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Frivolous Quotes

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Frivolous Quotes

“Require nothing unreasonable of your officers and men, but see that whatever is required be punctually complied with. Reward and punish every man according to his merit, without partiality or prejudice; hear his complaints; if well founded, redress them; if otherwise, discourage them, in order to prevent frivolous ones. Discourage vice in every shape, and impress upon the mind of every man, from the first to the lowest, the importance of the cause, and what it is they are contending for.”

IfsMenMindFirstsWellsOrderCausesShapesImportancePrejudiceRewardsVicesEvery ManMeritOfficersImpressComplaintsLowestDiscouragingUnreasonableFrivolousRedressContendingPartiality
Book:Maxims of George Washington: Political, Military, Social, Moral, and Religious
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“Dance and game are frivolous, unimportant down here; for "down here" is not their natural place. Here, they are a moment's rest from the life we were placed here to live. But in this world everything is upside down. That which, if it could be prolonged here, would be a truancy, is likest that which in a better country is the End of ends. Joy is the serious business of Heaven.”

IfsWorldEndsCountryMomentsWould BeJoyGamesHeavenNaturalThis WorldSeriousUpside DownUnimportantFrivolousSerious BusinessTruancy
Book:A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis
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“Seeing clearly within himself and always able to dodge around the ends of any position, including his own, Shaw assumed from the start the dual role of prophet and gadfly. To his contemporaries it appeared frivolous and contradictory to perform as both superman and socialist, sceptic and believer, legalist and heretic, high-brow and mob-orator. But feeling the duty to teach as well as to mirror mankind, Shaw did not accept himself as a contradictory being.”

WellsEndsFeelingsAbleAcceptingRolesTeachSeeingMankindPositionDutyMirrorsIncludingBelieverProphetSocialistContradictoryBrowsHereticFrivolousOratorsDodgeScepticGadflies
Author:Jacques Barzun
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“It's not that everything needs to have substance, but when nothing does then you know we're living in a bankrupt society, an artistically bankrupt society, and that's not okay. I think there's room for forms of entertainment that are very light and frivolous and fun, but when those forms of entertainment, forms of "art" if you will, become presented as something more than that, and are believed to be something more than that, then we've got a lot of problems.”

IfsThinkingKnowsNeedsDoeArtProblemLightFormFunRoomsOkayEntertainmentSubstanceFrivolousNot Okay
Author:Davey Havok
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“If we set out with... a scrupulous regard to the Constitution, the government will acquire a spirit and a tone productive of permanent blessings to the community. If on the contrary,... the Constitution is slighted, or explained away, upon every frivolous pretext, the future of government will be feeble, distracted and arbitrary. The rights of the subjects will be the sport of every party vicissitude. There will be no settled rule of conduct, but everything will fluctuate with the alternate prevalency of contending factions.”

IfsGovernmentSpiritSportsCommunityPartyRightsSubjectsBlessingConstitutionRegardContraryPermanentToneAcquireProductiveArbitraryDistractedFactionsFrivolousPretextVicissitudesContendingSlighted
Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“Gossip is always a personal confession either of malice or imbecility, and the young should not only shun it, but by the most thorough culture relieve themselves from all temptation to indulge in it. It is a low, frivolous, and too often a dirty business. There are country neighborhoods in which it rages like a pest. Churches are split in pieces by it. Neighbors are made enemies by it for life. In many persons it degenerates into a chronic disease, which is practically incurable. Let the young cure it while they may.”

ShouldMayPersonsMadeCountryYoungCultureChurchEnemyPiecesDiseaseLowsRageNeighborCuresTemptationDirtyNeighborhoodGossipConfessionSplitsIndulgeMaliceThoroughIndulge InDegeneratesFrivolousPestsImbecilityDirty Business
Author:J. G. Holland
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“In the one instance, the dreamerloses sight of this object in a wilderness of deductions and suggestionsuntilhe finds the incitamentum, or first cause of his musings,... forgotten. In my case, the primary object was invariably frivolous, although assuming, through the medium of my distempered vision, a refracted and unreal importance.”

