“An idle man has a constant tendency to torpidity. He has adopted the Indian maxim — that it is better to walk than to run, and better to stand than to walk, and better to sit than to stand, and better to lie than to sit. He hugs himself into the notion, that God calls him to be quiet.”

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 345.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "An idle man has a constant tendency to torpidity. He has adopted the Indian maxim — that it is better to walk than to r…" by Richard Cecil (clergyman)?
Richard Cecil (clergyman) photo
Richard Cecil (clergyman) 29
British Evangelical Anglican priest and social reformer 1748–1810

Related quotes

Sri Chinmoy photo

“It is better to make mistakes than to lie idle.”

Sri Chinmoy (1931–2007) Indian writer and guru

#13780, Part 14
Seventy Seven Thousand Service-Trees series 1-50 (1998)

Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse photo
Jack London photo

“It's better to stand by someone's side than by yourself”

Jack London (1876–1916) American author, journalist, and social activist
P. W. Botha photo

“There is not an Indian community in the world that is better off than the Indians in South Africa. That is the type of apartheid that I stand for. That is the type of apartheid that is not dead.”

P. W. Botha (1916–2006) South African prime minister

As prime minister in the House of Assembly, 23 April 1979, as cited in PW Botha in his own words, Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1987, p. 40

Benjamín Netanyahu photo

“Israel has no better friend than America. And America has no better friend than Israel. We stand together to defend democracy. We stand together to advance peace. We stand together to fight terrorism. Congratulations America. Congratulations, Mister President. You got bin Laden. Good riddance!”

Benjamín Netanyahu (1949) Israeli prime minister

Speech at the U.S. Congress https://web.archive.org/web/20130704215008/http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Text-of-PM-Binyamin-Netanyahus-speech-to-the-US-Congress (May 24, 2011).
2010s, 2011, Address to joint meeting of the U.S. Congress (May 2011)

Solomon photo

“It is better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be stupid and speak lies.”

Solomon (-990–-931 BC) king of Israel and the son of David

Proverbs 19:1 http://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/proverbs/19/

Luigi Cornaro photo

“A man cannot have a better guide than himself, nor any physic better than a regular life.”

Luigi Cornaro (1484–1566) Italian philosopher

Discourses on the Sober Life

Edward Everett photo

“Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.”

Edward Everett (1794–1865) American politician, orator, statesman

As quoted in The Common School Journal and Educational Reformer (1852), edited by William B. Fowle, p. 28.
Context: Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. If we retrench the wages of the schoolmaster, we must raise those of the recruiting sergeant.

Henry Ward Beecher photo

“The call to religion is not a call to be better than your fellows, but to be better than yourself.”

Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) American clergyman and activist

Source: Life Thoughts (1858), p. 18

H.L. Mencken photo

“I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

"What I Believe" in The Forum 84 (September 1930), p. 139; some of these expressions were also used separately in other Mencken essays.
1930s
Context: I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind — that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty and the democratic form is as bad as any of the other forms.
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech — alike for the humblest man and the mightiest, and in the utmost freedom of conduct that is consistent with living in organized society.
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
I —But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.

Related topics