Drudgery is as necessary to call out the treasures of the mind as harrowing and planting those of the earth.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
When the shriveled skin of the ordinary is stuffed out with meaning, it satisfies the senses amazingly.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
Only those who want everything done for them are bored.
—Billy Graham (1918–91) American Baptist Religious Leader
A dull ax never loves grindstones.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Boredom is the root of all evil—the despairing refusal to be oneself.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German 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
Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
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
Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, action nor utterance, nor the power of speech, to stir men’s blood. I only speak right on. I tell you that which you yourselves do know.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
The concept of boredom entails an inability to use up present moments in a personally fulfilling way.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
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
When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
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
Man finds nothing so intolerable as to be in a state of complete rest, without passions, without occupation, without diversion, without effort. Then he feels his nullity, loneliness, inadequacy, dependence, helplessness, emptiness.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Unless a man has been taught what to do with success after getting it, the achievement of it must inevitably leave him a prey to boredom.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
The only unhappiness is a life of boredom.
—Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) French Writer
A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people’s patience.
—John Updike (1932–2009) American Novelist, Poet, Short-Story Writer
Boredom is always counter-revolutionary. Always.
—Guy Debord (1931–94) French Philosopher
And ’tis remarkable that they talk most who have the least to say.
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721) English Poet, Diplomat
Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions.
—Samuel Butler
The world is eaten up by boredom. You can’t see it all at once. It is like dust. You go about and never notice, you breathe it in, you eat and drink it. It is sifted so fine, it doesn’t even grit on your teeth. But stand still for an instant and there it is, coating your face and hands. To shake off this drizzle of ashes you must be for ever on the go. And so people are always “on the go.”
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948) French Author
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
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
Each day provides its own gifts.
—Martial (40–104) Ancient Roman Latin Poet
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
I am one of those unhappy persons who inspire bores to the greatest flights of art.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British Poet, Literary Critic
Want and boredom are indeed the twin poles of human life.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
A bore is a person who talks when you wish him to listen.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
The devil’s name is dullness.
—Robert E. Lee (1807–70) Confederate General during American Civil War
Boredom, like necessity, is very often the mother of invention.
—Unknown
Nothing is interesting if you’re not interested.
—Helen MacInnes (1907–85) Scottish-born American Novelist
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
America is said to have the highest per capita boredom of any spot on earth! We know that because we have the greatest number of artificial amusements of any country.
People have become so empty that they can’t even entertain themselves. They have to pay other people to amuse them, to make them laugh, to try to make them feel warm and happy and comfortable for a few minutes, to try to lose that awful, frightening, hollow feeling—that terrible, dreaded feeling of being lost and alone.
—Billy Graham (1918–91) American Baptist Religious Leader
In the ancient recipe, the three antidotes for dullness or boredom are sleep, drink, and travel. It is rather feeble. From sleep you wake up, from drink you become sober, and from travel you come home again. And then where are you? No, the two sovereign remedies for dullness are love or a crusade.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
I begin with the principle that all men are bores. Surely no one will prove himself so great a bore as to contradict me in this.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
The only menace is inertia.
—Saint-John Perse (1887–1975) French Poet, Diplomat
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
All kinds are good except the kind that bores you.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
It is necessary to work, if not from inclination, at least from despair. Everything considered, work is less boring than amusing oneself.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
Boredom … causes us to neglect more duties than does interest.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Grasp your opportunities, no matter how poor your health; nothing is worse for your health than boredom.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Boredom is nothing but the experience of a paralysis of our productive powers.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
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