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Futility Quotes

Browse 278 quotes about Futility.

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Futility Quotes

“Given the final futility of our struggle, is the fleeting jolt of meaning that art gives us valuable? Or is the only value in passing the time as comfortable as possible? What should a story seek to emulate, Augustus? A ringing alarm? A call to arms? A morphine drip? Of course, like all interrogation of the universe, this line of inquiry inevitably reduces us to asking what it means to be human and whether—to borrow a phrase from the angst-encumbered sixteeen-year-olds you no doubt revile—there is a point to it all.”

GivingShouldYearsHumansMeanArtStoriesValuesUniverseCoursesGivenLinesStruggleDoubtArmsComfortableAskingFinalsValuablePassingPassingsPhrasesNo DoubtInquiryFleetingAlarmsAngstFutilityEmulateInterrogationAugustusWhat It Means To Be HumanMorphine
Author:John Green
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“We are children, perhaps, at the very moment when we know that it is as children that God loves us - not because we have deserved his love and not in spite of our undeserving; not because we try and not because we recognize the futility of our trying; but simply because he has chosen to love us. We are children because he is our father; and all of our efforts, fruitful and fruitless, to do good, to speak truth, to understand, are the efforts of children who, for all their precocity, are children still in that before we loved him, he loved us, as children, through Jesus Christ our lord.”

KnowsTryingChildrenStillsMomentsFatherJesusSpeakChristEffortLordJesus ChristChosenGod LoveSpiteHis LoveOur LordOur FatherSpeak The TruthFutilityGod Loves UsUndeserving
Author:Frederick Buechner
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“I felt despair. The word’s overused and banalified now, despair, but it’s a serious word, and I’m using it seriously. For me it denotes a simple admixture — a weird yearning for death combined with a crushing sense of my own smallness and futility that presents as a fear of death. It’s maybe close to what people call dread or angst. But it’s not these things, quite. It’s more like wanting to die in order to escape the unbearable feeling of becoming aware that I’m small and weak and selfish and going without any doubt at all to die. It’s wanting to jump overboard.”

PeopleFeelingsOrderDiesFeltMy OwnSimpleDoubtSeriousBecomingDespairWeakSelfishCrushYearningDreadFear Of DeathUnbearableAngstFutilityWanting To DieSmallnessOverboardOverused
Author:David Foster Wallace
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“The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter.”

IfsNeedsEnoughChangeEconomicFoodProduceRevolutionDependsGardenProductionsScalesRevolutionaryShelterConsumptionAgricultureBulletsEcologyPercentagesAttackingFutilityPermacultureSystemic Change
Author:Bill Mollison
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“Christ alone, of all the philosophers, magicians, etc., has affirmed eternal life as the most important certainty, the infinity of time, the futility of death, the necessity and purpose of serenity and devotion. He lived serenely, as an artist greater than all other artists, scorning marble and clay and paint, working in the living flesh. In other words, this peerless artist, scarcely conceivable with the blunt instrument of our modern, nervous and obtuse brains, made neither statues nor paintings nor books. He maintained in no uncertain terms that he made ... living men, immortals.”

MenMadeImportantBookPurposeArtistTermChristBrainGreaterModernPaintingEternalInstrumentsPaintPhilosopherFleshDevotionNervousCertaintyEtcInfinitySerenityUncertainMagicianClayStatuesEternal LifeMarbleFutilityBluntChrist Alone
Author:Vincent Van Gogh
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“One of the greatest evils of the day among those outside of prison is their sense of futility. Young people say, What is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time; we can be responsible only for the one action of the present moment.”

PeopleMomentsActionYoungTimeEvilEffortStepsResponsibleLaysPrisonPresent MomentBricksBeing ResponsibleFutilityOne Step At A TimeSmall Efforts
Author:Dorothy Day
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“If one is devoid of hope and thanksgiving, he cannot for long remain sinless, for he will, in despair, have slackened his resolve. Feelings of futility foster vulnerability. Self-pity is such a busy stagehand, rearranging the scenery to help sin make its entrance. No wonder the prophets say that without faith in the Lord, there is no hope.”

IfsLongSelfHelpingFeelingsSinWonderLordDespairAdversityBusyPityVulnerabilityProphetResolveNo HopeSelf PityFutilityEntrancesSceneryRearranging
Author:Neal A. Maxwell
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“It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury; signifying nothing.”

LifePlayDeathSoundWalksStageTomorrowWalkingTalesIdiotThemeExistentialismLife And DeathPaceAphorismFurySonnetCreepsTrekkingFutilityStrollingLife DeathSaunteringCatharsisMeaninglessnessRomeo And Juliet PlayFull LifeStages Of LifeMacbeth PlayFrettingMost MemorableFuture TimeLady MacbethImportant MacbethStage PlayMacbeth KeyMacbeth ConflictMacbeth ThemeMetaphors Of LifeSlings And ArrowsPoor LifeSignifyingMacbeth MotifDarkness In MacbethPace Of LifeMacbeth EssayBrevity Of LifeFutility Of LifeStruttingPlay Life
Author:William Shakespeare
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“The mind lives through more, and the more cannot be fulfilled; that is impossible. IT ENDS IN TEARS. Every desire ends in frustration, because every expectation is the beginning of frustration. Why does every desire end in frustration? There are only two alternatives: either you achieve your object of desire or you don`t achieve it, but in both cases it will end in tears. If you achieve it you will see the utter futility of it all.”

