To complain is to express dissatisfaction

• Complain: Express dissatisfaction or annoyance about something. Oxford Dictionary
• Complain: To say that something is wrong or not satisfactory.  Cambridge Dictionary
• Complain: To express dissatisfaction, pain, uneasiness, censure, resentment, or grief; find fault.  Dictionary.com
• Complain: To express grief, pain, or discontent. Merriam Webster
• Negativity,  Criticism,  Acceptance

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Many love to complain

• Oh, wouldn’t the world seem dull and flat with nothing whatever to grumble at? S. Gilbert
• I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain. Jane Wagner
• Any fool can criticize condemn and complain and most fools do. Dale Carnegie
• I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain. Jane Wagner
• We live in a culture of complaint because everyone is always looking for things to complain about. It’s all tied in with the desire to blame others for misfortunes and to get some form of compensation into the bargain.  Alexander McCall Smith
• A good conversation always involves a certain amount of complaining. I like to bond over mutual hatreds and petty grievances. Lisa Kleypas

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Complaining comes at a price

• The first step toward progress is dissatisfaction. But if we stay in dissatisfaction, we never move forward to brighter vistas. Will Bowen
• Complaining is the absolute worst possible thing you could do for your health or your wealth. The worst! … For the next seven days, I challenge you not to complain at all. T. Harv Eker
• You can never win when you wear the ugly cloak of self-pity and the sour sound of whining. Og Mandino
• Complaining strengthens the things you complain about. So don’t complain. Robin Sharma
• Complaining doesn’t make problems go away. It only makes them worse, because it has a magnifying effect.  Complaining is an attempt to unload our problems on others, a way of refusing to accept them as necessary conditions of life.  Hal Urban
• Complaints work against you in three ways. First, no one wants to hear negative news about your illness and your problems.  Second, complaining reinforces your own pain and discomfort.  So why keep replaying painful, negative memories?  Third, complaining, by itself, accomplishes nothing and diverts you from the constructive actions you could be taking to improve your situation.  Jeff Keller
• When any fit of gloominess, or perversion of mind, lays hold upon you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaints. Samuel Johnson
• My days of whining and complaining about others have come to an end. Nothing is easier than fault finding. All it will do is discolour my personality so that none will want to associate with me. That was my old life.  No more.  Og Mandino
• We have no more right to put our discordant states of mind into the lives of those around us and rob them of their sunshine and brightness than we have to enter their houses and steal their silverware. Julia Seton
• Like crying wolf, if you keep looking for sympathy as a justification for your actions, you will someday be left standing alone when you really need help. Criss Jami
• God abandons only those who abandon themselves, and whoever has the courage to shut up his sorrow within his own heart is stronger to fight against it than he who complains. George Sand

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Stop complaining …

• Stop complaining. Any complaint is really the expression of a negative emotion or state. It gives the complainer a sense of immediate relief, even pleasure. This is perhaps the reason why it is such a common practice worldwide. Dr. Alejandro Junger
• Avoid the four emotional cancers: criticizing, complaining, comparing, and competing. Stephen Covey
• Complaining should happen infrequently; criticism and gossip, never… Most of the complaining we do is just a lot of “ear pollution” detrimental to our happiness and well-being. Will Bowen
• Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours. Swedish Proverb
• It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Chinese Proverb
• To suffer without complaint is the only lesson we have to learn in this life. Vincent van Gogh
• Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain–and most do. Dale Carnegie
• When any fit of gloominess, or perversion of mind, lays hold upon you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaints. Samuel Johnson
• Take what comes and live life without complaint. What will be, will be. Nancy McKenzie

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… and stop finding fault with others

• It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.  Joseph Addison

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Instead of complaining, appreciate

• This life is not for complaint, but for satisfaction. Henry David Thoreau
• Constant complaint is the poorest sort of pay for all the comforts we enjoy. Benjamin Franklin
• Those who are content have enough; those that complain, have too much. Benjamin Franklin
• Don’t complain because you don’t have. Enjoy what you’ve got.  Stanley Judd
• Instead of complaining that the rosebush is full of thorns, be happy that the thorn bush has roses. Proverb
• Appreciation,  Gratitude

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Instead of complaining, do something about it …

