Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941) lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement
Quotes about wasting
A collection of quotes on the topic of waste, wasting, time, timing.
Quotes about wasting
“Dreaming of the person you want to be is wasting the person you already are.”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
Jack London (1876–1916) American author, journalist, and social activist
The Bulletin, San Francisco, California, December 2, 1916, part 2, p. 1.
Also included in Jack London’s Tales of Adventure, ed. Irving Shepard, Introduction, p. vii (1956)
Jack London (1876–1916) American author, journalist, and social activist
Variant: "I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." also mentioned as Jack London quote in Ian Fleming book You Only Live Twice (1964), Ch. 21 : Orbit
Source: San Francisco Bulletin in 1916. Also included as an introduction to a compilation of Jack London short stories in 1956.
“I'm not performing miracles, I'm using up and wasting a lot of paint…”
Claude Monet (1840–1926) French impressionist painter
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
Variant: Wanting to be someone else is the waste of who you are
“By being too sensitive I have wasted my life.”
Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) French Decadent and Symbolist poet
Variant: Idle youth, enslaved to everything; by being too sensitive I have wasted my life.
Source: Selected Poems and Letters
Meryl Streep (1949) American actress
Misattributed to Meryl Streep (and widely disseminated on the Internet as of August/September 2014), this quote is allegedly a translation of a text by the author José Micard Teixeira, the original of which begins (in Portuguese): "Já não tenho paciência para algumas coisas, não porque me tenha tornado arrogante..."
Misattributed
“Don't waste your love on somebody, who doesn't value it.”
William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet
Source: Romeo and Juliet
“I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
Ian Fleming book You Only Live Twice
Source: You Only Live Twice (1964), Ch. 21 : Orbit. Fleming is quoting Jack London directly.
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
As quoted in Rolling Stone (1992-04-16).
Interviews (1989-1994), Print
Context: All drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with your self-esteem. They’re no good at all. But I’m not going to go around preaching against [them].
Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Anarchism or Socialism (1906)
Context: We are not the kind of people who, when the word "anarchism" is mentioned, turn away contemptuously and say with a supercilious wave of the hand: "Why waste time on that, it's not worth talking about!" We think that such cheap "criticism" is undignified and useless.
Nor are we the kind of people who console themselves with the thought that the Anarchists "have no masses behind them and, therefore, are not so dangerous." It is not who has a larger or smaller "mass" following today, but the essence of the doctrine that matters. If the "doctrine" of the Anarchists expresses the truth, then it goes without saying that it will certainly hew a path for itself and will rally the masses around itself. If, however, it is unsound and built up on a false foundation, it will not last long and will remain suspended in mid-air. But the unsoundness of anarchism must be proved.
Some people believe that Marxism and anarchism are based on the same principles and that the disagreements between them concern only tactics, so that, in the opinion of these people, no distinction whatsoever can be drawn between these two trends.
This is a great mistake.
We believe that the Anarchists are real enemies of Marxism. Accordingly, we also hold that a real struggle must be waged against real enemies.
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
Aesop book The Lion and the Mouse
The Lion and the Mouse.
Variant: No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991) Polish-born Jewish-American author
Preface to Food for the Spirit: Vegetarianism and the World Religions by Steven Rosen (New York: Bala Books, 1987, )
Variant: To be a vegetarian is to disagree - to disagree with the course of things today... starvation, cruelty - we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it's a strong one.
Context: Vegetarianism is my religion. I became a consistent vegetarian some twenty-three years ago. Before that, I would try over and over again. But it was sporadic. Finally, in the mid-1960s, I made up my mind. And I've been a vegetarian ever since. When a human kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice. Man prays for mercy, but is unwilling to extend it to others. Why should man then expect mercy from God? It's unfair to expect something that you are not willing to give. … This is my protest against the conduct of the world. To be a vegetarian is to disagree — to disagree with the course of things today. Nuclear power, starvation, cruelty — we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it's a strong one.
“Never waste a minute thinking about people you don't like.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
“If we are alone in the Universe, it sure seems like an awful waste of space.”
Carl Sagan book Contact
This is a paraphrase of Sagan quoting Thomas Carlyle: "A sad spectacle. If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly. If they be not inhabited, what a waste of space." <br class="br">Sagan delivered this quote during the symposium on "Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man", held at Boston University (20 November 1972), published in Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man (1973) edited by Richard Berendzen; Life Beyond Earth and the Mind of Man (1975) National Archives video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQeOp7a8QMI <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Source: Contact
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"
volume I, chapter VI: "The Voyage", page 266 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=284&itemID=F1452.1&viewtype=image; letter to sister Susan Elizabeth Darwin (4 August 1836) <br class="br">The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887) <br class="br">Source: The Life & Letters of Charles Darwin
Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer
1960s, Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master (1961)
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) Russian composer, pianist, and conductor
Extract from an interview by James Francis Cooke, as given in the 1999 edition of Great Pianists on Piano Playing (Mineola: Dover Publications, 1999) p. 217.
