110 Idle Hands Quotes

Following is our list of idle hands quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about hands up.

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Famous Idle Hands Quotes

The devil finds work for idle hands. - Henry David Thoreau

The devil finds work for idle hands. — Henry David Thoreau

The Devil finds work for idle hands. — Proverbs

An idle brain is the devil's workshop. - English Proverbs

An idle brain is the devil's workshop. — English Proverbs

Idleness and lack of occupation tend - nay are dragged - towards evil. — Hippocrates

Idleness is the enemy of the soul. — Anselm of Canterbury

You should not have idle hands, you should always be working. All your life. — Ivan Bunin

For Satan always finds some mischief still for idle hands to do. - Isaac Watts

For Satan always finds some mischief still for idle hands to do. — Isaac Watts

They are not only idle who do nothing, but they are idle also who might be better employed. — Socrates

An idler is a watch that wants both hands; As useless if it goes as when it stands. — William Cowper

The devil tempts all men, but idle men tempt the devil. - Arabic Proverbs

The devil tempts all men, but idle men tempt the devil. — Arabic Proverbs

Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre. — Albert Camus

Idleness is the enemy of the soul; and therefore the brethren ought to be employed in manual labor at certain times, at others, in devout reading. — Benedict of Nursia

Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being - Plato

Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being — Plato

Free time is the enemy of progress — Casey Neistat

Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and governments. — Benjamin Franklin

Short Idle Hands Quotes

  • At times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning. — Jenny Holzer
  • Idleness is not doing nothing. Idleness is being free to do anything. — Floyd Dell
  • Rest breeds rust. — Proverbs
  • My fingers always seem busier than my mind. — Alexander Calder
  • On a mission your worst enemy is idle time. — Nipsey Hussle
  • It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. — Jerome K. Jerome
  • Lazy people are always anxious to be doing something. — Marquis De Vauvenargues
  • Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness. — George Macdonald
  • Busy souls have no time to be busybodies. — Martin O'Malley
  • Hunger is not the worst feature of unemployment; idleness is. — William Barrett

Idle Hands Image Quotes

Idle hands quote If I cut you off chances are you handed me the scissors.
If I cut you off chances are you handed me the scissors.

Handing Over Quotes

That's the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don't work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital. — Noam Chomsky

Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you. — Jim Rohn

And when night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the reasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed: just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God's hands and leave it with Him. — Edith Stein

Idle hands quote Family is not about blood. It's about who is willing to hold your hand when you need it the most.
Family is not about blood. It's about who is willing to hold your hand when you need it the most.

I don't really have control over my direct impression on people anymore. I used to be the person putting my CD in people's hands. But I'm kind of a mainstream artist now. Not by choice. — Chance the Rapper

The Immaculate alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan. She seeks souls that will consecrate themselves entirely to her, that will become in her hands forceful instruments for the defeat of Satan and the spread of God's kingdom. — Maximilian Kolbe

Watching your daughter being collected by her date feels like handing over a million dollar Stradivarius to a gorilla. — Jim Bishop

Idle hands quote A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.
A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.

We are expected to believe that anyone who objects to the Department of Homeland Security or the USA Patriot Act is a terrorist, and that the only way to preserve our freedom is to hand it over to the government for safekeeping. — L. Neil Smith

Companies that grow for the sake of growth or that expand into areas outside their core business strategy often stumble. On the other hand, companies that build scale for the benefit of their customers and shareholders more often succeed over time. — Jamie Dimon

Fred Davis, the doyen of snooker, now 67 years of age and too old to get his leg over, prefers to use his left hand. — Ted Lowe

Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break into pieces. — Etienne de La Boetie

Hands Up Quotes

What my campaign is about is a political revolution - millions of people standing up and saying, enough is enough. Our government belongs to all of us, and not just the hand full of billionaires. — Bernie Sanders

We must give up the silly idea of folding our hands and waiting on God to do everything for us. If God had intended for that, then he would not have given us a mind. Whatever you want in life, you must make up your mind to do it for yourself. — Marcus Garvey

With the people, for the people, by the people. I crack up when I hear it; I say, with the handful, for the handful, by the handful, cause that's what really happens. — Fannie Lou Hamer

Idle hands quote Hold a true friend with both your hands.
Hold a true friend with both your hands.