• To be clear, being complaint free isn’t about pretending there aren’t any challenges in our lives or in the world. There are. A lot of them. The question is, what do we DO about it? Brian Johnson
• Negative people make lots of noise about how bad things are, while positive people quietly and steadily improve things. Marc and Angel Chernoff
• You can best get what you desire by expressing what you want rather than complaining about the way things are. Will Bowen
• You must be willing to take whatever pieces of life come your way and arrange them so that they work for you rather than against you. The key is to be willing. The willingness to arrange rather than complain or make excuses will pay off. Wayne Dyer
• If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it. Anthony J. D’Angelo
• You can overcome anything if you don’t bellyache. Bernard M. Baruch
• If you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out. . . . Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy.  Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals.  And it won’t make us happier.  Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
• I know it’s important to do more than just complain when there’s something you don’t like. You need to try to do something about it, or you’re nothing but a whiner.  Jean Ferris
• Now, ten years later, the person who talked and complained is still talking and complaining and still remains in the same position. The person who took the initiative and found solutions has been promoted several times.  Catherine Pulsifer
• Action,  Right action

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… or accept it …

• To complain is always non-acceptance of what is. It invariably caries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness. Eckhart Tolle
• Learn to accept in silence the minor aggravations, cultivate the gift of taciturnity, and consume your own smoke with an extra draft of hard work, so that those about you may not be annoyed with the dust and soot of your complaints. William Osler
• Complaining is silly. Either act or forget. Stefan Sagmeister
• If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Mary Engelbreit
• There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept responsibility for changing them. Denis Waitley
• Acceptance means no complaining, and happiness means no complaining about the things over which you can do nothing. Wayne Dyer
• Acceptance,  Non-resistance

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… or change the way you think about it

• If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain. Maya Angelou
• Instead of complaining that the rosebush is full of thorns, be happy that the thorn bush has roses. Proverb
• Complaining continues to create the vibration of what you don’t want. Today, take your focus off of what is wrong and focus on what is right and how you desire things to be. Put all your love, energy, mental power and decision making towards what you want and do not entertain thoughts that are to the contrary. Jackson Kiddard
• Interpretation,  Perception,  Attitude

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Try the 21 day complaint free challenge

• Try the 21 day complaint free challenge. Begin to wear a bracelet on either wrist. When you catch yourself complaining, gossiping, or criticizing, move the bracelet to the other wrist. Stay with it. It may take many months to reach 21 consecutive days of not moving the bracelet. The average is 4 to 8 months. Will Bowen
• Initiate a complaint fast—go anywhere from 24 hours to 21 days without complaining. Marelisa Fabrega

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On a lighter note

• Others may argue about whether the world ends with a bang or a whimper. I just want to make sure mine doesn’t end with a whine. Barbara Gordon
• The more you complain, the longer God makes you live.
• Never tell your problems to anyone…20% don’t care and the other 80% are glad you have them.  Lou Holtz
• Untold suffering seldom is. Franklin P. Jones
• A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks. Oscar Wilde
• A 20th wedding anniversary is difficult to celebrate. It’s too soon to brag and too late to complain.
• Any fool can criticize condemn and complain ”and most fools do.  Dale Carnegie
• Complaining is good for you as long as you’re not complaining to the person you’re complaining about.  Lynn Johnston
• Everyone complains of his memory, and nobody complains of his judgment. Francois de La Rochefoucauld
• Hypochondriac: One who enjoys poor health then complains of feeling better.
• I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. Maya Angelou
• I don’t understand why girls who wear wigs, false eyelashes and padded bras always complain that there are no real men anymore.
• I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain. Jane Wagner
• I waited an hour for my starter; so I complained  … ‘It’s not rocket salad.’   Lou Sanders
• Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.  Jane Wagner
• My grandfather was killed at Custer’s last stand. He was camping in the next field and went over to complain about the noise.   Joey Adams
• My wife has just two complaints: first she’s got absolutely nothing to wear and second she’s run out of closet space to keep it in.
• Pessimist: somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.
• Politicians who complain about the media are like ships’ captains who complain about the sea.  Enoch Powell
• Teenagers complain there’s nothing to do, then stay out all night doing it. Bob Phillips
• The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.  Lou Holtz
• Where else but in America could the women’s liberation movement take off their bras then go on TV to complain about their lack of support?  Bob Hope
• Why does a woman work ten years to change a man’s habits and then complain that he’s not the man she married? Barbra Streisand
• Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.
• Women complain about premenstrual syndrome but I think of it as the only time of the month that I can be myself.  Roseanne Barr
• It takes a disciplined spirit to endure the monastery on Mount Serat in Spain. One of the fundamental requirements of this religious order is that the young men must maintain silence. Opportunities to speak are scheduled once every two years, at which time they are allowed to speak only two words.
• One young initiate in this religious order, who had completed his first two years of training, was invited by his superior to make his first two-word presentation. “Food terrible,” he said. Two years later the invitation was once again extended. The young man used this forum to exclaim, “Bed lumpy.” Arriving at his superior’s office two years later he proclaimed, “I quit.” The superior looked at this young monk and said, “You know, it doesn’t surprise me a bit. All you’ve done since you arrived is complain, complain, complain.

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