FirstsCausesImaginationVisionCasesObjectsSightImportanceAssumingForgottenMediumsInstancePrimariesWildernessUnrealForgetfulnessFrivolousDeductionsMusings
Author:Edgar Allan Poe
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“The Parisian is to the French what the Athenian was to the Greeks: no one sleeps better than he, no one is more openly frivolous and idle, no one appears more heedless. But this is misleading. He is given to every kind of listlessness, but when there is glory to be won he may be inspired with every kind of fury. Give him a pike and he will enact the tenth of August, a musket and you have Austerlitz. He was the springboard of Napoleon and the mainstay of Danton. At the cry of "la patrie" he enrols, and at the call of liberty he tears up the pavements. Beware of him!”

GivingKindMayGivenSleepLibertyCryTearsGloryInspiredGreekParisIdleFuryMisleadAugustFrivolousBe InspiredPavementAtheniansSpringboards
Book:Les Misérables
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“F.R. Leavis's "eat up your broccoli" approach to fiction emphasises this junkfood/wholefood dichotomy. If reading a novel--for theeighteenth century reader, the most frivolous of diversions--did not, by the middle of the twentieth century, make you a better person in some way, then you might as well flush the offending volume down the toilet, which was by far the best place for the undigested excreta of dubious nourishment.”

IfsWayWellsPersonsMightReadingFictionNovelMiddleCenturyReaderApproachVolumeToiletsTwentieth CenturyNourishmentBetter PersonFrivolousDiversionBest PlaceDubiousDichotomyOffendingBroccoli
Book:Expletives Deleted: Selected Writings
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“Let us resolve to talk more to believers about the Bible when we meet them. Alas, the conversation of Christians, when they do meet, is often sadly unprofitable! How many frivolous, and trifling, and uncharitable things are said! Let us bring out the Bible more, and it will help to drive the devil away, and keep our hearts in tune. Oh, that we may all strive so to walk together in this evil world; that Jesus may often draw near, and go with us, as He went with the two disciples journeying to Emmaus!”

WorldHeartMaySaidTwoHelpingChristianTogetherEvilJesusWalksConversationDrawsDevilStriveBelieverTunesResolveDiscipleAlasFrivolousTriflingEvil World
Book:Why Read the Bible Through & How Readest Thou?
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“Everyone seems to assume that the unscrupulous parts of journalism will be the frivolous or jocular parts. This is against all ethical experience. Jokes are generally honest. Complete solemnity is almost always dishonest. The writer of the snippet merely refers to a frivolous and fugitive fact in a frivolous and fugitive way. The writer of the leading article has to write about a fact he has known for 20 minutes as though he has studied it for 20 years.”

WayWritingYearsFactsSeemsKnownMinutesHonestJokesAssumingJournalismEthicalArticlesFrivolousFugitiveSolemnity
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“When I reflect upon what I have seen, what I have heard, what I have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous hurry and bustle and pleasure of the world had any reality; and I look on what has passed as one of those wild dreams which opium occasions, and I by no means wish to repeat the nauseous dose for the sake of the fugitive illusion.”

WorldLifeLooksMeanI CanDoneDreamRealityWishPleasureHeardIllusionSakeOccasionsRepeatsDoseFrivolousOpiumFugitiveBustleWild Dreams
Author:Lord Chesterfield
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“Little minds mistake little objects for great ones, and lavish away upon the former that time and attention which only the latterdeserve. To such mistakes we owe the numerous and frivolous tribe of insect-mongers, shell-mongers, and pursuers and driers of butterflies, etc. The strong mind distinguishes, not only between the useful and the useless, but likewise between the useful and the curious.”

MindLittlesStrongAttentionMistakeObjectsAddictionCuriousFormerUselessEtcButterflyShellsTribesInsectsFutilityGreat OnesFrivolousLittle MindsStrong Mind
Book:Lord Chesterfield's Letters
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“I have seen many people, who while you are speaking to them, instead, of looking at, and attending to you, fix their eyes upon the ceiling, or some other part of the room, look out of the window, play with a dog, twirl their snuff-box, or pick their nose. Nothing discovers a little, futile, frivolous mind more than this, and nothing is so offensively ill-bred.”

PeopleMindLooksLittlesPlayEyeRoomsDogPicksWindowIllBoxesMannersNosesEtiquetteAttendingFrivolousSnuff
Author:Lord Chesterfield
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