
Leisure and curiosity might soon make great advances in useful knowledge, were they not diverted by minute emulation and laborious trifles.
quote by Samuel Johnson

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes

Curiosity in children, is but an appetite for knowledge. One great reason why children abandon themselves wholly to silly pursuits and trifle away their time insipidly is, because they find their curiosity balked, and their inquiries neglected.
quote by John Locke

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Advances in science when put to practical use mean more jobs, higher wages, shorter hours, more abundant crops, more leisure for recreation, for study, for learning how to live without the deadening drudgery which has been the burden of the common man for ages past. Advances in science will also bring higher standards of living, will lead to the prevention or cure of diseases, will promote conservation of our limited national resources, and will assure means of defense against aggression. But to achieve these objectives — to secure a high level of employment, to maintain a position of world leadership — the flow of new scientific knowledge must be both continuous and substantial.
quote by Vannevar Bus

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.
quote by Doris Lessing

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Minute By Minute (Dobbie Brothers)
(Michael McDonaldLester Abrams)
Hey, don't worry, I've been lied to
I've been here many times before
Girl, don't you worry, I know where I stand
I don't need this love, I don't need your hand
I know I could turn, blink, and you'd be gone
Then I must be prepared any time to carry on
But minute by minute by minute by minute
I keep holding on
Oh, minute by minute by minute by minute
I keep holding on
You will stay just to watch me, darlin'
Wilt away on lies from you
Can't stop the habit of livin' on the run
I take it all for granted like you're the only one
Livin' on my own
Somehow that sounds nice
You think I'm your fool
Well, you may just be right
'Cause minute by minute by minute by minute
I keep holding on
Oh, minute by minute by minute by minute
I keep holding on
Call my name and I'll be gone
You'll reach out and I won't be there
Just my luck you'll realize
You should spend your life with someone
You could spend your life with someone
Minute by minute by minute by minute
I'll be holding on
Oh, minute by minute by minute by minute
I'll be holding on...
song performed by by Michael Mcdonald

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Think For A Minute!
Somethings going on, a change is taking place
Children smiling in the street have gone without a trace
This street used to be full, it used to make me smile
And now it seems that everyone is walking single file
And many hand their heads in shame
That used to hold them high
And those that used to say hello
Simply pass you by
Think for a minute, stop for a minute
Think for a minute, stop for a minute
I always said it could, they never though it would
The people look so pitiful, Im thinking that it should
And now its almost here, now its on its way
I cant help saying told you so and have a nice final day
And nothing I could say
Could ever make them see the light
Now apathy is happy that
It won without a fight
Think for a minute, stop for a minute
Think for a minute, stop for a minute
And many hang their heads in shame that used to hold them high
{think for a minute}
And those that used to say hello simply pass you by
{stop for a minute}
Think for a minute, stop for a minute
Think for a minute, stop for a minute
song performed by by Housemartins

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Beyond our ken for M'lady Francesca
Mans boundless curiosity
is not and will never be
satisfied sufficiently
He can’t accept the status quo
There is so much he wants to know
He is obsessed and can’t let go
He seeks for knowledge constantly
but is not wise enough to see.
There is no end there cannot be.
Compelled by curiosity
Inventing new technology
to try and solve the mystery
Of who and what and why he’s here.
But he is doomed to fail I fear.
New questions constantly appear.
The more he learns the less he knows
Although his stock of knowledge grows
His understanding of it slows.
The mind of man can’t comprehend
The quest for knowledge has no end.
We fool ourselves if we pretend.
That there is nothing else to find
and everything has been defined.
A fact to which I am resigned.
Though I’ll continue to pursue
each and every smallest clue.
I have no choice I’m compelled to.
Sunday,18 July 2010
http: // blog.myspace.com/poeticpiers
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg

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Sonnet: On Knowledge
Knowledge is one thing priceless, people want;
Knowledge is something gained by labor long;
Knowledge is infinite; master, you-can't;
Knowledge is changeable, much like a song.
Knowledge is deeper than the oceans deep;
Knowledge is larger than the Universe;
Knowledge is barely in life, just a peep;
Knowledge if badly used becomes God's curse.
Knowledge remains undiminished, tho' you- share;
Knowledge gives man, a civilised outlook;
Knowledge if improper, you ought to pare;
Knowledge is gained from Nature and by book.
Knowledge can make a man a wiser one;
Knowledge gives Wisdom in the longer run.
poem by John Celes

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Minute By Minute
Michael mcdonald/lester abrams
Hey, dont worry, Ive been lied to
Ive been here many times before
Girl, dont you worry, I know where I stand
I dont need this love, I dont need your hand
I know I could turn, blink, and youd be gone
Then I must be prepared any time to carry on
But minute by minute by minute by minute
I keep holding on
Oh, minute by minute by minute by minute
I keep holding on
You will stay just to watch me, darlin
Wilt away on lies from you
Cant stop the habit of livin on the run
I take it all for granted like youre the only one
Livin on my own
Somehow that sounds nice
You think Im your fool
Well, you may just be right
cause minute by minute by minute by minute
I keep holding on
Oh, minute by minute by minute by minute
I keep holding on
Call my name and Ill be gone
Youll reach out and I wont be there
Just my luck youll realize
You should spend your life with someone
You could spend your life with someone
Minute by minute by minute by minute
Ill be holding on
Oh, minute by minute by minute by minute
Ill be holding on...
song performed by by Doobie Brothers

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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To be a good actor... it is necessary to have a firmly tempered soul, to be surprised at nothing, to resume each minute the laborious task that has barely just been finished.
quote by Sarah Bernhardt

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Men who do not make advances to women are apt to become victims to women who make advances to them.
quote by Walter Bagehot

