A bore is a person who talks when you wish him to listen.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
When the shriveled skin of the ordinary is stuffed out with meaning, it satisfies the senses amazingly.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) 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
The only unhappiness is a life of boredom.
—Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) French Writer
When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
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
Boredom is a disease of the mind and psyche, an insidious disease. It not only takes the joy out of life, but the creativity as well. No one of God’s children should ever be bored with life.
—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
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 rage spread thin.
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965) German-American Theologian, Philosopher
Boredom is the deadliest poison.
—William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925–2008) American Conservative Writer, Commentator
Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) American Actor, Model, Singer
If something is boring after 2 minutes, try it for 4. If still boring, try it for 8, 16, 32, and so on. Eventually, one discovers that it is not boring, but very interesting.
—Zen Proverb Japanese School of Mahayana Buddhism
All kinds are good except the kind that bores you.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Surely life, if it be not long, is tedious, since we are forced to call in the assistance of so many trifles to rid us of our time, of that time which never can return.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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
Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Boredom … causes us to neglect more duties than does interest.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.
—William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) English Anglican Clergyman, Priest, Mystic
Each man reserves to himself alone the right of being tedious.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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
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
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
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
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
A bore is a man who has nothing to say and says it anyway.
—Unknown
A dull ax never loves grindstones.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I’m leaving.
—Steven Wright (b.1955) American Comedian, Actor, Writer
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
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