1818, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, ch. 18:I passed whole days on the lake alone in a little boat, watching the clouds and listening to the rippling of the waves, silent and listless.
1861, Charlotte M. Yonge, The Stokesley Secret, ch. 6:What an entirely different set of beings were those Stokesley children in lesson-time. . . . Poor, listless, stolid, deplorable logs, with bowed backs and crossed ankles, pipy voices and heavy eyes!
1901, William Somerset Maugham, The Hero, ch. 21:The scene with Mrs. Wallace had broken his spirit, and he was listless now, indifferent to what happened.
2005 Nov. 29, Aryn Baker, "John Hardy: Bali Guy," Time:“Listless, inattentive, distracted,†he recited. “A daydreamer. Tries his best, but is too slow.â€
