Preoccupation Quotes

“Forgiveness isn’t something I’m preoccupied with — turning the other cheek isn’t my trip.”
― Karl Lagerfeld

“Finally, everybody agrees that no one pursuit can be successfully followed by a man who is preoccupied with many things—eloquence cannot, nor the liberal studies—since the mind, when distracted, takes in nothing very deeply, but rejects everything that is, as it were, crammed into it. There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living: there is nothing that is harder to learn.”
― Seneca

“We preoccupy ourselves with what we had — or what we want to have — at the expense of what we have.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Strange that only a little problem of your own will take your mind far from a tragedy belonging to others.”
― Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley

“It's incredibly easy to get caught up in the thick of thin things.”
― Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

“Whoever that came up with the idea of people having to have 'a dream' sure knew how to keep these creatures called human beings preoccupied.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“...M. Danglars, who had listened to all this preamble with imperturbable coolness, but without understanding a word, engaged as he was, like every man burdened with thoughts of the past, in seeking the thread of his own ideas in those of the speaker.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

“In the city, strangers seldom meet beyond daily functions. Instead, they brush by with a haste and preoccupation that so defines a century of 'too little time'.”
― Joshua Krook, Us vs Them: A Case for Social Empathy

“Christ’s love is so great, it must lift our minds above our little struggles – and any preoccupation with our own salvation – so that we can see the needs of others, and beyond that the greatness of God and his Creation.”
― J. Heinrich Arnold

“Distraction leaches the authenticity out of our communications. When we are not emotionally present, we are gliding over the surface of our interactions and we never tangle in the depths where the nuances of our skills are tested and refined. A medical professor describes the easy familiarity with which her digital-native resident students master medical electronic records—but is troubled by the fact that they enter data with their eyes focused on their digital devices, not on the patient in the room with them. Preoccupation with technology acts as a screen between the student and the patient’s real emotion, real fear, and real concern. It may also prevent these residents from noticing physical symptoms that the patient fails to mention. The easy busyness of medical record entry is a way to sidestep the more challenging dynamics of human connection. But experienced physicians know that interpersonal skills are essential to mastering the art and science of medical diagnosis.”
― Marian Deegan, Relevance: Matter More

“But it feels like we are sitting on a tight bench of a bus with a stranger between us, one that neither of us is willing to admit to or mention, and so we find ourselves talking around him and through him and sneaking glances when the other one isn't looking. How am I supposed to think about Anna Fitzgerald when I'm wondering whether Julia has ever woken up in someone's arms and for just a moment, before the sleep cleared from her mind, thought maybe it was me?”
― Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

“Your beliefs about yourself, your preoccupation with your ego and self-worth can be self-limiting and self-diminishing.”
― Abhishek Ratna, small wins BIG SUCCESS: A handbook for exemplary success in post Covid19 Outbreak Era

“In truth, Derrida has always been preoccupied (in the strongest senses of that word) by what precedes or exceeds language.”
― Nicholas Royle, Jacques Derrida

“These other voices make me constantly falling back into an old trap, before I am even fully aware of it, I find myself wondering why someone hurt me, rejected me, or didn’t pay attention to me. Without realizing it, I find myself brooding about someone else’s success, my own loneliness, and the way the world abuses me. Despite my conscious intentions, I often catch myself daydreaming about becoming rich, powerful, and very famous. All of these mental games reveal to me the fragility of my faith that I am the Beloved One on whom God’s favor rests. I am so afraid of being disliked, blamed, put aside, passed over, ignored, persecuted, and killed, that I am constantly developing strategies to defend myself and thereby assure myself of the love I think I need and deserve. And in so doing I move far away from my father’s home and choose to dwell in a “distant country.” Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming

“The preoccupations of the narrative reveal the preoccupations of the narrator.”
― Sean Norris

“Traffic is more of the in between time where we think more about where we are going than where we are at the moment.”
― Tom Vanderbilt, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do and What It Says About Us

“When you are on your purpose, your preoccupation isn't what you don't have yet. You've already drunk too much of WHO YOU ARE and WHY YOU ARE here in this universe and in this generation.”
― Assegid Habtewold, Soft Skills That Make or Break Your Success: 12 soft skills to master yourself, become a team player, and lead your company to absolute success

“The split second has been growing more and more important to us. And as human activities become more and more intermeshed and integrated, the split tenth of a second will emerge, and then a new name must be made for the split hundredth, until one day, although I don’t believe it, we’ll say, “Oh, the hell with it. What’s wrong with an hour?” But it isn’t silly, this preoccupation with small time units. One thing late or early can disrupt everything around it, and the disturbance runs outward in bands like the waves from a dropped stone in a quiet pool.”
― John Steinbeck