In life, it's not the genetic guy who wins or the guy with the most potential who wins; it's the person with the greatest perseverance who wins. Always be willing to get up and go at it again and again. That's the guy who has his hands raised later in life. That's the guy you guys need to be. — Greg Plitt

With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relative, my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the Army. — Robert E. Lee

Our world today so desperately hungers for hope, yet uncounted people have almost given up. There is despair and hopelessness on every hand. Let us be faithful in proclaiming the hope that is in Jesus. — Billy Graham

Idle hands quote We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand ~Randy Pausch
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand ~Randy Pausch

A new era will dawn in Africa, when the impoverished masses of a nation rise up to rescue their right to a decent life from the hands of the ruling oligarchies. — Che Guevara

A people who have suffered so much for so long at hands of a racist society must draw the line somewhere.... the black communities of America must rise up as one man to halt the progression of a trend that leads inevitably to their total destruction. — Bobby Seale

The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. — Woodrow Wilson

One of the greatest pieces of advice I've ever gotten in my life was from my mom. When I was a little kid there was a kid who was bugging me at school and she said "Okay, I'm gonna tell you what to do. If the kid's bugging you and puts his hands on you; you pick up the nearest rock. — Johnny Depp

Hand Quotes

Judge not, before you judge yourself. Judge not, if you're not ready for judgment. The Road of life is rocky and you may stumble too, so while you talk about me, someone else is judging you. — Bob Marley

Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery. — Malcolm X

Religion is the organization of spirituality into something that became the hand maiden of conquerors. Nearly all religions were brought to people and imposed on people by conquerors, and used as the framework to control their minds. — John Henrik Clarke

Idle hands quote It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.
It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.

Bury my body and don't build any monument. Keep my hands out so the people know the one who won the world had nothing in hand when he died. — Alexander The Great

The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. — Steve Biko

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. — Ronald Reagan

I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess. — Martin Luther

Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game. — Voltaire

The laws of nature are written by the hand of God in the language of mathematics. — Galileo Galilei

Hope is willing to leave unanswered questions unanswered and unknown futures unknown. Hope makes you see God's guiding hand not only in the gentle and pleasant moments but also in the shadows of disappointment and darkness. — Henri Nouwen

Being Idle Quotes

Today, I am an inquisitor. I shall not sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution. — Barbara Jordan

Sometimes I think that idlers seem to be a special class for whom nothing can be planned, plead as one will with them - their only contribution to the human family is to warm a seat at the common table. — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Be industrious, let thine eyes be open, lest you become a beggar, for the man that is idle cometh not to honor. — Egyptian Proverbs

You must obey this now for a law, that he that will not work shall not eat (except by sickness he be disabled). For the labors of thirty or forty honest and industrious men shall not be consumed to maintain a hundred and fifty idle loiterers. — John Smith

Every man is, or hopes to be, an idler. — Samuel Johnson

It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few. — Pythagoras

If we look on idly, heaven and earth will never be joined. To join heaven and earth, some decisive deed of purity is necessary. To accomplish so resolute an action, you have to stake your life, giving no thought to personal gain or loss. — Yukio Mishima

we must be as satisfied to be powerless, idle and still before God, and dried up and barren when He permits it, as to be full of life, enjoying His presence with ease and devotion. The whole matter of our union with God consists in being content either way. — Jane Frances de Chantal

Give me the boy who rouses when he is praised, who profits when he is encouraged and who cries when he is defeated. Such a boy will be fired by ambition; he will be stung by reproach, and animated by preference; never shall I apprehend any bad consequences from idleness in such a boy. — Quintilian

All of our days are numbered. We cannot afford to be idle. To act on a bad idea is better than to not act at all, because the worth of an idea never becomes apparent until you do it. — Nick Cave

