[The secret of] how to live
without resentment or embarrassment in a world in which I was
different from everyone else. ... was to be indifferent to that
difference.—Al Capp, 20th-century American cartoonist
(1909–1979), "My Well-Balanced Life on a Wooden Leg"
Life 23 May 60
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.—Elie
Wiesel, 20th-century Rumanian-born American writer
(b. 1928), US News & World Report 27 Oct 86
Being a Jew, one learns to believe in the reality of cruelty and
one learns to recognize indifference to human suffering as a fact.—Andrea
Dworkin, contemporary American feminist critic
(b. 1946), Letters from a War-Zone, "A Feminist Looks At
Saudi-Arabia" (1987; first published 1978) [CDQ]
I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter
of indifference to me.—Terence, ancient Roman playwright
(ca. 190–159 B.C.E.), Heautontimoroumenos. Act i. Sc. 1,
25. (77.)
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would
though wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.—Bible:
Revelation 3:15-16
If a person loves only one other person and is indifferent to
all others, his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or
an enlarged egotism.—Erich Fromm, 20th-century American psychoanalyst
and philosopher
(1900–1980), The Art of Loving (1956)
Ignorance, inertia and indifference are alive and well in America's
newspapers. Minority still equals inferiority in the minds of
many American editors and publishers.—Loren Ghiglione, contemporary
American newspaper publisher
NY Times 11 Mar 87
In really hard times the rules of the game are altered. The inchoate
mass begins to stir. It becomes potent, and when it strikes, .
. . it strikes with incredible emphasis. Those are the rare occasions
when a national will emerges from the scattered, specialized,
or indifferent blocs of voters who ordinarily elect the politicians.
Those are for good or evil the great occasions in a nation’s
history.—Walter Lippmann, 20th-century American journalist
(1889–1974), "The New Congress," in New York Herald
Tribune (8 Dec. 1931; repr. in The Essential Lippmann, pt. 3,
sct. 6, 1982)
In this country . . . men seem to live for action as long as they
can and sink into apathy when they retire.—Charles Francis
Adams, Sr., 19th-century American statesman and diplomat
(1807–1886), Journal entry, 15 April 1836
Indifference is the only infidelity I recognize.—Israel Zangwill,
19th-20th-century English writer
(1864–1926) Children of the ghetto (1892) ii. ch. 15, p.
510
Indifference is the revenge the world takes on mediocrities.—Oscar
Wilde, 19th-century British playwright and writer
(1854–1900) Prince Paul in Vera, act 2
Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.—Elie Wiesel,
20th-century Rumanian-born American writer
(b. 1928), US News & World Report 27 Oct 86
Lukewarmness I account a sin, / As great in love as in religion.—Abraham
Cowley, 17th-century English poet and essayist
(1618–1667), The Request
Man watches his history on the screen with apathy and an occasional
passing flicker of horror or indignation.—Conor Cruise O’Brien,
20th-century Irish historian, critic, and diplomat
(b. 1917), Quoted in: Irish Times (Dublin, 16 July 1969)
Mankind are an incorrigible race. Give them but bugbears and idols—it
is all that they ask; the distinctions of right and wrong, of
truth and falsehood, of good and evil, are worse than indifferent
to them.—William Hazlitt, 18th–19th-century English
essayist
(1778–1830), "Common Places," no. 76, in Literary
Examiner (London, 29 Nov. 1823; repr. in Collected Works, vol.
11, ed. by A. R. Waller and Arnold Glover, 1904)
Men are accomplices to that which leaves them indifferent.—George
Steiner, 20th-century French-born American critic and novelist
(b. 1929), Language and Silence, "A Kind of Survivor"
(1967)
No one will ever shine in conversation, who thinks of saying fine
things: to please, one must say many things indifferent, and many
very bad.—Francis Lockier, 17th-18th-century English prelate
and man of letters
(1668–1740), Quoted in: Joseph Spence, Anecdotes, pt. 2,
"1730–32" (1820)
Nothing can contribute more to peace of soul than the lack of
any opinion whatever.—G.C. Lichtenberg, 18th-century German
physicist and writer
(1742–1799), Aphorisms, "Notebook E," aph. 11 (written
1765–99; tr. by R. J. Hollingdale, 1990)
Nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference which is, at least,
half infidelity.—Edmund Burke, 18th-century Irish philosopher
and statesman
(1729–1797), Letter to William Smith, 29 Jan. 1795 (published
in The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, vol. 9, ed. by Paul
Langford, 1991)
Old age is far more than white hair, wrinkles, the feeling that
it is too late and the game finished, that the stage belongs to
the rising generations. The true evil is not the weakening of
the body, but the indifference of the soul.—André
Maurois, 20th-century French writer
(1885–1967), The Art of Living, "The Art of Living"
(1940)
One who shows signs of mental aberration is, inevitably, perhaps,
but cruelly, shut off from familiar, thoughtless intercourse,
partly excommunicated; his isolation is unwittingly proclaimed
to him on every countenance by curiosity, indifference, aversion,
or pity, and in so far as he is human enough to need free and
equal communication and feel the lack of it, he suffers pain and
loss of a kind and degree which others can only faintly imagine,
and for the most part ignore.—Charles Horton Cooley, 19th-20th-century
American sociologist
(1864–1929), Human Nature and the Social Order, ch. 6 (1902)
Our most important task as parents is raising children who will