Franz Liszt (1811–1886) Hungarian romantic composer and virtuoso pianist
As quoted in Alan Walker, Franz Liszt : The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847 (1987) Page 117.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) Russian author
Personal correspondence (1839), as quoted in Dostoevsky: His Life and Work (1971) by Konstantin Mochulski, as translated by Michael A. Minihan, p. 17
General
“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”
Marcus Aurelius book Meditations
Μηκέθ᾽ ὅλως περὶ τοῦ οἷόν τινα εἶναι τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα διαλέγεσθαι, ἀλλὰ εἶναι τοιοῦτον.
X, 16
Variant: Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one.
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X
“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
“No. I’ve no time to waste. Winter’s coming.”
Andrzej Sapkowski book The Last Wish
Source: The Last Wish
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
Source: What I Know For Sure
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Foreword to the small catechismus, as quoted in the Preface, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (2000) by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, p. 19
“And earth who herself bestowed the body takes it back and wastes not a whit.”
Terram corpus quae dederit, ipsam
capere neque dispendi facere hilum.
Ennius (-239–-169 BC) Roman writer
As quoted by Varro in De Lingua Latina, Book V
Purandara Dasa (1484–1564) Music composer
In this quote Dasa is warning against the inevitable when one is busy with worldly chores as given here[Narayan, M.K.V., Lyrical Musings on Indic Culture: A Sociology Study of Songs of Sant Purandara Dasa, http://books.google.com/books?id=-r7AxJp6NOYC&pg=PA79, 1 January 2010, Readworthy, 978-93-80009-31-5, 81]
Neil Armstrong (1930–2012) American astronaut; first person to walk on the moon
First On The Moon : A Voyage with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E Aldrin, Jr. (1970) edited by Gene Farmer and Dora Jane Hamblin, p. 113, states of this: "Like many a quote which gets printed once and therefore enshrined in the libraries of all newspapers and magazines, this particular one was erroneous. Neil recalled having heard the quote, and he even recalled having repeated it once. He did not subscribe to its thesis, however, and he only quoted it so that he could disagree with it."
Misattributed
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Source: The Freedom of a Christian (1520), p. 51
Gertrude B. Elion (1918–1999) American biochemist and pharmacologist
Gertrude Elion https://www.famousscientists.org/gertrude-b-elion/
Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) American futurist and self-described social engineer
Source: The Best That Money Can't Buy: Beyond Politics, Poverty, & War (2002), p. 31.
Masiela Lusha (1985) Albanian actress, writer, author
Quoted by Masiela Lusha in a 2009 press conference http://www.masielalusha.com/board.php
Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) founder of al-Qaeda
2000s, 2004, 2004 Video Broadcast on Al-Jazeera October 29
Kanō Jigorō (1860–1938) Japanese educator and judoka
Source: Kodokan Judo (1882), p. 23
Context: Judo teaches us to look for the best possible course of action, whatever the individual circumstances, and helps us to understand that worry is a waste of energy. Paradoxically, the man who has failed and one who is at the peak of success are in exactly the same position. Each must decide what he will do next, choose the course that will lead him to the future. The teachings of judo give each the same potential for success, in the former instance guiding a man out of lethargy and disappointment to a state of vigorous activity.
“Committee - a group of men who keep minutes and waste hours.”
Milton Berle (1908–2002) American comedian and actor
Michael Leboeuf (1942) American business writer
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”
Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
“Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is.”
Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian psychiatrist
"Emotions", p. 36.
The Second Sin (1973)
“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”
Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist
Interview in Playboy magazine (November 1975)
“It's up to you how you waste your time and money. I'm staying here to read: life's too short.”
Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind
Source: The Shadow of the Wind
“Taking crazy things seriously is a serious waste of time.”
Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore
Source: Kafka on the Shore
Jim Henson (1936–1990) American puppeteer
Source: It's Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider
“If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker
Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 10; Here Lee paraphrases a much older English proverb: If you care for life, don't waste your time; for time is what life is made of. (as quoted in Bordighera and the Western Riviera (1883) by Frederick Fitzroy Hamilton, p. 189).
Context: Time means a lot to me because, you see, I, too, am also a learner and am often lost in the joy of forever developing and simplifying. If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.
“Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
Frank Herbert book Dune
Variant: It is difficult to live in the present, pointless to live in the future and impossible to live in the past.
Source: Dune
May Sarton (1912–1995) American poet, novelist, and memoirist
Source: Journal of a Solitude
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42 (1996), p. 544
Attributed from posthumous publications
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker
Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 10
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894)
Source: Complete Works of Oscar Wilde
Brenda Ueland (1891–1985) Journalist and writer
Source: If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit

