You see men of the most delicate frames engaged in active and professional pursuits who really have no time for idleness. Let them become idle,—let them take care of themselves, let them think of their health,—and they die! The rust rots the steel which use preserves.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
It is idleness that creates impossibilities; and where people don’t care to do anything, they shelter themselves under a permission that it cannot be done.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
If you are idle, you are on the road to ruin; and there are few stopping-places upon it. It is rather a precipice than a road.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry, all things easy.—He that rises late must trot all day, and hall scarce overtake his business at night, while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Sometimes I think that idlers seem to be a special class for whom nothing can be planned, plead as one will with them—their only contribution to the human family is to warm a seat at the common table.
—Unknown
So long as idleness is quite shut out from our lives, all the sins of wantonness, softness, and effeminacy are prevented; and there is but little room for temptation.
—Jeremy Taylor
In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
—Thurgood Marshall (1908–93) American Jurist
Troubles spring from idleness, and grievous toils from needless ease: many without labor would live by their own wits only, but they break for want of stock.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Idleness is only a coarse name for my infinite capacity for living in the present.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
Absence of occupation is not rest; a mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Be not solitary, be not idle
—Robert Burton (1577–1640) English Scholar, Clergyman
Idleness is the parent of all psychology
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Idleness is the Dead Sea that swallows all virtues
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Idleness is many gathered miseries in one name.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
Idleness is the only refuge of weak minds, and the holiday of fools.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches; and therefore every man endeavors with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
It has been said that idleness is the parent of mischief—which is very true; but mischief itself is merely an attempt to escape from the dreary vacuum of idleness.
—George Borrow (1803–81) English Writer, Traveler
The idle, who are neither wise for this world nor the next, are emphatically fools.
—John Tillotson
The condition of perfection is idleness: the aim of perfection is youth.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
It is not the hours we put in on the job, it is what we put into the hours that counts.
—Sidney Madwed (1926–2013) American Poet, Author
Extreme busyness, whether at school or college, kirk or market, is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Thee too, my Paridel! she mark’d thee there,
Stretch’d on the rack of a too easy chair,
And heard thy everlasting yarn confess
The Pains and Penalties of Idleness.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Prolonged idleness paralyzes initiative.
—Unknown
His labour is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee’s experience
Of clovers and of noon.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
It is a mistake to imagine, that the violent passions only, such as ambition and love, can triumph over the rest. Idleness, languid as it is, often masters them all; she influences all our designs and actions, and insensibly consumes and destroys both passions and virtues.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
The insupportable labor of doing nothing.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
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