#idleness

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? (Just to give you an idea, Proust's reply was 'To be separated from Mama.') I think that the lowest depth of misery ought to be distinguished from the highest pitch of anguish. In the lower depths come enforced idleness, sexual boredom, and/or impotence. At the highest pitch, the death of a friend or even the fear of the death of a child. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#children #death #fear #friends #idleness

Our dreams take us into other worlds, alternative realities that help us make sense of day-to-day realities. ↗

— Tom Hodgkinson

#idleness #dreams

Hotel My room's shaped like a cage the sun Put his arm right through the window But I who wish to smoke and dream Use it to light my cigarette I don't want to work I want to smoke ↗

— Apollinaire

#poetry #smoking #dreams

He knew now that it was his own will to happiness which must make the next move. But if he was to do so, he realized that he must come to terms with time, that to have time was at once the most magnificent and the most dangerous of experiments. Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre. ↗

— Albert Camus

#idleness #retirement #time #death

Idleness is a constant sin, and labor is a duty. Idleness is the devil's home for temptation and for unprofitable, distracting musings; while labor profit others and ourselves. ↗

— Anne Baxter

#devil #distracting #duty #home #idleness

People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day. ↗

— A.A. Milne

#idleness #inspirational #humor

Inventory: "Four be the things I am wiser to know: Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe. Four be the things I'd been better without: Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt. Three be the things I shall never attain: Envy, content, and sufficient champagne. Three be the things I shall have till I die: Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye. ↗

— Dorothy Parker

#contentment #curiosity #doubt #envy #foes

Idleness, we are accustomed to say, is the root of all evil. To prevent this evil, work is recommended.... Idleness as such is by no means a root of evil; on the contrary, it is truly a divine life, if one is not bored.... ↗

— Søren Kierkegaard

#life

A conclusion I’ve come to at the Idler is that it starts with retreating from work but it’s really about making work into something that isn’t drudgery and slavery, and then work and life can become one thing. ↗

— Tom Hodgkinson

#living #life

Idleness for me is not a giving up on life but a spirited grabbing hold of it. ↗

— Tom Hodgkinson

#living #life