#repetition

Every human occupation has it repertoire of stock phrases, within which every man twists and turn until his death. His vocabulary, which seems so lavish, reduces itself to a hundred routine formulas at most, which he repeats over and over. ↗

— Auguste de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam

#vocabulary #death

The day, like the previous days, dragged sluggishly by in a kind of insipid idleness, devoid even of that dreamy expectancy which can make idleness so enchanting. ↗

— Vladimir Nabokov

#dreams #expectancy #hope #idleness #life

... the vintage of history is forever repeating ~ same old vines, same old wines! ↗

— E.A. Bucchianeri

#goethe #history #history-of-mankind #history-repeating-itself #human-nature

So one must be resigned to being a clock that measures the passage of time, now out of order, now repaired, and whose mechanism generates despair and love as soon as its maker sets it going? Are we to grow used to the idea that every man relives ancient torments, which are all the more profound because they grow comic with repetition? That human existence should repeat itself, well and good, but that it should repeat itself like a hackneyed tune, or a record a drunkard keeps playing as he feeds coins into the jukebox... ↗

— Stanisław Lem

#cycles #despair #emotion #fear #free-will

The happiness of most people is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things. ↗

— Ernest Dimnet

#catastrophes #destructive #errors #fatal #great

Constant repetition of tongue-twisters was like lifting weights for me, but patience and persistence have paid off. ↗

— Nicholas Brendon

#lifting #like #me #off #paid

The Past: Our cradle, not our prison; there is danger as well as appeal in its glamour. The past is for inspiration, not imitation, for continuation, not repetition. ↗

— Israel Zangwill

#continuation #cradle #danger #glamour #imitation

There are certain things that, for want of ability to change, one must embrace. Because if the same ingrained habits constantly worsen your life, at least you aren’t just repeating yourself. ↗

— Benson Bruno

#bad-habits #repetition #change

Politics is repetition. It is not change. Change is something beyond what we call politics. Change is the essence politics is supposed to be the means to bring into being. ↗

— Kate Millett

#beyond #bring #call #change #essence

The human comedy is always tragic, but since its ingredients are always the same—dupe, fox, straight, like burlesque skits—the repetition through the ages is comedy. ↗

— Dawn Powell

#human-nature #humanity #repetition #tragedy #age