Jean de La Bruyère book Les Caractères
Il ne manque cependant à l'oisiveté du sage qu'un meilleur nom, et que méditer, parler, lire, et être tranquille s'appelât travailler.
Aphorism 12
Les Caractères (1688), Du mérite personnel
“Other people’s tragedies should not be the subject of idle conversation.”
— Kate DiCamillo, book Because of Winn-Dixie
Source: Because of Winn-Dixie
Last update June 3, 2021. History
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "Other people’s tragedies should not be the subject of idle conversation." by Kate DiCamillo?
Kate DiCamillo74
American children's writer 1964Related quotes
Šantidéva (685–763) 8th-century Indian Buddhist monk and scholar
§ 5.45
Bodhicaryavatara, A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life
François de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French author of maxims and memoirs
Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), V. On Conversation
“Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.”
Angela Carter book Wise Children
Source: Wise Children (1991), ch. 5 (p.213).
“The subject of a good tragedy must not be realistic.”
Le sujet d'une belle tragédie doit n'être pas vraisemblable.
Héraclius (1646), preface.
Arthur Miller (1915–2005) playwright from the United States
Tragedy and the Common Man (1949)
Context: There is a misconception of tragedy with which I have been struck in review after review, and in many conversations with writers and readers alike. It is the idea that tragedy is of necessity allied to pessimism. Even the dictionary says nothing more about the word than that it means a story with a sad or unhappy ending. This impression is so firmly fixed that I almost hesitate to claim that in truth tragedy implies more optimism in its author than does comedy, and that its final result ought to be the reinforcement of the onlooker's brightest opinions of the human animal.
For, if it is true to say that in essence the tragic hero is intent upon claiming his whole due as a personality, and if this struggle must be total and without reservation, then it automatically demonstrates the indestructible will of man to achieve his humanity.
“Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company.”
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) British statesman and man of letters
Letter to his godson, No.112 (undated)
“People say: idle curiosity. The one thing that curiosity cannot be is idle.”
Leo Rosten (1908–1997) American writer
“If you are ever at a loss to support a flagging conversation, introduce the subject of eating.”
Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) English critic, essayist, poet and writer
Table-talk: To which are Added Imaginary Conversations of Pope and Swift