“Boredom appears to be the polar opposite of what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has famously termed ‘flow’, a state of intense focus you enter whilst absorbed in an enthralling task, when you lose track of time.”

— Maria Popova (2012), “The Cultural History and Adaptive Function of Boredome” (Ѻ), a review of Peter Toohe’s Boredom: a Lively History, Jun 6

I had no sense of the value of time, of my own or others, when I wrote it.”

— Willard Gibbs (c.1890), reflection on writing On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances [3]

"After dinner, a short half hour with Goethe, whom I found in a very cheerful, mild humor. He spoke of various things, at last of Carlsbad; and he joked about the various love affairs which he had experienced there. "A little passion," said he, "is the only thing which can render a watering place supportable; without it, one dies of ennui. I was almost always lucky enough to find there some little ‘elective affinity’ (Wahlverwandtschaft), which entertained me during the few weeks. I recollect one circumstance in particular, which even now gives me pleasure.

I one day visited Frau von Reck. After a commonplace chat, I had taken my leave, and met, as I went out, a lady with two very pretty young girls. ‘Who was that gentleman who just now left you?’ asked the lady. ‘It was Goethe,’ answered Frau von Reck. 'O, how I regret,' returned the lady, 'that he did not stay, and that I have not had the happiness of making his acquaintance!' 'You have lost nothing by it, my dear,' said Frau von Reck. 'He is very dull among ladies, unless they are pretty enough to inspire him with some interest. Ladies of our age must not be expected to make him talkative or amiable.'

When the two young ladies left the house with their mother, they thought of Frau von Reek's words. 'We are young, we are pretty,' said they, 'let us see if we cannot succeed in captivating and taming this renowned savage. The next morning, on the promenade by the Sprudel, they made me, in passing, the most graceful and amiable salutations, and I could not forbear taking the opportunity of approaching and accosting them. They were charming! I spoke to them again and again, they led me to their mother, and so I was caught. From that time we saw each other daily, nay, we spent whole days together. In order to make our connection more intimate, it happened that the betrothed of the one arrived, when I devoted myself more exclusively to the other. I was also very amiable to the mother, as may be imagined; in fact, we were all thoroughly pleased with one another, and I spent so many happy days with this family, that the recollection of them is even now highly agreeable. The two girls soon related to me the conversation between their mother and Frau von Reck, describing the conspiracy which they had contrived for my conquest, and brought to a fortunate issue."

“I'm bored at the junior high school. The pace is too slow. It's a more stimulating environment at the high school.”

— Christopher Hirata (1995), Chicago Tribune Interview

“Two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer (c.1840) (Ѻ)

“Real orgies are never so exciting as pornographic books. In a volume by Pierre Louys all the girls are young and their figures perfect; there's no hiccoughing or bad breath, no fatigue or boredom, no sudden recollections of unpaid bills or business letters unanswered, to interrupt the raptures. Art gives you the sensation, the thought, the feeling quite pure—chemically pure, I mean, [with a laugh] not morally.”

— Aldous Huxley (1928), Point Counter Point [2]

“What can possibly be more existentially disturbing than boredom?”

— Jon Hellesnes (c.1990) [1]

“Boredom always precedes a period of great creativity.”

— Robert Pirsig (c.1991) (Ѻ)