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idleness quotes

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“Idleness is worst, Idleness alone is without hope: work earnestly at anything, you will by degrees learn to work at almost all things. There is endless hope in work, were it even work at making money.” Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present
“Slavery, as we shall afterwards show, dishonors labor; it introduces idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It enervates the powers of the mind, and benumbs the activity of man.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
“rich or poor, weak or strong, every idler is a thief.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, or On Education
“A philanthropy that spends its time and money in helping the world to do more for itself is far better than the sort which merely gives and thus encourages idleness.” Henry Ford, My Life and Work
“I plodded conscientiously through the twenty-six letters, and the only malady I could conclude I had not got was housemaid’s knee.” Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
“Indeed, I have always been of opinion that hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.” Oscar Wilde, The Remarkable Rocket
“Let us come out and have a smoke. That wastes time just as well and does not look so bad. Tobacco has been a blessing to us idlers. What the civil-service clerk before Sir Walter's time found to occupy their minds with it is hard to imagine.” Jerome K. Jerome, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow
“There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do.” Jerome K. Jerome, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow
“Nothing had been accomplished. What was there to accomplish?” Jack Kerouac, On the Road
“Adam spent his next five years doing the things an army uses to keep its men from going insane—endless polishing of metal and leather, parade and drill and escort, ceremony of bugle and flag, a ballet of business for men who aren't doing anything.” John Steinbeck, East of Eden
“A zoologist who observed gorillas in their native habitat was amazed by the uniformity of their life and their vast idleness. Hours and hours without doing anything… Was boredom unknown to them?” Emil Cioran, The Trouble With Being Born
“My wilful actions and acquisitions are but roving; —the idlest reverie, the faintest native emotion, command my curiosity and respect.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
“I am too idle to destroy for nothing.” Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
“I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely.” Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four
“Industrious races find it a great hardship to be idle: it was a master stroke of English instinct to hallow and begloom Sunday to such an extent that the Englishman unconsciously hankers for his week—and work-day again” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Related topics

work hope boredom help slavery destruction emotion fun accomplishment labor army uniformity occupation exhaustion inactivity philanthropy tobacco malady smoking housemaid

Related authors

Jerome K. Jerome (3)
Oscar Wilde (1)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1)
John Steinbeck (1)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1)
Henry Ford (1)
Alexis de Tocqueville (1)
Arthur Conan Doyle (1)
Thomas Carlyle (1)
Emil Cioran (1)
Jack Kerouac (1)
Emily Brontë (1)

Related sources

My Life and Work (1)
Past and Present (1)
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (2)
Three Men in a Boat (1)
East of Eden (1)
Beyond Good and Evil (1)
Self-Reliance (1)
Wuthering Heights (1)
Democracy in America (1)
The Trouble With Being Born (1)
Emile, or On Education (1)
The Sign of the Four (1)
The Remarkable Rocket (1)
On the Road (1)