This vista lifted his spirits further, suggesting as it did the endless possibilities of the planet, beyond the reach of human pettiness.

He added: "Dwelling on human pettiness, this admirably modest film brings together Gogol and Beckett."

The idea of human pettiness may be shattering, but the details of pettiness are dull at best.

The crisis is precipitated by the base's chaplain (Chris Bauer), a sententious fellow who sees himself as an instrument of divine will but isn't above human pettiness.

The film, though handsomely photographed and well acted, ultimately doesn't register as a stinging or especially funny satire of human pettiness and denial.

Such letters were usually mundane, revealing nothing but human pettiness and jealousy.

Under these themes is his great subject: human pettiness exposed yet dignified by mortality.

His great lyric theme is human pettiness exposed yet dignified by mortality.

If it were ..." With one hand, Sumner made a leveling gesture to express his contempt for all human pettiness.

But "Prelude" enjoyably contrasts the grandeur of great art with the human pettiness of those who create it (2:15).