People Writing About Idle Hands

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Proverbs

Proverbs
quotes on wisdom, friendship and resilience

689 14076
Read quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau
quotes on nature, civil disobedience and solitude

2697 19655
Read quotes by English Proverbs

English Proverbs
quotes on patience, folklore and values

145 2522
Read quotes by Hippocrates

Hippocrates
quotes on health, medicine and fasting

152 7089
Read quotes by Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury
quotes on education, religion and love

26 1506
Read quotes by Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts
quotes on religion, love and god

124 771

More Idle Hands Quotes

Toil is man's allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness. — Herman Melville

Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you damned? — Leonard Ravenhill

These eyes, tho' clear To outward view of blemish or of spot, Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot, Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not Against Heaven's hand or will, not bate a jot Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer Right onward. — John Milton

Remember, grab you're future with both hands and mold it into what you want it to be. It's the determined, who create the life they want, while the idle sit by and watch it fade away into nothingness. The future belongs to the exceptional individuals, who can see the light of the future, at the end of the tunnel. — James D. Watson

I would rather play with forked lightning, or take in my hand living wires with their fiery current, than to speak a reckless word against any servant of Christ, or idly repeat the slanderous darts which thousands of Christians are hurling on others, to the hurt of their own souls and bodies. — A. B. Simpson

Idle hands make fretful minds. — Shelley Shepard Gray

That the Devil finds work for idle hands to do is probably true. But there is a profound difference between leisure and idleness. — Henry Ford

although it has been said that idle hands are the devil's workshop, when it comes to teenagers, both idle and active hands are the devil's workshop. — Amy Sedaris

You can bet the rent money that whatever politicians do will end up harming consumers. ... Economic ignorance is to politicians what idle hands are to the devil. Both provide the workshop for the creation of evil. — Walter E. Williams

Jewels, lies, slips of paper, dried flowers, memories of thing long past, useless quotations, idle hands, beads, buttons, and mischief. — Holly Black

Idle hands are the devil's playthings. — Benjamin Franklin

One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labor. To contemplate is to toil, to think is to do. The crossed arms work, the clasped hands act. The eyes upturned to Heaven are an act of creation. — Victor Hugo

In works of labour or of skillI would be busy too:For Satan finds some mischief stillFor idle hands to do. — Isaac Watts

Equality is. one of the most consummate scoundrels that ever crept from the brain of a political juggler--a fellow who thrusts his hand into the pocket of honest industry or enterprising talent, and squanders their hard-earned profits on profligate idleness or indolent stupidity. — James Kirke Paulding

Therefore with idle hands and head I sit In late December before the fire's daze Punished by crimes of which I would be quit. — Allen Tate

I can't stand still; I find it very difficult to sit around and do nothing. I've got to have projects on the go because the devil makes work for idle hands. I've got to be going forward all the time. — Irvine Welsh

For Satan finds some mischief stillFor idle hands to do. — Isaac Watts

Game, noun: Any unserious occupation designed for the relaxation of busy people and the distraction of idle ones. It's used to take people to whom we have nothing to say off our hands, and sometimes even ourselves. — Etienne Bonnot de Condillac

Survival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate. To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one's life away. — Yann Martel

Indolence is the worst enemy that the church has to encounter. Men sleep around her altar, stretching themselves on beds of ease, or sit idly with folded hands looking lazily out on fields white for the harvest, but where no sickle rings against the wheat. — Frederic Dan Huntington

Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of the former, we may easily bear the latter. — Benjamin Franklin

If I gave my mother a knitted scarf she'd be worried I was wasting my time doing stupid stuff like knitting instead of school work. Presenting a homemade knitted object to my parents was actually like handing them a detailed backlog of my idleness. — Mindy Kaling

The thirst for something other than what we have…to bring something new, even if it is worse, some emotion, some sorrow; when our sensibility, which happiness has silenced like an idle harp, wants to resonate under some hand, even a rough one, and even if it might be broken by it. — Marcel Proust

