Idleness Quotes

269 quotes by 179 authors

Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without passion, without business, without entertainment, without care. It is then that he recognizes… — Blaise Pascal
He who saddens at thought of idleness cannot be idle, / And he's awake who thinks himself asleep. — John Keats
Too much idleness, I have observed, fills up a man's time more completely and leaves him less his own master, than any sort of employment… — Edmund Burke
I live an idle burden to the ground. — Homer
Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace. — Hesiod
Toil is no source of shame; idleness is shame. — Hesiod
Inactivity and deprivation of all accustomed stimulus is not rest; it is a preparation for the tomb — Robertson Davies
The clerisy are those who read for pleasure, but not for idleness; who read for pastime but not to kill time; who love books, but… — Robertson Davies
Idleness is emptiness; the tree in which the sap is stagnant, remains fruitless. — Hosea Ballou
In such a world as ours the idle man is not so much a biped as a bivalve; and the wealth which breeds idleness, of… — Horace Mann
Any fool can be fussy and rid himself of energy all over the place, but a man has to have something in him before he… — J. B. Priestley
In the practice of art... it is necessary to keep a watchful and jealous eye over ourselves; idleness, assuming the specious disguise of industry... may… — Joshua Reynolds
There is less leisure now than in the Middle Ages, when one third of the year consisted of holidays and festivals. — Ralph Borsodi
Life is best enjoyed when time periods are evenly divided between labor, sleep, and recreation...all people should spend one-third of their time in recreation which… — Brigham Young
Of the time that is allotted to man here on the earth there is none to lose or waste. After suitable rest and relaxation there… — Brigham Young
His Labor is a Chant - His Idleness -a Tune - Oh, for a Bee's experience Of Clovers, and of Noon! — Emily Dickinson
As brightness is to rustiness, so labor excelleth idleness. — Thales
It is weakness which makes us hate an enemy and seek revenge, and it is idleness that pacifies us and causes us to neglect it. — Jean de la Bruyere
The lot of man is ceaseless labor, Or ceaseless idleness, which is still harder. — Thomas Stearns Eliot
Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease. — Benjamin Franklin

Who Wrote These Idleness Quotes

179 authors contributed a total of 269 Idleness Quotes, led by these top contributors: