Hobby

“ When a hobby becomes a success it is then baptized and given another name. I engaged in many pursuits through the summer, always leaving a place or calling so soon as it afforded me no further instruction. On Dead wood, a mining stream with a large and prosperous camp, I found some old ac quaintances of The Forks, and finding also a library, a debating society, and a temperance lodge, I joined all these, took part, and on every fit and unfit occasion began to urge my hobby. Yet I never admitted that I had cast my fortune with the Indians or even had been among them. ”

“ Some form of intellectual hobby makes the very best recreation, but not every one has either the time or the money and above all the intelligence to cultivate a hobby that will be absorbing in its appeal. ”

“ The ideal hobby, it seems to me, is one that keeps us in the open air among inspiring surroundings, with the knowledge of natural objects as the end in view. The study of plants, of animals, of the earth itself, botany, zoölogy, or geology, any one of these will answer the varied requirements of an ideal hobby. Potentially they possess all the elements of sport. Often they require not only perseverance and skill but courage and daring. They are a means of health, a relaxation to the mind from ordinary cares, and an absorbing interest. ”

“ The experiment, he plainly foresaw, was a risky one; but life after all was an experiment. He had been taunted with having no hobby. Why should not he, like the rest of them, have one? Had he remained at this dubious stage, the hobby would not have proved a very hopeful or attractive one. ”

“ She was one of those fortunate persons who have a hobby which takes the place of parents, husband, children, relations—a hobby, moreover, which appears to afford a delight quite independent of the varying degrees of success with which it is pursued. ”

“ I said to myself, I have been a dreamer. I am now awake, and I have a purpose.
That purpose became my hobby. I rode that hobby to the bitter end. Old men have hobbies sometimes as well as boys. The Civil War was born of hobbies. ”

“ If there is any hobby that is worth while it is one that takes us out- of-doors. What the attractive features of your hobby may be, is not of very great importance provided this object is secured. You must be lured away from your stuffy living rooms and encouraged to breathe the fresh, pure air of the open. ”

“ Most people that are worth their salt have a hobby of some sort, and though ‘cranks’ are sneered at, yet the possession of a hobby is not to be despised, for it shows, at any rate, that the possessor is in earnest about some object, and is not the aimless, indifferent, and apathetic individual that lives like a vegetable, and goes through life without his pulses stirred, his heart warmed, or his brain-power excited. ”

“ THE PLEASURES OF COLLECTING BLESSED is the man who has a hobby! declared Lord Brougham; and of all the hobbies it is doubtful if any are more blessed than those of the collector of antiques and curios, old prints, coins and medals, rare books and bindings, and the like. ”

“ May your hobby horse conduct you safely through the world. May you never have a hobby more dangerous. Little or great we all ride. Who has not his hobby?
Men’s hobbies ride like mad through all the ways of life; one makes a bid for glory, another for pleasure; many of them jump from high places and break their rider’s necks. I hope when you are grown up, little Roger, you will bestride two hobby horses that will keep you always in the right path: one lively, the other quiet; both beautiful—courage and kindness.
[20] COURAGE
Louisa and Frederick have gone to school along the village street. ”

“ Encourage the young business adventurer or artisan to make the most of his chosen hobby (and to choose a hobby if he has not one already) , to systematize it, develop it, make it financially profitable if that is the desire ”

“ The new thoughts which a man may bring them quickly set the thinking-machine in motion, and it eagerly draws the 'feed' into its interior. Your hobby is to another man who has a stable full of his own, a bore and a nuisance; to a woman who is hobbyless, it is sometimes the greatest pleasure to go for a gallop en croupe behind a gallant rider who bestrides a well-groomed hobby. Now I was in mid gallop over a new road, familiar to you, interesting to me, when the hobby, being well bred, does not stumble, but the man does, and down we all come together, dissatisfied and balked of our ride. ”