The people who are unemployed want to do the work, but the system is such a catastrophic failure that it cannot bring together idle hands and work. This is all hailed as a great success, and it is a great success - for a very small sector of the population. — Noam Chomsky

It's a matter of ABC: When we encounter ADVERSITY, we react by thinking about it. Our thoughts rapidly congeal into BELIEFS. These beliefs may become so habitual we don't even realize we have them unless we stop to focus on them. And they don't just sit there idly; they have CONSEQUENCES. The beliefs are the direct cause of what we feel and what we do next. They can spell the difference between dejection and giving up, on the one hand, and well-being and constructive action on the other. The first step is to see the connection between adversity, belief, and consequence. The second step is to see how the ABCs operate every day in your own life. — Martin E. P. Seligman

There are at least four things you can do with your hands. You can wring them in despair; you can fold them in idleness; you can clench them in anger; or you can use them to help someone. should all be masters at lifting them up and making them feel better. — Unknown

Progressively saved by the machine from the anxieties that bound his hands and mind to material toil, relieved of a large part of his work and compelled to an ever-increasing speed of action by the devices which his intelligence cannot help ceaselessly creating and perfecting, man is about to find himself abruptly plunged into idleness. — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The devil finds work for idle hands to do. Better to reign in the hell than serve in heaven. We are in bondage to the law in order that we may be free. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

I rarely exercise at all, except I have some hand weights that I'll lift idly while I'm watching TV. I did do some push-ups last week and somehow hurt my shoulder. — Nick Antosca

But labor of the hands, even when pursued to the verge of drudgery, is perhaps never the worst form of idleness. It has a constantand imperishable moral, and to the scholar it yields a classic result. — Henry David Thoreau

The prosperity of a people is proportionate to the number of hands and minds usefully employed. To the community, sedition is a fever, corruption is a gangrene, and idleness is an atrophy. Whatever body or society wastes more than it acquires, must gradually decay, and every being that continues to be fed, and eases to labor, takes away something from the public stock. — Samuel Johnson

Wealth brings with it its own checks and balances. The basis of political economy is noninterference. The only safe rule is found in the self-adjusting meter of demand and supply. Open the doors of opportunity to talent and virtue and they will do themselves justice, and property will not be in bad hands. In a free and just commonwealth, property rushes from the idle and imbecile to the industrious, brave and persevering. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love is an alchemist that can transmute poison into food--and a spaniel, that prefers even punishment from one hand to caresses from another. But it is in love as in war, we are often more indebted for our success to the weakness of the defence than to the energy of the attack; for mere idleness has ruined more women than passion; vanity more than idleness, and credulity more than either. — Charles Caleb Colton

Who are the oppressors? The few: the King, the capitalist, and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat. — Mark Twain

First, you hand over some basics-overwhelming joy, existential angst, a giving-in to desire, etc. And then you promise to withstand talking idly about the weather, to encourage cliché, to uphold the virtues of average. You hand over the need to be understood and, in return, you get a bar of Normal soap. And you can wash in it and be daily reborn to a safe world of modest, enduring love or, at least, mild, well-mannered bonding. — Julianna Baggott

If I could tell the world just one thing It would be that we're all OK And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful And useless in times like these I won't be made useless I won't be idle with despair I will gather myself around my faith For light does the darkness most fear My hands are small, I know But they're not yours, they are my own But they're not yours, they are my own And I am never broken — Jewel

There is no law by which to determine the superiority of nations; hence the vanity of the claim, and the idleness of disputes about it. A people risen, run their race, and die either of themselves or at the hands of another, who, succeeding to their power, take possession of their place, and upon their monuments write new names; such is history. — Lew Wallace

There is no substitute under the heavens for productive labor. It is the process by which dreams become realities. It is the process by which idle visions become dynamic achievements. Most of us are inherently lazy. We would rather play than work. We would rather loaf than work...But it is work that spells the difference in the life of a man or woman. It is stretching our minds and utilizing the skills of our hands that lift us from mediocrity. — Gordon B. Hinckley

What's worse: to be idle while someone dies, or to be exiled and empty-handed? — Veronica Roth

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