An educated man can put up with enforced idleness, which is one of the worst evils of poverty.
 George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933). copy citation

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Author George Orwell
Source Down and Out in Paris and London
Topic poverty idleness
Date 1933
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100171.txt

Context

“People are wrong when they think that an unemployed man only worries about losing his wages; on the contrary, an illiterate man, with the work habit in his bones, needs work even more than he needs money. An educated man can put up with enforced idleness, which is one of the worst evils of poverty. But a man like Paddy, with no means of filling up time, is as miserable out of work as a dog on the chain. That is why it is such nonsense to pretend that those who have ‘come down in the world’ are to be pitied above all others.” source