be decent, responsible, and caring people devoted to making this
world a more compassionate place.—Neil Kurshan, contemporary
American rabbi and author
Raising your Child to be a Mensch, ch. 7 (1987)
People are what you make them. A scornful look turns into a complete
fool a man of average intelligence. A contemptuous indifference
turns into an enemy a woman who, well treated, might have been
an angel.—André Maurois, 20th-century French writer
(1885–1967), News summaries 30 Jan 50
Perhaps misguided moral passion is better than confused indifference.—Iris
Murdoch, 20th-century Irish writer and philosopher
(b. 1919), Jenkin Riderhood, in The Book and the Brotherhood,
pt. 2, "Midwinter" (1987)
Persecution was at least a sign of personal interest. Tolerance
is composed of nine parts of apathy to one of brotherly love.—Frank
Moore Colby (1865–1925), 19th-205h-century American editor
and essayist
(1865–1925), The Colby Essays, vol. 1, "Trials of an
Encyclopedist" (1926)
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found
no remedy for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings.—Helen
Keller, 20th-century American author and lecturer
(1880–1968), My Religion, pt. 1, ch. 6 (1927)
Silence, indifference and inaction were Hitler’s principal
allies.—Lord Jakobovits, Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth
(b. 1921), Independent (London, 5 Dec. 1989)
Slums may well be breeding-grounds of crime, but middle-class
suburbs are incubators of apathy and delirium.—Cyril Connolly,
20th-century British journalist, editor and writer
(1903–1974), The Unquiet Grave, pt. 1 (1944; rev. 1951)
Smitten as we are with the vision of social righteousness, a God
indifferent to everything but adulation, and full of partiality
for his individual favorites, lacks an essential element of largeness.—William
James, 19th-century American psychologist and philosopher
(1842–1910), The Varieties of Religious Experience, lectures
14–15, "The Value of Saintliness" (1902)
The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own
indifference.—Bess Myerson, 20th-century American government
official and columnist
(b. 1924), Quoted in: Claire Safran, "Impeachment?"
(Redbook, April 1974)
The camel is drowning, and the goat asks him the depth of the
water.—Marathi proverb
The difference between our decadence and the Russians’ is
that while theirs is brutal, ours is apathetic.—James Thurber
(1894—1961), 20th century U.S. humorist, illustrator
Quoted in: Observer (London, 5 Feb. 1961)
The evil that men do lives on the front pages of greedy newspapers,
but the good is oft interred apathetically inside.—Brooks
Atkinson, 20th century American playwright
(1894–1984), "December 11," Once Around the Sun
(1951)
The gap between the committed and the indifferent is a Sahara
whose faint trails, followed by the mind’s eye only, fade
out in sand.—Nadine Gordimer, 20th-century South African
author
(b. 1923), "Great Problems in the Street" (first published
in I Will Still Be Moved, ed. by Marion Friedmann, 1963; repr.
in The Essential Gesture, ed. by Stephen Clingman, 1988)
The greatest threat to the future is indifference.—Anonymous
Saying
The greatest tragedy is indifference.—Red Cross slogan
The nonstriving person who elects to avoid problems actually creates
new ones.—Robert H. Schuller, contemporary American Protestant
minister and television evangelist
(b. 1926) Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!
The only thing that matters is caring, deep caring . . . Be the
man or the woman you have it in you to be—and you won’t
be false to Main Street.—Anonymous Saying
The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The
opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite
of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite
of life is not death, it’s indifference.—Elie Wiesel,
20th-century Rumanian-born American writer
(b. 1928), U.S. News and World Report (New York, 27 Oct. 1986)
The ordinary politician has a very low estimate of human nature.
In his daily life he comes into contact chiefly with persons who
want to get something or to avoid something. Beyond this circle
of seekers after privileges, individuals and organized minorities,
he is aware of a large unorganized, indifferent mass of citizens
who ask nothing in particular and rarely complain. The politician
comes after a while to think that the art of politics is to satisfy
the seekers after favors and to mollify the inchoate mass with
noble sentiments and patriotic phrases.—Walter Lippmann,
20th-century American journalist
(1889–1974), "The New Congress," in New York Herald
Tribune (8 Dec. 1931; repr. in The Essential Lippmann, pt. 3,
sct. 6, 1982)
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them,
but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity.—George
Bernard Shaw, 19th-20th century British playwright and critic
(1856–1950) Anderson, in The Devil’s Disciple, act 2
This people draws its origin from Abraham, our father in faith
... The very people that received from God the commandment "Thou
shalt not kill" itself experienced in a special measure what
is meant by killing. It is not permissible for anyone to pass
by this inscription with indifference.—Pope John Paul II
(b. 1920) [Karol Wojtyla], On visiting Auschwitz concentration
camp that he called "the Golgotha of the modern world,"
Time 18 Jun 79
This, now, is the judgment of our scientific age—the third
reaction of man upon the universe. The universe is not hostile,
nor yet is it friendly. It is simply indifferent.—John Haynes
Holmes, 20th-century American Unitarian clergyman
(1879-1964) The Sensible Man’s View of Religion (1932) ch.
