---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Idleness is the beginning of all…"
description: "\"Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Could it be that psychology is ? a vice?\" — Friedrich Nietzsche"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/573/friedrich-nietzsche-15_birth_idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychol_529258.jpg"
---

#  Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Could…

![“Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Could it be that psychology is ? a vice?” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/573/friedrich-nietzsche-15_birth_idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychol_529258.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/573/friedrich-nietzsche-15_birth_idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychol_529258.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/573/friedrich-nietzsche-15_birth_idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychol_529258.jpg)

> “Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Could it be that psychology is ? a vice?”

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Idleness leads to introspection, which can reveal psychological flaws or vices.

**In simple terms:** Idleness reveals inner flaws.

Key Takeaway

Use idle time for self‑examination.

Themes

self‑reflection psychology vice

Mood

introspective serious

Type

philosophical motivational

When to use this quote

- journaling
- therapy
- solitary walks
- creative work

Key Concepts

existentialism philosophy self‑awareness

Questions to Reflect On

- What insights arise in your idle moments?
- How can idleness be productive?

A Different Perspective

Idle time can also breed stagnation.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Birth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/birth/) [Idleness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idleness/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Procrastination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/procrastination/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Vices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vices/)

## Related quotes

> [Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-vice-the-crown-of-all-virtues/)

[Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/)

> [“The notion of a natural propensity for vice is essential to Sadeian psychology; vice is innate, as is virtue, if social conditions are unalterable.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/the-notion-of-a-natural-propensity-for-vice-is-essential-to-sadeian/)

[Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/)

> [Something that always fascinated me was the psychology and the psychology differences between men and women and how we relate to one another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karrine-steffans/something-that-always-fascinated-me-was-the-psychology-and-the/)

[Karrine Steffans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karrine-steffans/)

> [Physiological psychology is, therefore, first of all psychology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-wundt/physiological-psychology-is-therefore-first-of-all-psychology/)

[Wilhelm Wundt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-wundt/)

> [Idleness is the parent of all psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/idleness-is-the-parent-of-all-psychology/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [It can be set down as a broad, general principle that we cannot indulge in idleness and abundance during both the first and second…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-forbes/it-can-be-set-down-as-a-broad-general-principle-that-we-cannot/)

[B. C. Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-forbes/)

> [Wasting time is negative, but there is something positive about idleness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-lynes/wasting-time-is-negative-but-there-is-something-positive-about/)

[Russell Lynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-lynes/)

> [The reason of idleness and of crime is the deferring of our hopes. Whilst we are waiting, we beguile the time with jokes, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-reason-of-idleness-and-of-crime-is-the-deferring-of-our-hopes/)

[Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/)

> [Idleness is an expert thief,and our mind is its victim.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abid-al-qarni/idleness-is-an-expert-thief-and-our-mind-is-its-victim/)

Abid Al Qarni

> [Timing is everything. Tell me how a young man spends his evenings and I will tell you how far he is likely to go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-forbes/timing-is-everything-tell-me-how-a-young-man-spends-his-evenings-and/)

[B. C. Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-forbes/)

> [“Reality has a tendency to reveal itself when man is idle, and so it is because of this that idleness is often regarded as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vd/reality-has-a-tendency-to-reveal-itself-when-man-is-idle-and-so-it-is/)

VD

> [Idleness is paralysis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roswell-dwight-hitchcock/idleness-is-paralysis/)

[Roswell Dwight Hitchcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roswell-dwight-hitchcock/)

> [“Liza had a finely developed sense of sin Idleness was a sin, and card playing, which was a kind of idleness to her. She…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/liza-had-a-finely-developed-sense-of-sin-idleness-was-a-sin-and-card/)

[John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/)

> [The frivolous work of polished idleness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-mackintosh/the-frivolous-work-of-polished-idleness/)

[James Mackintosh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-mackintosh/)

> [“Idleness is seductive. Just relax and do nothing, it says.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/innocent-mwatsikesimbe/idleness-is-seductive-just-relax-and-do-nothing-it-says/)

[Innocent Mwatsikesimbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/innocent-mwatsikesimbe/)