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Knowledge
What is more large than knowledge and more sweet;
Knowledge of thoughts and deeds, of rights and wrongs,
Of passions and of beauties and of songs;
Knowledge of life; to feel its great heart beat
Through all the soul upon her crystal seat;
To see, to feel, and evermore to know;
To till the old world's wisdom till it grow
A garden for the wandering of our feet.
Oh for a life of leisure and broad hours,
To think and dream, to put away small things,
This world's perpetual leaguer of dull naughts;
To wander like the bee among the flowers
Till old age find us weary, feet and wings
Grown heavy with the gold of many thoughts.
poem by Archibald Lampman

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Somebody's Got To Make A Payment Back
Advances given,
Aren't given to forgive.
Somebody's got to make a payment back,
If this is part of a contract.
Advances given,
Aren't given to forgive.
Somebody's got to make a payment back,
If this is part of a contract.
Selling one's soul to obtain an image.
Somebody's got to make a payment back.
Selling one's soul to be adored.
Somebody's got to make a payment back.
Selling pieces of a heart will eliminate its beating.
With a defeating of a tortured soul.
And once that's sold the mind goes.
Advances given aren't given to forgive.
Somebody's got to make a payment back.
Advances given aren't given to forgive.
Somebody's got to make a payment back.
Selling one's soul to be adored.
Somebody's got to make a payment back.
Selling pieces of a heart will eliminate its beating.
With a defeating of a tortured soul.
And once that's sold the mind goes.
Advances given aren't given to forgive.
Somebody's got to make a payment back.
Advances given aren't given to forgive.
Somebody's got to make a payment back.
Advances given,
Aren't given to forgive.
Somebody's got to make a payment back,
If this is part of a contract.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Knowledge
What happens to our knowledge
when we pass from here?
Will it be buried with us
for an eternity to be undisturbed,
or do we leave tracks
of our knowledge behind?
Great minds have already written down
things they did not want to forget.
Is it possible that great knowledge
is gathering dust somewhere
in those forgotten chapters
of our history?
Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings
of airplanes and submarines.
Were they just fanciful dreams,
or were they reality?
Could these things have existed,
but of their presence in history
this knowledge for them departed?
What about Atlantis
with its knowledge unbound.
Did it really disappear
beneath the waves without a sound,
and the knowledge that they held,
did that all vanish with them?
We can only speculate
where all this knowledge goes
as new minds dream of things
that may have existed in the past.
Which leaves us with the question,
what happens to our knowledge
when we pass away from here?
4 September 2008
poem by David Harris

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Minute
We start each day afresh
trying to make it better than the last
forgetting all our misdemeanours
that we made in the past.
We grab at each new minute
as if it were our last,
tie it with perfection
and try and make it last.
We care not what the world
has to say about us,
we are living every minute
in case it is our last.
We wrap our love around us
to keep out the cold
and hope that it will protect us
when eventually we get old.
We make each minute we are together
last forever and ever.
2 August 2009
poem by David Harris

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Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves.
Queen Victoria in in a letter to King Leopold of Belgium, April 4, 1848

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Counting Every Minute
Gonna break these chains
Gonna set myself free
Gonna turn on the mains
Feel the power inside of me
Gonna burn all night--gonna burn all day
Youll see me coming
From miles away
Feel me in the air
Feel me all around you
Gonna show you how I care
Teach you something new
Im gonna take my time
Make love to you
Yeah I know I can satisfy you
Thats what I intend to do
Now Im counting every minute
Every single minute
Im calling for you, honey
Come and get it while its hot
Counting every minute
Ooh Im living it
Ill make every minute count
Give it everything Ive got
Feel me getting closer
Im almost there
Can you fell my fingers
Running through your hair
Can you feel my hands
Draw you closer to me
Can you hear that clock tick, tick, ticking baby
Ill soon be there to set you free
Im counting every minute
Every single minute
Dont fool around come and
Get it while its hot
Counting every minute
Ooh Im living in it
Ill make every minute count
Give it everything Ive got
Counting every minute
Every single minute
Im calling for you, honey
Come and get it while its hot
Counting every minute
Ooh Im gonna give it
Ill give it to you honey
Ill give you everything
Ive got
Yeah Im counting every minute
Every single minute
Dont fool around come and
Get it while its hot
Counting every minute
Baby dont be timid
Ill make every minute count
Give it everything Ive got
Counting every minute
Counting every minute
Counting every minute
Im calling for you honey
Come and get it while
Its hot
Im counting
Every single minute
Im waiting for you baby
Give you everything Ive got
song performed by by Foreigner

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Knowledge
Knowledge is power
A chop-chop growing flower
knowledge is dangerous
An overdosing negative force
And I have been walking its path
Right from the the start with my heart
Acknowledging it as a perfect invention
That can set me free or put me in detention
Knowledge is a privilege
It could place you at the cutting edge
When you pledge
To make it your privilege
Born are great deeds and weeds
As knowledge plants seeds
But Knowledge can deceive
At the end you choose what to believe
Copyright 2008 - Sylvia Chidi
poem by Sylvia Chidi

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Cultivate your curiosity. Keep it sharp and always working. Consider curiosity your life preserver, your willingness to try something new. Second, enlarge your enthusiasm to include the pursuit to excellence, following every task through to completion. Third, make the law of averages work for you. By budgeting your time more carefully than most people you can make more time available. Does the combination of curiosity, enthusiasm, and the law of averages guarantee success Indeed it does not ... Success in the final analysis always involves luck or the element of chance. Louis Pasteur grasped this well when he said that chance favors the prepared mind.
quote by John W. Hanley

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Worth begets in base minds, envy; in great souls, emulation.
quote by Henry Fielding

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