The terrible thing about the Internet and Amazon is that they take the magic and happy chaos out of book shopping. The… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
In this age of getting what you want and getting it now, the simple pleasure of browsing is often forgotten. — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
For a really relaxing time, you want to go to a place where the work ethic hasn't taken hold, where the culture… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
The best thing that can happen to anybody is to be sacked or made redundant because often that's when you think, "I… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
Part of this individualism is you feel this pressure that you alone have to conquer the world, and if you don't work… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
Once you explore life outside of work, it becomes addictive. The less you work, the less you want to work. At first,… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
If Adam and Eve were not hunter-gatherers, then they were certainly gatherers. But, then, consumer desire, or self-embitterment, or the 'itch,' as… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
Beauty feeds us. Anarchy is beauty. We are against the grey people. We want to decorate, like those fantastic Indian lorries which… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
We think we have to work because the advertising industry has elevated wants into needs. The newspapers and the television batter us… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
Little things like making clothes, baking bread, cooking, even useless things like bird-watching, sketching flowers, playing guitar in the home - that… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
By taking out a loan, I am committing myself to years of interest repayments, and therefore to years of wage slavery. And the UK… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
Writing a book is a brilliant thing because once you've finished it, you've done it, and there's the potential for it to go on… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
Truly, the bench is a boon to idlers. Whoever first came up with the idea is a genius: free public resting places where you… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
Beauty, pleasure, freedom and plenty of sleep: these are the hallmarks of a successful idler's break. Travel should not be hard work. — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
These days we seem more bound to our bosses than ever before. We even identify our own selves with the jobs we do: 'What… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
The way to stop feeling guilty is to read stuff - I'm not saying my book, but works by Bertrand Russell or Oscar Wilde,… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
The idea of a government is to create an ordered, willing work force where there's no trouble. I think idlers are generally seen as… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
When stuck years ago in a job I hated, my only friend was the public bench. As the tedious mornings dragged on, how I… — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
Pain will never leave us. Instead of putting energy into destroying pain, we need to put energy into creating pleasure. — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
Sensible people advise against drinking on an empty stomach, but to my mind it is the best sort of drinking. — Tom Hodgkinson Copy Share Image