IfsMindDoeTwoEndsDesireCasesImpossibleAchieveObjectsTearsExpectationsAlternativesFrustrationFulfilledFutilityObjects Of Desire
Author:Rajneesh
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“Psychiatrists declare that most of our fatigue derives from our mental and emotional attitudes... What kinds of emotional factors tire the sedentary (or sitting) worker? Joy? Contentment? No! Never! Boredom, resentment, a feeling of not being appreciated, a feeling of futility, hurry, anxiety, worry-those are the emotional factors that exhaust the sitting worker, make him susceptible to colds, reduce his output, and send him home with a nervous headache. Yes, we get tired because our emotions produce nervous tensions in the body.”

InspirationalKindFeelingsHomeBodyJoyEmotionAttitudeWorryProduceEmotionalAnxietySittingTiredWorkersFactorsNervousTensionBoredomContentmentResentmentTireAppreciatedFatiguePsychiatristFutilityHeadacheSusceptibleOutputSedentaryBeing Appreciated
Author:Dale Carnegie
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“Jokes can be noble. Laughs are exactly as honorable as tears. Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion, to the futility of thinking and striving anymore. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward - and since I can start thinking and striving again that much sooner.”

ThinkingI CanLaughingTearsLaughterJokesResponseStriveNobleFrustrationHonorableCleaningExhaustionFutilityCleaning Up
Author:Kurt Vonnegut
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“Automobiles are often conveniently tagged as the villains responsible for the ills of cities and the disappointments and futilities of city planning. But the destructive effect of automobiles are much less a cause than a symptom of our incompetence at city building.”

CausesCitiesEffectsBuildingResponsibleDisappointmentPlanningDestructiveVillainSymptomsAutomobileIncompetenceFutilityCity PlanningTagged
Book:The Death and Life of Great American Cities
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“If you want to change from sex towards love, try to understand your sexuality. Watch it, watch the mechanicalness of it. See the futility, see the whole absurdity of it - it is not leading you anywhere. Become a little more refined, become a little more subtle. Look not for the body, but somebody's being. Watch, explore. Sooner or later you will find somebody who fits with you.”

IfsWantTryingLooksLittlesWholeBodySexWatchesFitSexualitySubtleSooner Or LaterAbsurdityRefinedFutility
Author:Rajneesh
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“Commonly, people believe that defeat is characterized by a general bustle and a feverish rush. Bustle and rush are the signs of victory, not of defeat. Victory is a thing of action. It is a house in the act of being built. Every participant in victory sweats and puffs, carrying the stones for the building of the house. But defeat is a thing of weariness, of incoherence, of boredom. And above all of futility.”

PeopleBelieveActionHouseBuildingVictoryBuiltStonesDefeatBoredomSweatParticipantsFutilityWearinessPuffBustleIncoherence
Author:Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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“No matter what the storm clouds bring, you can face your pain with courage and hope. For two thousand years ago-six hours, one Friday-Christ firmly planted in bedrock three solid anchor points that we can all cling to. For the heart scarred with futility, that Friday holds purpose. For the life blackened with failure, that Friday holds forgiveness. And for the soul looking into the tunnel of death, that Friday holds deliverance.”

YearsHeartTwoSoulMatterPainFacesPurposeThreeChristHoursThousandSixYears AgoNo Matter WhatCloudsStormThousand YearsFridayTunnelsAnchorsFutilityDeliveranceBedrockGood FridayStorm Clouds
Author:Max Lucado
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“It is to the United States that all freemen look for the light and the hope of the world. Unless we dedicate ourselves completely to this struggle, unless we combat hunger with food, fear with trust, suspicion with faith, fraud with justice - and threats with power, nations will surrender to the futility, the hopelessness, the panic on which wars feed.”

WorldLooksWarStatesLightNationsFearJusticeUnitedUnited StatesStruggleThreatHungerSurrenderCombatFraudPanicSuspicionHopelessnessFutilityLife StruggleFreeman
Author:Omar N. Bradley
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“In order to find God in ourselves, we must stop looking at ourselves, stop checking and verifying ourselves in the mirror of our own futility, and be content to be in Him and to do whatever He wills, according to our limitations, judging our acts not in the light of our own illusions, but in the light of His reality which is all around us in the things and people we live with.”

PeopleRealityLightOrderJudgingIllusionMirrorsLimitationFutility
Book:Seeds
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“Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat the eleventh grade.”

PastRememberHistoryProgressRepeatsGradesHistorianDoomedYour PastMy PastFutilityInfancyPast And PresentPast PresentPast Present And FutureCondemningAuschwitzHiroshimaForget The PastPast Present FutureConfederateRemembering The PastStages Of LifeLearn From The PastPresent FuturePast MistakesFuture And PresentTimes PastRepeating HistoryHistory Repeats ItselfPast FutureHistory Of LifeInfancy IsPast Present Future LoveRepeated FailureKnowledge Of The PastLessons Of The PastHomestead ActStudying HistoryPerilous TimesEvents In History
Book:Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
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“The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of his life. Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interest upon futilities, and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance.”

IfsKnowsMenFeelsKindRealMatterDesireGoalInterestAttitudePsychologyImportanceInfiniteAll KindsThis LifeRelatedLinksFixingFutilityMemories Dreams Reflections
Author:Carl Jung
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“When I look back on my past and think how much time I wasted on nothing, how much time has been lost in futilities, errors, laziness, incapacity to live; how little I appreciated it, how many times I sinned against my heart and soul-then my heart bleeds. Life is a gift, life is happiness, every minute can be an eternity of happiness.”

ThinkingLooksHeartLittlesHas BeensSoulPastMovingLife IsLostMinutesMy HeartEternityErrorsMoving OnLazinessAppreciatedHeart And SoulMy PastFutilityIncapacityLife Is A Gift
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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