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
Bores bore each other too; but it never seems to teach them anything.
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Author
The man who suspects his own tediousness is yet to be born.
—Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) American Writer, Poet, Critic, Editor
O, he is as tedious as is a tired horse, or a railing wife; worse than a smoky house.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Bore: a person who talks when you wish him to listen.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Boredom: the desire for desires.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
The devil’s name is dullness.
—Robert E. Lee (1807–70) Confederate General during American Civil War
Boredom is the root of all evil—the despairing refusal to be oneself.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
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
There are few wild beasts more to be dreaded than a talking man having nothing to say.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him away.
—Walter Benjamin
A yawn is a silent shout.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
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
Is boredom anything less than the sense of one’s faculties slowly dying?
—John Berger (1926–2017) English Art Critic, Novelist
What’s wrong with being a boring kind of guy?
—George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) American Republican Statesman, 41st President
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
If you are bored with life, if you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things—you don’t have enough goals.
—Lou Holtz (1893–1980) American Stage Performer
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
When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
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
Few men are more to be shunned than those who have time, but know not how to improve it, and so spend it in wasting the time of their neighbors, talking forever though they have nothing to say.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
Boredom is like a pitiless zooming in on the epidermis of time. Every instant is dilated and magnified like the pores of the face.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
Boredom is always counter-revolutionary. Always.
—Guy Debord (1931–94) French 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
It is hoped that, with all modern improvements, a way will be discovered of getting rid of bores; for it is too bad that a poor wretch can be punished for stealing your handkerchief or gloves, and that no punishment can be inflicted on those who steal your time, and with it your temper and patience, as well as the bright thoughts that might have entered your mind, if they had not been frightened away by the bore.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
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
A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
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.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
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 cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
We are almost always wearied in the company of persons with whom we are not permitted to be weary.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
All kinds are good except the kind that bores you.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
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
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
Only the most acute and active animals are capable of boredom.—A theme for a great poet would be God’s boredom on the seventh day of creation.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
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
Only those who want everything done for them are bored.
—Billy Graham (1918–91) American Baptist Religious Leader
You’ll find boredom where there is an absence of a good idea.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, 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
Life is never boring, but some people choose to be bored.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
The secret of making one’s self tiresome, is, not to know when to stop.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
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
And ’tis remarkable that they talk most who have the least to say.
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721) English Poet, Diplomat
Against boredom the gods themselves fight in vain.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.
—Unknown
A bore is a man who has nothing to say and says it anyway.
—Unknown