Gilbert Newton Lewis

Sometimes I think that our laboratories are but little earthworks which men build about themselves, and whose puny tops too often conceal from view the Olympian heights; that we who work in these laboratories are but skilled artisans compared with the man who is able to observe and to draw accurate deductions from the world about him.

American Scientist

James D. Watson

As a child, I lived with being punier than other boys in class. The only consolation was my parents' empathy - they encouraged constant trips to the local drugstore for chocolate milk shakes to fatten me up. The shakes made me happy, but still, all through grammar school, other kids shoved me around.

G. Stanley Hall

Civilization is so hard on the body that some have called it a disease, despite the arts that keep puny bodies alive to a greater average age, and our greater protection from contagious and germ diseases.

American Psychologist

Alexander Herzen

Science, which cuts its way through the muddy pond of daily life without mingling with it, casts its wealth to right and left, but the puny boatmen do not know how to fish for it.

Russian Journalist

Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis

Not one single country in the world is dependent for their trade wholly on WTO guidelines - they aren't 'rules,' because the sanctions for breaching the guidelines are puny.

British Politician

Kurt Vonnegut

Puny man can do nothing at all to help or please God Almighty, and Luck is not the hand of God.

American Writer

Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are a puny and fickle folk. Avarice, hesitation, and following are our diseases.

American Philosopher

Meister Eckhart

The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great.

German Philosopher

Imelda Marcos

My dreams have become puny with the reality my life has become.

Celebrity

Paul Cezanne

French Artist

Use 'puny' to express physical smallness or lack of strength, often with a dismissive tone.

Strength Implication

When calling something 'puny', it suggests that it's too small or weak to be effective or valuable.

Underestimation

'Puny' is relative; what is puny to one may not be to another. Context is key.

Descriptive Scale

Use 'puny' to stress the lack of impact or importance of an effort or result.

Insignificance Highlight

Often, 'puny' is used to compare and show that something is inadequate against something else.

Comparative Context

'Puny' often carries a negative connotation, suggesting disappointment or disapproval.

Negative Connotation

 and threaten our species with weapons of mass destruction? In this way of thinking, it's character and conscience, not cold-hearted calculation, that will save us. Besides, a human being is not a brain on a stick. My fellow psychologists have shown that we're led by our bodies and our emotions and use our puny powers of reason

Steven Pinker and...

 visual image there's just far too much information for our puny brains to process or inattentional blindness has the phenomenon where an unexpected object no matter how salient it is that's right in front of us if we're not expecting it and if we're if our attention is otherwise engaged but we

Focus Expert -  Brian...

 hooked up the crane but only to the box which has absolutely nothing holding it to the car except from puny household duct tape if I'm right when I switch on the vacuums they're pulling power will keep the Box stuck tight to the roof of the car even when the crane has raised the box

Super Suction PIPE National...

 The scope of language has been augmented by the written, printed and electronic word. Our circle of sympathy has been expanded by history, journalism and the narrative arts. And our puny rational faculties have been multiplied by the norms and institutions of reason,

Is the world getting...

 A dingo is prowling in the shadows, and fruit won’t satisfy his appetite. The birds flee to safety all but the cassowary, who can’t clear the ground on her puny wings. Instead, she attacks, sending the dingo running for cover

Why can't some birds...

 "Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity." Now combine the electricity and oil revolutions, both driven by modern efficiency, and you get the really big reinventing fire,

Amory Lovins: A 40-year...

 mile in the depths of the earth and the great river shrinks into insignificance as it tosses its angry angry waves at the walls and cliffs that rise to the world above its waves are but puny

John Wesley Powell: From...

 Your city’s puny army is hopelessly outmatched. You think back to the legends. In the stories, the ruler of the city saved his people by feeding the creatures a ransom of pearls.

Can you solve the sea...

 we're pretty puny in the face of a mountain that doesn't always tolerate humanity so well it's really quite a daunting task for our team but we're up for it

Expedition Everest: The...

 considering how soft and puny we are it is remarkable that most of them stick to eating livestock