Nothing Quotes
Allen Fred 1894-1956
(attributed)
Committee - a group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done.
Anonymous
(inscription at Delphi)
Nothing in excess.
Anonymous
(Weller's Law)
Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn't have to do it.
Anonymous
What costs nothing is worth nothing.
Aristotle 384-322 BC
Politics
Where some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses.
Aurelius Marcus 121-180
Nothing happens to any man that he is not formed by nature to bear.
Austen Jane 1775-1817
Letters
Men are all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all.
Ayckbourn Alan
How the Other Half Loves
Do you realize, Mrs Foster, the hours I've put into that woman? When I met her, you know, she was nothing. Nothing at all. With my own hands I have built her up. Encouraging her to join the public library and make use of her non-fiction tickets.
The Bible (Authorized Version)
New Testament: I Timothy ch.6 v.7
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
Borgia Cesare 1476-1507
(Motto inscribed on his sword)
Caesar or nothing.
Byron Lord 1788-1824
„Churchill's Grave"
The glory and the nothing of a name.
Camus Albert 1913-1960
The innocent is the person who explains nothing.
Chaucer Geoffrey c.1343-1400
Tale of Melibee
What is bettre than wisedoom? Womman. And what is bettre than a good womman? Nothyng.
Cher 1946-
The trouble with some women is they get all excited about nothing - and then they marry him!
Churchill Sir Winston 1874-1965
(on becoming Prime Minister)
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
Churchill Sir Winston 1874-1965
The Gathering Storm
When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.
Colton Charles Caleb c.1780-1832
Lacon
When you have nothing to say, say nothing.
Donne John 1572-1631
Sermons
So certainly is there nothing, nothing in spiritual things, perfect in this world.
Durant Will 1885-1981
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.
Fosdick Harry Emerson 1878-1969
Nothing in human life, least of all in religion, is ever right until it is beautiful.
George Henry 1839-1897
The state, it cannot too often be repeated, does nothing, and can give nothing, which it does not take from somebody.
Gilbert W.S. 1836-1911
Iolanthe
The House of Peers, throughout the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well.
Goldwyn Sam 1882-1974
Why should people pay good money to go out and see bad films when they can stay at home and see bad television for nothing?
Gracian Baltasar 1601-1658
At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent, at sixty a dog, at seventy an ape, at eighty, nothing at all.
Grahame Kenneth 1859-1932
The Wind in the Willows
There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
Greene Graham 1904-1991
The Heart of the Matter
Nothing was ever lost by delay.
Halifax Lord George 1633-1695
He that leaveth nothing to Chance will do few things ill, but he will do very few things.
Hamilton Alex 1936-
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
Hazlitt William 1778-1830
There is nothing good to be had in the country, or, if there be, they will not let you have it.
Hood Hugh
Nothing ever tasted any better than a cold beer on a beautiful afternoon with nothing to look forward to but more of the same.
Hubbard Elbert 1859-1915
To escape criticism - do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
Johnson Samuel 1709-1784
Boswell - Life
A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing, when he has nothing to say.
Johnson Samuel 1709-1784
Had I learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.
Joseph Jenny
I was raised to feel that doing nothing was a sin.
I had to learn to do nothing.
Kant Immanuel 1724-1804
Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals
Nothing in the world - indeed nothing even beyond the world - can possibly be conceived which could be called good without qualification except a good will.
King Benjamin Franklin 1857-1894
‘The Pessimist'
Nothing to do but work,
Nothing to eat but food,
Nothing to wear but clothes
To keep one from going nude.
Nothing to breathe but air,
Quick as a flash ‘t is gone;
Nowhere to fall but off,
Nowhere to stand but on.
Lamb Charles 1775-1834
Essays of Elia ‘Dream Children'
We are nothing; less than nothing, and dreams.
We are only what might have been, and must wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe millions of ages before we have existence, and name.
Larkin Philip 1922-1985
‘I Remember, I Remember'
Nothing, like something, happens anywhere.
Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm 1646-1716
Studies in Physics and the Nature of Body
There is nothing without a reason.
Lloyd C.F.
God made me on a morning when he had nothing else to do.
Lord Peter
Nobody does nothing for nobody for naught.
Lucretius 99-55 BC
De Rerum Natura
Nothing can be created out of nothing.
Milton John 1608-1674
Samson Agonistes
Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail
Or knock the breast, no weakness, no contempt,
Dispraise, or blame,nothing but well and fair,
And what may quiet us in a death so noble.