## More by Friedrich Nietzsche

> [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [“Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority-- where he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-select-man-strives-instinctively-for-a-citadel-and-a-privacy/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [“It breaks my heart. Better than your words, your eye tells me all your peril. You are not yet free, you still search for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-breaks-my-heart-better-than-your-words-your-eye-tells-me-all-your/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [“79. A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, betrays its sediment: its dregs come up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/79-a-soul-which-knows-that-it-is-loved-but-does-not-itself-love/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [We deceive ourselves when giving respect to the person for whom we have surrendered ourselves, when we respectively expect them to be as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-deceive-ourselves-when-giving-respect-to-the-person-for-whom-we/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [“The great periods of our life occur when we gain the courage to rechristen what is bad about us as what is best.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-great-periods-of-our-life-occur-when-we-gain-the-courage-to/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [“What is life? Life - that is: continually shedding something that wants to die. Life - that is: being cruel and inexorable against everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/what-is-life-life-that-is-continually-shedding-something-that-wants/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [It is thus only this personal feeling of misery that we get rid of by acts of pity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-thus-only-this-personal-feeling-of-misery-that-we-get-rid-of-by/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [“Writers whose thoughts are expressed with clarity and precision are assumed by readers to be superficial. Where the meaning is obscured, then readers give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/writers-whose-thoughts-are-expressed-with-clarity-and-precision-are/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [“he does not wear a twitching, mobile, human face, but rather a mask, as it were, with its features in dignified equilibrium; he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/he-does-not-wear-a-twitching-mobile-human-face-but-rather-a-mask-as/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many it is almost a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/chastity-is-a-virtue-with-some-but-with-many-it-is-almost-a-vice/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [The earth is like the breasts of a woman: useful as well as pleasing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-earth-is-like-the-breasts-of-a-woman-useful-as-well-as-pleasing/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written in his own blood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-all-that-is-written-i-love-only-what-a-man-has-written-in-his-own/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [Pain makes hens and poets cackle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/pain-makes-hens-and-poets-cackle/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

[Explore all 3,486 Friedrich Nietzsche quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

## More Birth quotes

> [“Conception is the beginning of human life. From the time that an ovum is fertilized a new life begins that is neither that of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/declaration-on-procured-abortion-congregation-for-the-doctrine-of-the-faith-1974/conception-is-the-beginning-of-human-life-from-the-time-that-an-ovum/)

Declaration on Procured Abortion Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 1974

> [In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-buechner/in-the-entire-history-of-the-universe-let-alone-in-your-own-history/)

[Frederick Buechner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-buechner/)

> [The greatest mystery in life is not life itself, but death. Death is the culmination of life, the ultimate blossoming of life. In death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/the-greatest-mystery-in-life-is-not-life-itself-but-death-death-is/)

[Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/)

> [Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-delay/guns-have-little-or-nothing-to-do-with-juvenile-violence-the-causes/)

[Tom DeLay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-delay/)

> [“Every child is born as angel.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/every-child-is-born-as-angel/)

[Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/)

> [Nirvana is a word that means enlightenment, being beyond the illusion of birth and death, the illusion of pain, the illusion of love, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/nirvana-is-a-word-that-means-enlightenment-being-beyond-the-illusion/)

[Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/)

> [It was no accident, no coincidence, that the seasons came round and round year after year. It was the Lord speaking to us all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francine-rivers/it-was-no-accident-no-coincidence-that-the-seasons-came-round-and/)

[Francine Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francine-rivers/)

> [We do not want to be reminded that it is we, the indigenous people, who are poor and exploited in the land of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-biko/we-do-not-want-to-be-reminded-that-it-is-we-the-indigenous-people-who/)

[Steven Biko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-biko/)

> [There are two kinds of beauty; there is a beauty which God gives at birth, and which withers as a flower. And there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-kuyper/there-are-two-kinds-of-beauty-there-is-a-beauty-which-god-gives-at/)

[Abraham Kuyper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-kuyper/)

> [Always keep the smile, because the smile is the beginning of love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-imad/always-keep-the-smile-because-the-smile-is-the-beginning-of-love/)

Adam Imad

> [The wailing of the newborn infant is mingled with the dirge for the dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucretius/the-wailing-of-the-newborn-infant-is-mingled-with-the-dirge-for-the/)

[Lucretius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucretius/)

> [I gave birth to most of them MC's... So when it comes around to the month of May, Send me your royalty check for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxanne-shante/i-gave-birth-to-most-of-them-mc-s-so-when-it-comes-around-to-the/)

Roxanne Shante

> [“A Beautiful verse takes birth when "U"n"I" VERSE.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajesh-walecha/a-beautiful-verse-takes-birth-when-u-n-i-verse/)

[Rajesh Walecha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajesh-walecha/)

> [“There is no born evil, only a corruptible canvas darkened by a formidable perpetrator.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yefon-isabelle/there-is-no-born-evil-only-a-corruptible-canvas-darkened-by-a/)

[Yefon Isabelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yefon-isabelle/)

> [I've always thought that the most extraordinary special effect you could do is to buy a child at the moment of its birth, sit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/i-ve-always-thought-that-the-most-extraordinary-special-effect-you/)

[Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/)

[Browse all 6,183 Birth quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/birth/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Could it be that psychology is ? a vice?",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychology-what-could-it-be-that/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Birth"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychology-what-could-it-be-that/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/573/friedrich-nietzsche-15_birth_idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychol_529258.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/573/friedrich-nietzsche-15_birth_idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychol_529258.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/573/friedrich-nietzsche-15_birth_idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychol_529258.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Could it be that psychology is ? a vice?” — Friedrich Nietzsche",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Idleness is the beginning of all...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychology-what-could-it-be-that/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/idleness-is-the-beginning-of-all-psychology-what-could-it-be-that/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
