idle words

"Our actions aren't idle words or dead letters on the page," he said.

Those may seem idle words, until you recall that Engine No. 1 has already shaken up one company — Exxon Mobil, in one of the most startling proxy fights of recent times.

And those are not just idle words coming from Reich, who has done his best work in relief duty.

But they’re all just idle words full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Bush called Reagan “a leader of clarity and resolve, not given to idle words,” someone “who took command of events, rebuilt America’s strength, and moved the world toward peace.”