4
Those who have been immersed in the tragedy of massive death during
wartime, and who have faced it squarely, never allowing their
senses and feelings to become numbed and indifferent, have emerged
from their experiences with growth and humanness greater than
that achieved through almost any other means.—Elizabeth Kubler-Ross,
20th-century Swiss-American psychiatrist
(b. 1926), Death: The Final Stage of Growth, ch. 5 (1975)
Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could
have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better,
the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that
has made it possible for evil to triumph.—Haile Selassie,
20th-century Emperor of Ethiopia
(1892–1975), speech addressing the League of Nations and
the UN, 4 October 1963
Time ... is not a great healer. It is an indifferent and perfunctory
one. Sometimes it does not heal at all. And sometimes when it
seems to, no healing has been necessary.—Ivy Compton-Burnett,
20th-century British novelist
(1892–1969), Darkness and Day (1951)
To live each day as though one’s last, never flustered, never
apathetic, never attitudinizing—here is perfection of character.—Marcus
Aurelius, 2nd-century Roman emperor and philosopher
(121–180 C.E.), Meditations, bk. 7, no. 69
To try may be to die, but not to care is never to be born.—William
Redfield, 20th-century American actor and writer
(b. 1927), "One Might Have Played Hamlet, the Other Did,"
NY Times, 15 January 1968
Tolerance is only another name for indifference.—W. Somerset
Maugham, 19th-20th-century British writer
(1874–1965), A Writer’s Notebook (1949), entry for 1896
We are becoming like cats, slyly parasitic, enjoying an indifferent
domesticity. Nice and snug in "the social," our historic
passions have withdrawn into the glow of an artificial coziness,
and our half-closed eyes now seek little other than the peaceful
parade of television pictures.—Jean Baudrillard, 20th-century
French semiologist
(b. 1929), Cool Memories, ch. 1 (1987; tr. 1990)
We are not commanded (or forbidden) to love our mates, our children,
our friends, our country because such affections come naturally
to us and are good in themselves, although we may corrupt them.
We are commanded to love our neighbor because our "natural"
attitude toward the "other" is one of either indifference
or hostility.—W. H. Auden, 20th century Anglo-American poet
(1907–73) A Certain World, "Neighbor, Love of One’s"
(1970)
We assume that politicians are without honor. We read their statements
trying to crack the code. The scandals of their politics: not
so much that men in high places lie, only that they do so with
such indifference, so endlessly, still expecting to be believed.
We are accustomed to the contempt inherent in the political lie.—Adrienne
Rich, contemporary American poet and educator
(b. 1929), "Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying," paper
read at Hartwick College, New York, June 1975 (first published
1977; repr. in On Lies, Secrets, and Silence, 1980)
We find the most terrible form of atheism, not in the militant
and passionate struggle against the idea of God himself, but in
the practical atheism of everyday living, in indifference and
torpor. We often encounter these forms of atheism among those
who are formally Christians.—Nicolai A. Berdyaev, 19th-20th-century
Russian Christian philosopher
(1874–1948), Truth and Revelation (1953; repr. in Christian
Existentialism, ch. 5, "Atheism," 1965)
We live in an age when to be young and indifferent can no longer
be synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims
of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth
of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity.—Benjamin Disraeli,
19th-century writer and prime minister of Britain
(1804–1881), from Sybil, 1845
We may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy
for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings.—Helen
Keller, 20th-century American author and lecturer
(1880–1968), My Religion, pt. 1, ch. 6 (1927)
What people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and
what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity.—G.K.
Chesterton, 19th-20th-century British essayist
(1874–1936), All Things Considered, "The Error of Impartiality"
(1908)
When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we
are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.—Eric
Hoffer, 20th-century American philosopher
(1902–1983), The Passionate State of Mind, aph. 83 (1955)
When you have become indifferent to crimes committed against others,
you have dug a pit for yourself.—Sholem Asch, 20th-century
American novelist
(1880–1957) What I Believe (1941) p. 190
Where apathy is the master, all men are slaves.—Anonymous
Saying
Wherever the citizen becomes indifferent to his fellows, so will
the husband be to his wife, and the father of a family toward
the members of his household.—Wilhelm Von Humboldt, 18th–19th-century
German statesman and philologist
(1767–1835), Limits of State Action, ch. 3 (1792; repr. 1854;
tr. and ed. by J. W. Burrow, 1969)
You see few people here in America who really care very much about
living a Christian life in a democratic world.—Clare Boothe
Luce, 20th-century American diplomat and writer
(1903–1987), Europe in the Spring, ch. 12 (1940) [CDQ]
© 1998 KPOZ
The following seemingly contradictory statements have been made concerning apathy:
Which author do you agree with, and why? Please e-mail your comments to: anewhaus@earthlink.net
© Andrea Németh-Newhauser. Last updated on January 27, 2001