Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Boredom … causes us to neglect more duties than does interest.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Banality is a terribly likely consequence of the underused of a good mind. That is why in particular it is a female affliction.
—Cynthia Propper Seton (1926–82) American Novelist, Essayist
No society ever seems to have succumbed to boredom. Man has developed an obvious capacity for surviving the pompous reiteration of the commonplace.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
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
The age of chivalry is past. Bores have succeeded to dragons.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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
Ennui has, perhaps, made more gamblers than avarice; more drunkards than thirst; and perhaps as many suicides as despair.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
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
To do the same thing over and over again is not only boredom: it is to be controlled by rather than to control what you do.
—Heraclitus (535BCE–475BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
He is an old bore; even the grave yawns for him.
—Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852–1917) English Actor, Theater Personality
Life is never boring, but some people choose to be bored.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
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
Desire is half of life; indifference is half of death.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person. Nothing is more keenly required than a defence of bores. When Byron divided humanity into the bores and bored, he omitted to notice that the higher qualities exist entirely in the bores, the lower qualities in the bored, among whom he counted himself. The bore, by his starry enthusiasm, his solemn happiness, may, in some sense, have proved himself poetical. The bored has certainly proved himself prosaic.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Boredom is the root of all evil—the despairing refusal to be oneself.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.
—Unknown
Since boredom advances and boredom is the root of all evil, no wonder, then, that the world goes backwards, that evil spreads. This can be traced back to the very beginning of the world. The gods were bored; therefore they created human beings.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
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
What’s wrong with being a boring kind of guy?
—George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) American Republican Statesman, 41st President
The only unhappiness is a life of boredom.
—Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) French Writer
Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
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
The life of the creative man is lead, directed and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.
—Saul Steinberg (1914–99) American Cartoonist, Illustrator
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
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