“ Above all is there delight in that alluring mental exercise known as the argument in a circle. It is an intellectual merry-go-round. A hobby-horse on rockers is sport for tame intelligences, but a hobby that can be made to go round is exciting. You may see grave divines and astute metaphysicians and even earnest sociologists rejoicing in the swift sequence of their own ideas, as conclusion follows premise and premise conclusion, in endless gyration. ”

“ It’s your weak spot—your own particular little hobby. You’ve followed up more wild-cat trails than anyone I know.”
“And in the end I’ll strike it. You’ll see.”
“Well, every one his own hobby. Mine’s rows, yours is gold.” ”

“ Maxwell
Good heavens, Nellie, I’m perfectly willing to buy the automobile; and I’m not criticising any of your hobbies! I—
Helen
Hobbies! Does one wear one’s self out for a hobby? Does one die for a hobby? Is the vote a hobby? Is the Woman’s Movement a hobby? Is Futurism a hobby? Is the Church of the Social Revolution a hobby? Is preaching the great truths of sex to one’s unborn children a hobby? ”

“ Webster defines a hobby as: "A subject or plan which one is constantly setting off," or "a favorite and ever recurring theme of discourse, thought, or effort," but the editor of The Century Dictionary has a better definition, more in accord with modern thought, viz., "That which a person persistently pursues or dwells upon with zeal or delight, as if riding a horse." ”

“ This must not be merely a passing interest, if possible, but a serious attraction of some kind that fully occupies the mind. A hobby is an excellent thing for this, but alas! a hobby must be cultivated for many years, as a rule, to become powerful enough to bring relief in such serious matters. ”

“ Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby! ”

“ In other words, it is important that a man shall have a hobby, and that he shall ride that hobby whenever his ordinary business, whatever that may be, will permit him, and the more interesting the hobby, the better. ”

“ Amusements.—The fact of the matter is that a man must have, if possible, some other serious interest in life besides his business. He must have a hobby. We have discussed this in the chapter on Diversion of Mind and refer to it here only to indicate the importance of knowing something about a man's recreation as well as his work. It is not a casual occupation but a real interest that he should have. ”

“ When you grow up you will understand what I mean by an ‘outlet’—a hobby, that is—in your life, and it must be so different from your regular work that it will take your thoughts into an entirely different direction. ”

“ Oh, I shall cultivate a hobby or two after awhile. It keeps the mind healthy to have some interest of the kind outside of one’s business. I may take to book-collecting or numismatics or raising orchids. ”

“ But, speaking generally, we are a bearable lot, our hobbies are usually harmless, and if we loathe the subject of automobiles, and especially discussion relative to parts thereof, we try to show an intelligent interest in another’s hobby, even if it happen to be a collection of postage-stamps. Our own hobby may be, probably is, ridiculous to some one else, but in all the wide range of human interest, from postage-stamps to paintings,—the sport of the millionaire,—there is nothing that begins so easily and takes us so far as the collecting of books. ”

“ In fact, my hobby in life is other people's feet; I have fitted a hundred pairs of them with socks and with boots, and I have assisted personally at the pricking of their blisters, and the trimming of their excrescences. What a fall from our intellectual heights! ”

“ The squire proceeded,—
“I don’t say it was all your fault; perhaps it was mine.”
“Noa, noa, noa,” burst forth in a general chorus.
“Nay, friends,” continued the squire, humbly, and in one of those illustrative aphorisms which, if less subtle than Riccabocca’s, were more within reach of the popular comprehension,—“nay, we are all human, and every man has his hobby; sometimes he breaks in the hobby, and sometimes the hobby, if it is very hard in the mouth, breaks in him. One man’s hobby has an ill habit of always stopping at the public house! ”

“ A hobby is needed, a devotion to some larger purpose, whether it be in work or social activity. "Nature abhors a vacuum"; boredom must be avoided, for that is a pain, awakening desire. The gymnasium, golf, sports of all kinds are substitute pleasures of great value. ”

