Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Travelling fills me with dread.
Life is about recapturing lost freedoms.
When the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.
Life is becoming no more than staring at the screen.
I seethe at the humiliation of airport security checks.
All poets are idlers, even if all idlers are not poets.
I count it as a certainty that in paradise, everyone naps.
Both on an individual and a national scale, debt imprisons.
Being good to people is the only insurance policy you need.
There is nothing so perfect as pinball and a pint at 11 a.m.
Paradoxically, to be truly idle, you also have to be efficient.
All of our technology is completely unnecessary to a happy life.
The phrase 'work/life balance' encapsulates a depressing outlook.
Idleness allows you to turn a situation from boredom to pleasure.
The art of living is the art of bringing dreams and reality together.
You can become very serious as a parent. That's got to be fought against.
Idleness for me is not a giving up on life but a spirited grabbing hold of it.
The accusation 'unprofessional' means 'You did not behave like a machine today.
It will soon be difficult to put up a shelf without a degree in shelf putting up.
I love the 19th-century idea of the flaneur, the poet wandering through the streets.
Guilt is also a way for us to express to others that we are a person of good conscience.
When people say " I just don't have enough time " they mean " I prioritized something else.
We bore ourselves in order to earn money that we'll later spend on trying to de-bore ourselves
Faffing of course does not fit the programme. We are supposed to be busy, productive citizens.
Faffing, of course, does not fit the programme. We are supposed to be busy, productive citizens.
We have become so obsessed by numbers and by bottom lines that beauty and truth has been knocked aside.
Often, the things that a lot of work has gone into have been incredibly bad because they're over-worked.
Whether you live in the city or in the country, creating time for a leisurely ramble is an easy thing to do.
In this age of getting what you want and getting it now, the simple pleasure of browsing is often forgotten.
Our dreams take us into other worlds, alternative realities that help us make sense of day-to-day realities.
Sensible people advise against drinking on an empty stomach, but to my mind it is the best sort of drinking.
When walking you see things that you miss in a motor car or on the train. You give your mind space to ponder.
Laziness works. And the simple way to incorporate its health benefits into your life is simply to take a nap.
Although I played a lot of computer games in my 20s, now I have children of my own I hate them with a passion.
When walking, you see things that you miss in a motor car or on the train. You give your mind space to ponder.
Doing something you enjoy at times of your own choosing and making a living from it: now tell me, is that work?
Although I played a lot of computer games in my 20s, now I have children of my own, I hate them with a passion.
When the day comes, I remember how much I loathe flying. I seethe at the humiliation of airport security checks.
Am I the only person in the world who is shocked and amazed at the ongoing flattery of uebergeek Mark Zuckerberg?
Pain will never leave us. Instead of putting energy into destroying pain, we need to put energy into creating pleasure.
One aspect of fast London life I have never understood, for example, is the custom of the gym. Why do people go to gyms?
My idea of childcare at festivals is to sit at a trestle table with an ale while the kids run around and make up their own games.
Beauty, pleasure, freedom and plenty of sleep: these are the hallmarks of a successful idler's break. Travel should not be hard work.
Meetings, clearly, can take place anywhere, and wouldn't it be nice to see your coworkers lounging on the grass with their shoes off?
I think it's good to look at how people lived before, and then take the best bits of that culture and try to mix it in with your own.
What seems extraordinary is that the richest countries in the world, in terms of economic output, are the ones where we work hardest.
If we are to make life into a pleasure rather than a struggle, then I would suggest that we have to start with our own mental attitudes.
If you can find a way to make a living doing something you enjoy, or a range of things that you enjoy, then it can scarcely be called work.
I suddenly realised, hey, I'm not a lazy idiot, I'm an idler! It's something to aspire to, it's part of the creative process! That's fantastic!
When you go for a walk, take seeds with you, poppies, rainbow chard, rocket. Plant them among the weeds in patches of wasteland. See what happens.