30 Quotes About Apathy

In a world bustling with constant change and emotion, apathy can quietly creep in, creating a stark contrast to the vibrancy around us. It's a state of indifference that can affect our personal lives, relationships, and even our larger societal roles. However, understanding and reflecting on apathy can help us recognize its presence and potentially overcome it. To aid in this reflection, we've curated a compelling collection of the top 30 quotes about apathy. These quotes, crafted by insightful thinkers and notable figures, offer a deeper look into the consequences of apathy and the importance of rediscovering our passions and responsibilities. Dive in and let these words inspire a renewed sense of purpose and engagement in your life.

1. “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

2. “If I didn't care for fun and such,I'd probably amount to much.But I shall stay the way I am,Because I do not give a damn.” - Dorothy Parker

3. “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.” - Winston Churchill

4. “Even when I try to stir myself up, I just get irritated because I can't make anything come out. And in the middle of the night I lie here thinking about all this. If I don't get back on track somehow, I'm dead, that's the sense I get. There isn't a single strong emotion inside me.” - Banana Yoshimoto

5. “...the opposite of love is not hate -- it's apathy. It's not giving a damn. If somebody hates me, they must "feel" something ... or they couldn't possibly hate. Therefore, there's some way in which I can get to them.” - Leo F. Buscaglia

6. “Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” - Abraham Lincoln

7. “Though the contradictions of war seem sudden and simultaneous, history stalks before it strikes. Something tolerated soon becomes something good.” - Anne Michaels

8. “i will admit there's a certain degree of giving a fuck that goes into not giving a fuck. by saying you don't care if the world falls apart, in some small way you're saying you want it to stay together, on your terms.” - David Levithan

9. “Hating requires caring. In which case, I couldn't possibly hate you.” - Alyson Noel

10. “It's a disease. Nobody thinks or feels or cares any more; nobody gets excited or believes in anything except their own comfortable little God damn mediocrity.” - Richard Yates

11. “We have long become overgrown with calluses; we no longer hear people being killed. ("X")” - Yevgeny Zamyatin

12. “Historical determinism is a recipe for political quietism.” - Terry Eagleton

13. “We've forgotten much. How to struggle, how to rise to dizzy heights and sink to unparalleled depths. We no longer aspire to anything. Even the finer shades of despair are lost to us. We've ceased to be runners. We plod from structure to conveyance to employment and back again. We live within the boundaries that science has determined for us. The measuring stick is short and sweet. The full gamut of life is a brief, shadowy continuum that runs from gray to more gray. The rainbow is bleached. We hardly know how to doubt anymore. (“The Thing”)” - Richard Matheson

14. “If I look at the mass I will never act.” - Mother Teresa

15. “We've established the most enormous medical entity ever conceived... and people are sicker than ever. We cure nothing! We heal nothing!” - Paddy Chayefsky

16. “My own apathy is bone chilling.” - Lionel Shriver

17. “You just sit there and tolerate it, the same way everything in this country is tolerated. Every deception, every lie, every bullet in the brains. Just as you are already tolerating bullets in the brains that will be implemented only after the bullet is put in your brains.” - Imre Kertesz

18. “It's an apathy so absolute that it's like a hole you might fall in.” - Lionel Shriver

19. “I didn't care about anything. And there's a freedom in apathy, a wild, dizzying liberation on which you can almost get drunk. You can do anything. Ask Kevin.” - Lionel Shriver

20. “It was not apathy. It was an intelligent disinterest in those things that could have no bearing on one's existence.” - Tanith Lee

21. “Nor did he give a damn for the world either, or the universe, or heaven or hell. But he liked women.” - John Fante

22. “Even as I'm shoveling up my hooter, I realize the sad truth. Coke bores me, It bores us all. We're jaded cunts, in a scene we hate, a city we hate, pretending that we're at the center of the universe, trashing ourselves with crap drugs to stave off the feeling that real life is happening somewhere else, aware that all we're doing is feeding that paranoia and disenchantment, yet somehow we're too apathetic to stop. Cause, sadly, there's nothing else of interest to stop for.” - Irvine Welsh

23. “He was simply someone who floated through our lives and didn't seem to care how flatly he perceived everyone or that he'd shared our secret failures with the world, showcasing the youthful indifference, the gleaming nihilism, glamorizing the horror of it all.” - Bret Easton Ellis

24. “The West's post-Holocaust pledge that genocide would never again be tolerated proved to be hollow, and for all the fine sentiments inspired by the memory of Auschwitz, the problem remains that denouncing evil is a far cry from doing good.” - Philip Gourevitch

25. “It was not our war, but it would be our disgrace, our shame. The West was filling to declare a war over the price of oil, but when it came to the wholesale slaughter of human beings we folded our hands across our chests and tapped our heels, with great anticipation that Sunday's sporting events would be wonderfully entertaining” - Bill Carter

26. “Apathetic people sit back and wait for things to get better before they move. Radical people make things get better, by how they move.” - Shannon L. Alder

27. “The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead.” - William Lloyd Garrison

28. “...you want things to remain the same, which they never can, and so you’re wounded by your own feelings & resentful others don’t seem to care...” - John Geddes

29. “There's so much I should say, so many things I should tell him, but in the end I tell him nothing.I cut a line and my losses, and I light a cigarette.” - Clint Catalyst

30. “Things will happen that you can’t prevent, things will fall apart that you can’t hold together, but ultimately you’re shaping yourself and that final product speaks volumes about who you really are, not what people see you as or what you want to be.” - Erik Tomblin