Word: trivial
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Dates: during 1880-1889
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...seems almost trivial to return to a subject which is so well-worn as that of the use of books in the library: but when the annoyance increases to such a degree that it becomes almost maddening, some word of protest certainly is not out of place. If every man will but remember that his interest in a reserved book is not a life interest, and that others desire to use it as well as he, the whole matter will be simplified and the trouble abated. It is this thoughtlessness, and only thoughtlessness, without question, which causes all the trouble...
...their stylographic pens on the edges of their notes, write their names all over their books and indite doggerel to their female friends therein, all lay their trivial characters before us. Straws show which way the wind blows; study the men about you through their notes and you will not need a game of poker to tell his character...
...capable of appreciating the agony of the man who finds himself confronted by some phrase of a dead or unfamiliar living language which he cannot, for the life of him, translate. No true Harvard man, however, will give up the attempt to construe a sentence because of any such trivial obstacle as total ignorance of its meaning. A good guess is not without its value, and if the guesser fails to hit within forty rows of apple trees of his mark, - why, it makes no difference. A total omission would have been fully as disastrous...
...study that portion of a writer's life and works which would exactly meet the wishes of all, the complaint would be well based. But such a mean has not been discovered. We are still forced to wade, knee-deep at times, through a mass of personal reminiscences some trivial and unmeaning, others nauseous and repulsive, to arrive at a just conception of a writer, not only as an author, but also...
...truly musicianly and interesting composition. Although not sketched in the broad proportions we find in Beethoven and Schumann, it has the true symphonic character. Of the four movements, the first and third are the best, the fourth at times coming dangerously near, though not actually reaching, the trivial. The orchestration is good throughout, a certain preference being given to the wood over the brass. On the whole the symphony may be considered a valuable addition to the repertoire of the orchestra, while it formed the chief attraction of a very enjoyable and successful concert...