(Hannah More, "Practical Piety")

Trifling is ranked among the minor faults.

But, consider that a life devoted to trifles
not only takes away the inclination, but the
capacity for higher pursuits.

The truths of Christianity scarcely have more
influence on a frivolous than on a depraved
character. If the mind is so absorbed with what
is useless, it loses all interest in a life of piety.

It matters little what causes this lack of interest.
If trifling cannot be accused of being a great moral
evil, it at least reveals a low state of mind, that a
being who has eternity at stake can abandon itself
to trivial pursuits!

If the great concern of life cannot be secured
without habitual watchfulness, how is it to be
secured by habitual carelessness?

It will afford little comfort to the trifler
when at the last reckoning he accuses the
more criminal offender of worse behavior.

The trifler will not be weighed in the scale with
the profligate, but in the balance of the sanctuary.