they pour the stories of their lives into the nearest and sometimes the remotest ears capturable…. These men have indeed paid the price of success. To rise to the top of a big company often takes a totality of effort, concentration and dedication. Others, too, have to pay part of the price. Wife and children are out of mind even when in sight. … .
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
A bore is a man who has nothing to say and says it anyway.
—Unknown
Boredom is useful to me when I notice it and think: Oh I’m bored; there must be something else I want to be doing … boredom acts as an initiator of originality by pushing me into new activities or new thoughts.
—Hugh Prather (b.1938) American Christian Author, Minister, Counselor
One of the worst forms of mental suffering is boredom, not knowing what to do with oneself and one’s life. Even if man had no monetary, or any other reward, he would be eager to spend his energy in some meaningful way because he could not stand the boredom which inactivity produces.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
The most terrible thing about materialism, even more terrible than its proneness to violence, is its boredom, from which sex, alcohol, drugs, all devices for putting out the accusing light of reason and suppressing the unrealizable aspirations of love, offer a prospect of deliverance.
—Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) English Journalist, Author, Media Personality, Satirist
Somebody’s boring me; I think it’s me.
—Dylan Thomas (1914–53) Welsh Poet, Author
A bore: Someone who persists in holding to his own views after we have enlightened him with ours.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Boredom is nothing but the experience of a paralysis of our productive powers.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
A yawn is a silent shout.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Nothing is interesting if you’re not interested.
—Helen MacInnes (1907–85) Scottish-born American Novelist
It is better to be happy for a moment and be burned up with beauty than to live a long time and be bored all the while.
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Author
When the shriveled skin of the ordinary is stuffed out with meaning, it satisfies the senses amazingly.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Boredom is the keynote of poverty—of all its indignities, it is perhaps the hardest of all to live with—for where there is no money there is no change of any kind.
—Moss Hart (1904–61) American Dramatist, Director
It is the sin that believes in nothing,
cares for nothing,
seeks to know nothing,
interferes with nothing,
enjoys nothing,
hates nothing,
finds purpose in nothing,
lives for nothing,
and remains alive
because there is nothing for which it will die.
—Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) British Crime Writer
I fell asleep reading a dull book and dreamed I kept on reading, so I awoke from sheer boredom.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German Poet, Writer
Probably the difference between man and the monkeys is that the monkeys are merely bored, while man has boredom plus imagination.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Author, Philologist
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores as in these United States. No man can form an adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming here.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Nobody has any right to find life uninteresting or unrewarding who sees within the sphere of his own activity a wrong he can help to remedy, or within himself an evil he can hope to overcome.
—Charles William Eliot (1834–1926) American Educationalist
If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not a poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian Poet
The life of a creator is not the only life nor perhaps the most interesting which a man leads. There is a time for play and a time for work, a time for creation and a time for lying fallow. And there is a time, glorious too in its own way, when one scarcely exists, when one is a complete void. I mean—when boredom seems the very stuff of life.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist