I believe in grumbling; it is the politest form of fighting known.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
One chops the wood, the other does the grunting.
—Yiddish Proverb
Complaint is the largest tribute Heaven receives.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred, to all rational mortals, namely, their distempers. If you have not slept, or if you have slept, or if you have headache, or sciatica, or leprosy, or thunder-stroke, I beseech you, by all angels, to hold your peace, and not pollute the morning.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When people complain of life, it is almost always because they have asked impossible things of it.
—Ernest Renan (1823–92) French Philosopher, Historian
Oh, wouldn’t the world seem dull and flat with nothing whatever to grumble at?
—W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) English Dramatist, Librettist, Poet, Illustrator
The squeaking wheel doesn’t always get the grease. Sometimes it gets replaced.
—Unknown
Instead of complaining that the rosebush is full of thorns, be happy that the thorn bush has roses.
—German Proverb
We lose the right of complaining sometimes, by denying something, but this often triples its force.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
Murmur at nothing: if our ills are irreparable, it is ungrateful; if remediless, it is vain. A Christian builds his fortitude on a better foundation than stoicism; he is pleased with everything that happens, because he knows it could not happen unless it had first pleased God and that which pleases Him must be the best.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Sweat silently. Let’s have no squawking about a little expenditure of energy.
—Martin H. Fischer
Things cannot always go your way. Learn to accept in silence the minor aggravations, cultivate the gift of taciturnity and consume your own smoke with an extra draught of hard work, so that those about you may not be annoyed with the dust and soot of your complaints.
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
Depend upon it, that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him: for where there is nothing but pure misery, there never is any mention of it.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Firmness, both in suffering and exertion, is a character which I would wish to possess.—I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint, and the cowardly feeble resolve.
—Robert Burns (1759–96) Scottish Poet, Songwriter
Noise proves nothing, Often a hen who has laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
He cannot complain of a hard sentence, who is made master of his own fate.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
I think that the insane desire one has sometimes to bang and kick grumblers and peevish persons is a Divine instinct.
—Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914) English Roman Catholic Priest, Writer
One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him.
—Chinese Proverb
To make a criticism is a bit like complaining about the shape of the Pyramids.
—Unknown
Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied.
—Jane Austen (1775–1817) English Novelist
Untold suffering seldom is.
—Franklin P. Jones
I will chide no breather in the world but myself, against whom I know most faults.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Never complain. Never explain.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
To hear complaints is tiresome to the miserable and the happy.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.
—Hebrew Proverb
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
When a person finds themselves predisposed to complaining about how little they are regarded by others, let them reflect how little they have contributed to the happiness of others.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Constant complaint is the poorest sort of pay for all the comforts we enjoy.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Man spends his life in reasoning on the past, complaining of the present, and trembling for the future.
—Antoine de Rivarol (1753–1801) French Writer, Epigrammatist
The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.
—Lou Holtz (1893–1980) American Stage Performer
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