Earnest Quotes

Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.
Winston Churchill

Politics, Business, Game

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.
Barack Obama

Work, Today, Children

The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest.
Henry David Thoreau

Squirrel, Dies, Jest

Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself completely; in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest.
Charles Dickens

Life, Great, Heart

Deeply earnest and thoughtful people stand on shaky footing with the public.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thoughtful, Stand, Public

Men who are in earnest are not afraid of consequences.
Marcus Garvey

That is why, no matter how desperate the predicament is, I am always very much in earnest about clutching my cane, straightening my derby hat and fixing my tie, even though I have just landed on my head.
Charlie Chaplin

Why, Matter, Though

We seldom praise anyone in good earnest, except such as admire us.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Good, Anyone, Except

What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth.
Benjamin Disraeli

Truth, True, Often

If we don't make earnest moves toward real solutions, then each day we move one day closer to revolution and anarchy in this country. This is the sad, and yet potentially joyous, state of America.
Louis Farrakhan

Sad, Real, Revolution

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.
Samuel Johnson

My chief concern is to try to be an humble, earnest Christian.
Robert E. Lee

Humble, Christian, Try

To be content with life or to live merrily, rather all that is required is that we bestow on all things only a fleeting, superficial glance; the more thoughtful we become the more earnest we grow.
Georg C. Lichtenberg

Life, Live, Become

Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute! Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated. Begin, and then the work will be completed.
Jean Anouilh

Work, Power, Mind

This man is frank and earnest with women. In Fresno, he's Frank and in Chicago he's Ernest.
Henny Youngman

Women, Chicago, Frank

Have you noticed that whatever sport you're trying to learn, some earnest person is always telling you to keep your knees bent?
Dave Barry

Person, Trying, Keep

I will be as harsh as truth, and uncompromising as justice... I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.
William Lloyd Garrison

Truth, Justice, Single

I am in earnest - I will not equivocate - I will not excuse - I will not retreat a single inch - and I will be heard!
William Lloyd Garrison

Single, Heard, Excuse

So long as there are earnest believers in the world, they will always wish to punish opinions, even if their judgment tells them it is unwise and their conscience that it is wrong.
Walter Bagehot

Long, Wish, Wrong

I am interested in the notion that people can become so obsessed by their world that they lose sense and awareness of how they appear to other people. They're so earnest about it. But that's true of so many things.
Christopher Guest

True, Become, Sense

He who says he hates every kind of flattery, and says it in earnest, certainly does not yet know every kind of flattery.
Georg C. Lichtenberg

Says, Flattery, Hates

The first professional play I ever saw was The Importance Of Being Earnest, and I just fell in love.
Kim Cattrall

Love, Play, Importance

About my career I was serious and earnest, sometimes impatient.
Gene Tierney

Career, Sometimes, Serious

Laurence Olivier said in an interview once that when he plays a tragedy he always aims for the funny parts, and the other way around. Because in a comedy you look for what's serious. I think that's true. Sometimes things are really funny if you're absolutely earnest. If you're really serious, it's hilarious.
Christopher Walken

Funny, True, Sometimes

It's amazing how much you can learn if your intentions are truly earnest.
Chuck Berry

Amazing, Learn, Intentions

You see so many earnest characters in movies all the time, everyone has a purpose.
Joaquin Phoenix

Time, Movies, Everyone

I think the word 'earnest' kind of has a negative connotation on some level. I think one of the things that's happened is that being cynical is somehow conflated with being sophisticated. I think that's problematic, to say the least.
Josh Radnor

Negative, Word, Happened

Insurance companies, whether private or government owned, must be compelled to pay for health-promoting measures. In turn, this will encourage physicians to offer such treatments in earnest.
Andrew Weil

Government, Whether, Turn

Things can be funny only when we are in fun. When we're 'dead earnest,' humor is the only thing that is dead.
Flip Wilson

Funny, Humor, Fun

When he speaks to you he speaks with an earnest vibe and an earnest energy.
Dwayne Johnson

Energy, Speaks, Vibe

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