If you want work well done, select a busy man; the other kind has no time.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
The happiest people are those who are too busy to notice whether they are or not.
—William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author
If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.
—Robert Fulghum (b.1937) American Unitarian Author, Essayist, Clergyman
The busy man has few idle visitors; to the boiling pot the flies come not.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
No thoroughly occupied man was ever yet very miserable.
—Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–38) English Poet, Novelist
Every man is worth just as much as the things he busies himself with.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
The busy bee has no time for sorrow.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
He who is too busy doing good finds no time to be good.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.
—Spanish Proverb
Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of mental laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
There is room enough in human life to crowd almost every art and science in it. If we pass “no day without a line”—visit no place without the company of a book—we may with ease fill libraries, or empty them of their contents. The more we do, the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
Focus on being productive instead of busy.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
None are so busy as the fool and the knave.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
He who is not busy being born is busy dying.
—Bob Dylan (b.1941) American Singer-songwriter
The busy man is troubled with but one devil; the idle man by a thousand.
—Spanish Proverb
Happy people learn that happiness, like sweat, is a by-product of activity. You can only achieve happiness if you are too busy living your life to notice whether you are happy or not.
—Frank Pittman (1935–2012) American Psychiatrist
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
Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.
—Jane Austen (1775–1817) English Novelist
Get busy living, or get busy dying.
—Stephen King (b.1947) American Novelist, Screenwriter, Columnist, Film Director
You cannot hear the voice of oneness when you are busy talking.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
The busy have no time for tears.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
The poor and the busy have no leisure for sentimental sorrow.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do the less time one finds to do it in. One yawns, one procrastinates, one can do it when one will, and, therefore, one seldom does it all; whereas those who have a great deal of business, must (to use a vulgar expression) buckle to it; and then they always find time enough to do it in.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.
—Lucille Ball (1911–89) American Actor, Comedian, Model
The busiest men have the most leisure.
—English Proverb
Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective only when we begin with the end in mind.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Whoever admits that he is too busy to improve his methods, has acknowledged himself to be at the end of his rope. And that is always the saddest predicament which anyone can get into.
—J. Ogden Armour (1863–1927) American Businessperson
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