I am too idle to destroy for nothing.
 Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847). copy citation

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Author Emily Brontë
Source Wuthering Heights
Topic destruction idleness
Date 1847
Language English
Reference
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Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/768/768-h/768-h.htm

Context

“My old enemies have not beaten me; now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives: I could do it; and none could hinder me. But where is the use? I don't care for striking: I can't take the trouble to raise my hand! That sounds as if I had been labouring the whole time only to exhibit a fine trait of magnanimity. It is far from being the case: I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing.
'Nelly, there is a strange change approaching; I'm in its shadow at present. I take so little interest in my daily life that I hardly remember to eat and drink. Those two who have left the room are the only objects which retain a distinct material appearance to me; and that appearance causes me pain, amounting to agony.” source

Meaning and analysis

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