“ But though sometimes productive of regrets, no one should be without a hobby, or hobbies. “Have not the wisest of men in all ages, not excepting Solomon himself—have they not had their hobby-horses?” asks Sterne. “The man without a hobby may be a good citizen and an honest fellow,” observes George Dawson, in his altogether lovely volume, The Pleasures of Angling, “but he can have but few golden 110threads running through the web or woof of his monotonous existence.” A hobby is the best of preceptors, and rides straight to the mark. ”

“ A hobby is the happy medium between a passion and a monomania. ”

“ Hobbies are delightful—they make existence so much more interesting—a collection of teapots or buttons, miniatures or pewter. It really doesn’t much matter what it is, but it gives one pleasure to poke about in old shops, in odd towns, and secure an occasional prize. Hobbying is like fly-fishing. ”

“ In the pursuit of such things many a man has found his hobby; and there are few men who do not find recreation and delight in a hobby of some kind. Such interests{22} outside their regular occupations broaden their outlook and widen their knowledge. Some hobbies tend to lead to specialization, and the specialist is apt to become warped and narrowed; not so, however, the collector of household curios. ”

“ But the possession of a hobby is not enough; they ought to be able to physic their own horses and dogs; to superintend the construction of their own houses and baggage carts; to know how to manage a farm-yard and a garden; how to cook their own dinner; brew their own ale; how to ride and how to drive how to shoot and how to sail; how to calculate their pay in vulgar and decimal fractions ”

“ The common use of the word is for a favourite pursuit or occupation, with the idea either of excessive devotion or of absence of ulterior motive or of profit, &c., outside the occupation itself. This use is probably not derived from the easy ambling gait of the Irish “hobby,” but from the “hobby-horse,” the mock horse of the old morris-dances, made of a painted wooden horse’s head and tail, with a framework casing for an actor’s body, his legs being covered by a cloth made to represent the “housings” of the medieval tilting-horse. A hobby or hobby-horse is thus a toy, a diversion. ”

“ Choice of a hobby.
When making a start take up anything, it does not matter what. One hobby leads to another, and it leads to something else, which is one of the most potent aids to health. For no sooner has anyone begun a fresh pursuit than [Pg 154] they meet with someone who is interested in the same subject. ”

“ Most men have, and almost every man should have, a hobby: it is exercise in a mild way, and does not take him away from home; it diverts him; and by having a double line of rails, he can manage to keep the permanent way in good condition. ”

“ I refer to the hobby-riding which is so common in the medical profession. Every good thing seems to be destined to this use till it loses its novelty; and therefore its real value can never be accurately ascertained, till it has passed what may be called the hobby-period of its existence. ”

“ New York Fern
[Pg 1]
FERNS AS A HOBBY
I think it is Charles Lamb who says that every man should have a hobby, if it be nothing better than collecting strings. A man with a hobby turns to account the spare moments. A holiday is a delight instead of a bore to a man with a hobby. Thrown out of his usual occupations on a holiday, the average man is at a loss for employment. ”

“ I give advice as valuable and more easily followed: I say, Young man, get a hobby; preferably get two, one for indoors and one for out; get a pair of hobby-horses that can safely be ridden in opposite directions.
We collectors strive to make converts; we want others to enjoy what we enjoy; and I may as well confess that the envy shown by our fellow collectors when we display our treasures is not annoying to us. ”

“ I am a rich man and can afford hobbies. This place is a hobby. I lose four thousand a year, but I am satisfied. I pick and choose my own guests. If one bores me I tell him to go—that his room has been taken. ”

“ Never mind what your hobby is—books, prints, drawings, china, scarabaei, lepidoptera—keep it to yourself and for those like-minded with you. Sweet indeed is the community of interest, delightful the intercourse which a common foible begets ”

“ Here, Gilbert sees a marked distinction between that generation of business men and the present in the use of leisure; he sees hobbies as superior to sport. "The old-fashioned Englishman, like my father, sold houses for his living but filled his own house with his life. A hobby is not merely a holiday. ”