Literary notes about Slothful (AI summary)
In literary works the term "slothful" is often laden with moral and social significance, used to describe not only physical laziness but also spiritual and intellectual inertia. In many sacred texts the word functions as a stern admonition—a call not to neglect one’s duties or let indifference settle into everyday life ([1], [2], [3], [4]). At the same time, in narrative and dramatic texts it paints vivid portraits of characters whose inactivity or excessive ease is both a personal failing and a source of societal critique, as seen in passages that highlight wasted potential or derelict leadership ([5], [6], [7]). Moreover, in treatises discussing broader issues of governance and human nature, the term underscores the detrimental effects of idleness on progress and prosperity ([8], [9]). Across these varying contexts, "slothful" emerges as a versatile descriptor that criticizes the neglect of both moral and practical responsibilities.
- That you become not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience shall inherit the promises. 6:13.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - p. 29 V. If not slothful in your temporal affairs, above all be not slothful concerning the salvation of your souls.
— from The Christian Mother; or, Notes for Mothers' Meetings by Maria Eliza Hoare - The slothful hideth his hand under his armpit, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - There shall the slothful be pricked forward with burning goads, and the gluttons be tormented with intolerable hunger and thirst.
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas - I now come to a curious episode—the most curious, I think, that had yet accented my slothful, valueless, heedless career.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain - Thénardier was cunning, greedy, slothful, and clever.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - Neither can he devote himself to a life of comfortable, slothful ease; the new lands have little comfort.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - The ground is the same, but the government is altered, the people are grown slothful, idle, their good husbandry, policy, and industry is decayed.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton - for as the hope of gain doth not excite him, so the confidence that he has in other men’s industry may make him slothful.
— from Utopia by Saint Thomas More