Idleness is emptiness; the tree in which the sap is stagnant, remains fruitless.
—Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) American Theologian
Gloomy calm of idle vacancy.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
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
Do not allow idleness to deceive you; for while you give him today he steals tomorrow from you.
—Alfred Henry Forrester (1804–72) British Illustrator
Idleness is the beginning of all vices.
—Common Proverb
Rather do what is nothing to the purpose than be idle, that the devil may find thee doing.—The bird that sits is easily shot when the fliers escape the fowler.—Idleness is the Dead Sea that swallows all the virtues, and is the self-made sepulcher of a living man.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
An idler is a watch that wants both hands; As useless if it goes as when it stands.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
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
An idle brain is the devil’s workshop.
—English Proverb
Were’t not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honored love,
I rather would entreat thy company
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Prolonged idleness paralyzes initiative.
—Unknown
Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Architect
Few women and fewer men have enough character to be idle.
—E. V. Lucas (1868–1938) British Writer, Humorist, Playwright
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
In idleness there is a perpetual despair.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and idleness, its opposite, never brought a man to the goal of any of his best wishes.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
The condition of perfection is idleness: the aim of perfection is youth.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Much bending breaks the bow; much unbending the mind.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist
Work with some men is as besetting a sin as idleness with others.
—Samuel Butler
Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.
Four be the things I’d been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.
Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.
Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
What heart can think, or tongue express,
The harm that groweth of idleness?
—John Heywood
Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.
—Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English Humorous Writer, Novelist, Playwright
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
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
The insupportable labor of doing nothing.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
How sweet and sacred idleness is!
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
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