Mitterand President François 1916-1996
Nothing is won forever in human affairs, but everything is always possible.
Monroe Marilyn 1926-1962
(on posing nude)
It's not true I had nothing on. I had the radio on.
Montagu Lady Mary Wortley 1689-1762
Letter to daughter Mary, Countess of Bute
Civility costs nothing and buys everything.
Montaigne Michel de 1533-1592
A little of everything and nothing thoroughly.
Newlove John
If you know nothing, be pleased to know nothing.
O'Malley Austin
A hole is nothing at all, but you can break your neck in it.
Pascal Blaise 1623-1662
If a soldier or labourer complains of the hardship of his lot, set him to do nothing.
Priestley J.B. 1894-1984
Any fool can be fussy and rid himself of energy all over the place, but a man has to have something in him before he can settle down to no nothing.
Proverbs and Sayings
French
Nothing is so burdensome as a secret.
Proverbs and Sayings
Spanish
Drink nothing without seeing it; sign nothing without reading it.
Proverbs and Sayings
Spanish
How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.
Punch 1841 - 1992
Nothink for nothink ‘ere, and precious little for sixpence.
Rilke Rainer Maria 1875-1926
Nothing in the world can one imagine beforehand, not the least thing. Everything is made up of so many unique particulars that cannot be foreseen.
Rochester John Wilmot, Earl of 1647-1680
‘Upon Nothing'
Nothing, thou elder brother even to shade
Thou hadst a being ere the world was made,
And, well fixed, art alone of ending not afraid.
Rogers Samuel 1763-1855
‘Human Life'
Thing nothing done while aught remains to do.
Salisbury Lord 1830-1903
Letter to Lord Lytton
No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you never should trust experts. If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome: if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent: if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Antony and Cleopatra
The crown o' the earth doth melt. My lord!
O! withered is the garland of the war,
The soldier's pole is fall'n; young boys and girls
Are level now with men; the odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
King Lear
Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Macbeth
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
Othello
Do not put me to't,
For I am nothing if not critical.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
The Taming of the Shrew
Nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal.
Shaw George Bernard 1856-1950
Major Barbara
He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows
everything. That points clearly to a political career.
Shaw George Bernard 1856-1950
Major Barbara
Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done.
Shaw George Bernard 1856-1950
Man and Superman ‘Maxims: Stray Sayings'
Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing: age, which forgives itself everything, is forgiven nothing.
Shaw Henry Wheeler (Josh Billings)
Proverb
It is better to know nothing than to know what ain't so.
Socrates 469-399 BC
I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
Steele Sir Richard 1672-1729
The insupportable labour of doing nothing.
Sterne Laurence 1713-1768
Tristram Shandy
‘Our armies swore terribly in Flanders,' cried my uncle Toby, ‘but nothing to this.'
Stevenson Robert Louis 1850-1894
The Wrong Box (with Lloyd Osborne)
Nothing like a little judicious levity.
Suckling Sir John 1609-1642
Aglaura „Song"
If of herself she will not love,
Nothing can make her:
The devil take her!
Surtees R.S. 1805-1864
Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour
He was a gentleman who was generally spoken of as having nothing a-year, paid quarterly.
Taylor Henry
The world knows nothing of its greatest men.
Terence c. 190-159 BC
Eunuchus - prologue
Nothing has yet been said that's not been said before.
Thompson Francis 1859-1907
‘Daisy'
Nothing begins, and nothing ends,
That is not paid with moan;
For we are born in other's pain,
And perish in our own.
Thoreau Henry David 1817-1862
I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business.
Traherne Thomas c.1637-1674
Centuries of Meditations ‘First Century'
An empty book is like an infant's soul, in which anything may be written. It is capable of all things, but containeth nothing.
Valéry Paul 1871-1945
If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. ‘Nothing in the paper today,' we sigh.
Wilde Oscar 1854-1900
Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
Williams Tennessee 1911-1983
Make voyages. Attempt them. There's nothing else.
Williamson Nicol
Nothing means anything until you're doing it.
Wilson Sir Harold 1916-1995
This party is a moral crusade or it is nothing.
Wilson Woodrow 1856-1924
Nothing was ever done so systematically as nothing is being done now.
Wooton Sir Henry 1568-1639
‘The Character of a Happy Life'
Lord of himself, though not of lands,
And having nothing, yet hath all.
