It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important. — Doris Lessing
Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion. — Franklin Pierce
At every trifle take offense, that always shows great pride or little sense. — Alexander Pope
When we blather about trivial things, we ourselves become trivial, for our attention gets taken up with trivialities. You become what you give your attention to. — Epictetus
Between friends differences in taste or opinion are irritating in direct proportion to their triviality. — W. H. Auden
The Law of Triviality... briefly stated, it means that the time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved. — C. Northcote Parkinson
It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best reveals his character. — Arthur Schopenhauer
To busy oneself with what is futile when one can do something useful, to attend to what is simple when one has the mettle to attempt what is difficult, is to strip talent of its dignity. — Jose Marti
Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great. — Edward Coke
People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice. — Charles Bukowski
Revolutions are not about trifles, but spring from trifles. — Aristotle
A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ones. — Lord Chesterfield
Life is full of many minor annoyances, and few matters of real consequence. — Harvey Penick
One cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles. — Erwin Rommel
In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes. — Julius Caesar
Short Trifling Quotes
Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves. — Queen Victoria
It would be spiteful to put a Jellyfish in a trifle. — Karl Pilkington
Silence - Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. — Benjamin Franklin
If Christ has died for me, I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend. — Charles Spurgeon
The instruments of darkness tell us truths. — William Shakespeare
Street's disciple, my raps are trifle.
I shoot slugs from my brain just like a rifle. — Nas
A drop of water is as powerful as a thunder-bolt. — Thomas Huxley
To say that a man is your Friend means commonly no more than this, that he is not your enemy. — Henry David Thoreau
Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle. — Michelangelo
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. — George Eliot
Do not think dishonestly... Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters. Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything. Perceive those things which cannot be seen. Pay attention even to trifles. Do nothing which is of no use. — Miyamoto Musashi
An observer of men who finds himself steadily repelled by some apparently trifling thing in a stranger is right to give it great weight. It may be the clue to the whole mystery. A hair or two will show where a lion is hidden. A very little key will open a very heavy door. — Charles Dickens
Curiosity in children, is but an appetite for knowledge. The great reason why children abandon themselves wholly to silly pursuits and trifle away their time insipidly is, because they find their curiosity balked, and their inquiries neglected. — John Locke
I feel my belief in sacrifice and struggle getting stronger. I despise the kind of existence that clings to the miserly trifles of comfort and self-interest. I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened. — Fidel Castro
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable. — Joseph Addison
What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable. — Joseph Addison
All works, no matter what or by whom painted, are nothing but bagatelles and childish trifles... unless they are made and painted from life, and there can be nothing... better than to follow nature. — Caravaggio
Deceivers are the most dangerous members of society. They trifle with the best affections of our nature, and violate the most sacred obligations. — George Crabbe
If Christ has died for me, ungodly as I am, without strength as I am, then I cannot live in sin any longer. I must arouse myself to love and serve Him who has redeemed me. I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend. I must be holy for His sake. How can I live in sin when He has died to save me from it? — Charles Spurgeon
Children are contemptuous, haughty, irritable, envious, sneaky, selfish, lazy, flighty, timid, liars and hypocrites, quick to laugh and cry, extreme in expressing joy and sorrow, especially about trifles, they'll do anything to avoid pain but they enjoy inflicting it: little men already. — Jean De La Bruyere
Fame is a skittish jade, more fickle even than Fortune, and apt to shy, and bolt, and plunge away on very trifling causes. — Anthony Trollope
Life is so great in its opportunities and possibilities, that you should rise confidently above the inevitable trifles incident to daily contact with the world. Life is too precious to be sacrificed for the nonessential and transient. . . . Ignore the inconsequential. — Grenville Kleiser
Be vigilant! Be vigilant! If an evil is minor, resist it nonetheless. If a good deed is trifling, perform it all the same. Only wisdom and virtue can truly win men's devotion. — Sayings
I saw in the whole Christian world a license of fighting at which even barbarous nations might blush. Wars were begun on trifling pretexts or none at all, and carried on without any reference of law, Divine or human. — Hugo Grotius
We [U.S.S.R. and U.S.A.] can exist peacefully together if we don't indulge in too much mutual fault-finding in all kinds of trifles. — Joseph Stalin
Imagination is the first step in creation whether in words or trifles. The mental pattern must always precede the material form. — William Walker Atkinson
Small causes are sufficient to make a man uneasy, when great ones are not in the way: for want of a block he will stumble at a straw. — Jonathan Swift
How strange are the tricks of memory, which, often hazy as a dream about the most important events of a man's life, religiously preserve the merest trifles. — Richard Burton
People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned. — Florence Nightingale
To be angry about trifles is mean and childish; to rage and be furious is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and divine. — Alan Watts
Had it not been for you, I should have remained what I was when we first met, a prejudiced, narrow-minded being, with contracted sympathies and false knowledge, wasting my life on obsolete trifles, and utterly insensible to the privilege of living in this wondrous age of change and progress. — Benjamin Disraeli
To be angry about trifles is mean and childish; to rage and be furious is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and divine. — Isaac Watts
I have seldom known a person, who deserted the truth in trifles and then could be trusted in matters of importance. — Babe Paley
I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know. — Socrates
One day there springs up the desire for money and for all that money can provide — the superfluous, luxury in eating, luxury in dressing, trifles. Needs increase because one thing calls for another. The result is uncontrollable dissatisfaction. Let us remain as empty as possible so that God can fill us up. — Mother Teresa
Men best show their character in trifles, where they are not on their guard. It is in the simplest habits, that we often see the boundless egotism which pays no regard to the feelings of others and denies nothing to itself. — Arthur Schopenhauer
If I set for myself a task, be it so trifling, I shall see it through. How else shall I have confidence in myself to do important things? — George S. Clason
Murder in the murderer is no such ruinous thought as poets and romancers will have it; it does not unsettle him, or fright him from his ordinary notice of trifles; it is an act quite easy to be contemplated. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man...Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle. — Charles Spurgeon
Both wit and understanding are trifles without integrity; it is that which gives value to every character. The ignorant peasant, without fault, is greater than the philosopher with many; for what is genius or courage without a heart? — Oliver Goldsmith
Liberalism, austere in political trifles, has learned ever more artfully to unite a constant protest against the government with a constant submission to it. — Alexander Herzen
There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. — Mark Twain
In Conclusion
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