Quotes About Futility

Providence, that is the love of God, is very wise in turning away from the self-will of men, and in having nothing to do with them, and leaving them to their own devices, as long as they are intent on governing themselves, to show them to what depths of futility and sorrow their own helplessness is capable of dragging them.

Experiencing a sense of futility can be a way of denying an immense and terrifying buildup of frustration—a well of distress and disappointment at having needs ignored or belittled time after time after time—and it can affect an adult's relationships, career, and deepest sense of self.

If a small child's needs are not met with at least some regularity, there is a tremendous sense of frustration, of powerlessness to get anything that he or she needs. Over time, as the frustration builds up and is repressed again and again, it becomes too painful to face, and a sense of futility develops. If it isn't acknowledged and allowed expression, the frustration will continue to hide under the surface and grow into a feeling of futility.

I've watched the seconds pat and nurse Their man; and seen him put to bed; With twenty guineas in his purse, And not an eye within his head. —J.H. Reynolds, The Fancy

like an idiot pitching change into a well that nobody ever said was open for wishing.

Don't ever wrestle with a pig. You'll both get dirty, but the pig will enjoy it.

There are times when all one can do is acknowledge the random futility of existing in this universe.

Jeff just didn't much give a shit after that. He'd done all he could, achieved everything a man could ever hope to—materially, romantically, paternally—and still it came to nothing, still he was left alone and powerless, with empty hands and heart. Back to the beginning; yet why begin at all, if his best efforts would inevitably prove futil

I was hell-bent on being an effective humanitarian in Cambodia and Somalia. But a naïve fog is finally lifting. Revealed is a train wreck of illusions, the depravity of someone else's war, the futility of a competence stillborn there. To understand this you have to become this.

I sipped my own, knowing again that everything in the world was ashes. Cold, and spent, and not quite worth the effort.

He wanted to think of words that would make some difference but there were none in any language he knew that were sufficient to the moment or that would change a single thing.

This is a stupid game,

Anak malang itu hanya bisa merayap di lantai seperti ular. Ia hanya bisa mengeluarkan suara mencicit dari leher dan hidungnya, seperti tikus. Hanya itulah yang dapat dilakukannya. Sejak awal kami sudah melihat bahwa si malang yang sengsara itu, yang dilahirkan sebagai idiot, akan meninggal sebagai idiot pula.

Nada tiene arreglo: evidencia que hay que llevar con asco y resignación.

Never mind,' says the old woman. 'It won't hurt for long. You'll go crazy, or they'll hang you. Easy as that, really.

It takes a certain kind of naiveté, or perhaps just stupidity, to know how things will end and still hope otherwise.

I'm starting to associate the smell of pizza with the futility of a death march.

Woyzeck, I shudder when I think that the earth takes a whole day to rotate. What a waste of time! And where's it going to end? Woyzeck, the very sight of a millwheel depresses me.

El hombre tenía tal entendimiento que ya casi no servía para nada.

Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.

Sex at age 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope.

Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

It was like piling money into a heap and setting it on fire twice a month.