--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are now very few significant…" description: "\"“There are now very few significant interludes of human existence (with the colossal exception of sleep) that have not been penetrated and taken over a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd0/jonathan-crary-39402_existence_there-are-now-very-few-significant-inter_114798.jpg" --- # There are now very few significant interludes of human… ![“There are now very few significant interludes of human existence (with the colossal exception of sleep) that have not been penetrated and taken over as work time, consumption time, or marketing time.” quote by Jonathan Crary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd0/jonathan-crary-39402_existence_there-are-now-very-few-significant-inter_114798.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd0/jonathan-crary-39402_existence_there-are-now-very-few-significant-inter_114798.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd0/jonathan-crary-39402_existence_there-are-now-very-few-significant-inter_114798.jpg) > ““There are now very few significant interludes of human existence (with the colossal exception of sleep) that have not been penetrated and taken over as work time, consumption time, or marketing time.”” [Jonathan Crary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-crary/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Almost every moment of human life, except sleep, is now consumed by work, consumption, or marketing, eroding genuine leisure. **In simple terms:** Life is saturated with work/consumption. Key Takeaway True downtime is increasingly rare. Themes capitalism time culture Mood reflective critical Type social critique observation When to use this quote - digital media use - commuting - shopping Key Concepts alienation consumerism Practical Applications - Schedule intentional screen‑free periods - Prioritize restorative activities Questions to Reflect On - How can we reclaim authentic leisure? - What activities resist commodification? A Different Perspective Some argue that work‑related activities can also be fulfilling leisure. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Human existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-existence/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Sleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleep/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Curiosity is the essence of human existence. 'Who are we? Where are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?'... 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The time has come when the splendor of this truth has… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-john-paul-ii/the-world-is-tired-of-ideology-and-is-opening-itself-to-the-truth-the/) [Pope John Paul II](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-john-paul-ii/) > [What impressed me about Plato and Sartre was their conviction that we should live our lives in the light of big truths about reality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-e-cooper/what-impressed-me-about-plato-and-sartre-was-their-conviction-that-we/) [David E. Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-e-cooper/) > [Human existence is an error...it is bad today and every day it gets worse, until the worst happens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/human-existence-is-an-error-it-is-bad-today-and-every-day-it-gets/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [Whoever considers morality the main objective of human existence, seems to me like a person who defines the purpose of a clock asnot going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-grillparzer/whoever-considers-morality-the-main-objective-of-human-existence/) [Franz Grillparzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-grillparzer/) > [“Finally, she mused that human existence is as brief as the life of autumn grass, so what was there to fear from taking chances…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mo-yan/finally-she-mused-that-human-existence-is-as-brief-as-the-life-of/) [Mo Yan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mo-yan/) > [If man did not exist as a world-spanning receptive realm of perception, if he were not engaged in this capacity, nothing at all could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/medard-boss/if-man-did-not-exist-as-a-world-spanning-receptive-realm-of/) [Medard Boss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/medard-boss/) > [The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dallas-willard/the-greatest-issue-facing-the-world-today-with-all-its-heartbreaking/) [Dallas Willard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dallas-willard/) > [“Indeed, the only truly serious questions are ones that even a child can formulate. Only the most naïve of questions are truly serious. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/indeed-the-only-truly-serious-questions-are-ones-that-even-a-child/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Change is one of the scariest things in the world and yet it is also one of those variables of human existence that no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aberjhani/change-is-one-of-the-scariest-things-in-the-world-and-yet-it-is-also/) [Aberjhani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aberjhani/) > [Only a literary work that reveals an unknown fragment of human existence has a reason for being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/only-a-literary-work-that-reveals-an-unknown-fragment-of-human/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [The one function that most gods seem to have in common is to give human existence some ultimate purpose - and, while it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-smoker/the-one-function-that-most-gods-seem-to-have-in-common-is-to-give/) [Barbara Smoker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-smoker/) > [It is merely the egoism of the man, who wants to bury a woman like a treasure. All attempts at using vows, contracts, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leopold-von-sacher-masoch/it-is-merely-the-egoism-of-the-man-who-wants-to-bury-a-woman-like-a/) [Leopold von Sacher-Masoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leopold-von-sacher-masoch/) > [I've lived so little that I tend to imagine I'm not going to die; it seems improbable that human existence can be reduced to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-houellebecq/i-ve-lived-so-little-that-i-tend-to-imagine-i-m-not-going-to-die-it/) [Michel Houellebecq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-houellebecq/) ## More by Jonathan Crary > [“According to the Tiqqun collective, we have become the innocuous, pliable inhabitants of global urban societies.7 Even in the absence of any direct compulsion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-crary/according-to-the-tiqqun-collective-we-have-become-the-innocuous/) [Jonathan Crary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-crary/) > [“Of course, no individual can ever be shopping, gaming, working, blogging, downloading, or texting 24/7. However, since no moment, place, or situation now exists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-crary/of-course-no-individual-can-ever-be-shopping-gaming-working-blogging/) [Jonathan Crary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-crary/) > [“Through the appropriation of public spaces and resources into the logic of the marketplace, individuals are dispossessed of many collective forms of mutual support…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-crary/through-the-appropriation-of-public-spaces-and-resources-into-the/) [Jonathan Crary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-crary/) > [“Sleep is an uncompromising interruption of the theft of time from us by capitalism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-crary/sleep-is-an-uncompromising-interruption-of-the-theft-of-time-from-us/) [Jonathan Crary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-crary/) > [“How is the body, including the observing body, becoming a component of new machines, economies, apparatuses, whether social, libidinal, or technological? 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Experiencing the innermost core of our existence is very embarrassing to a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/we-have-a-fear-of-facing-ourselves-that-is-the-obstacle-experiencing/) [Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/) > [One of the things I regret about not putting in that book or I think it's there but I didn't really elaborate on it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-warner/one-of-the-things-i-regret-about-not-putting-in-that-book-or-i-think/) [Brad Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-warner/) > [My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/my-mind-rebels-at-stagnation-give-me-problems-give-me-work-give-me/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [May God bless each of us in our calls to serve. May our faith strengthen as we serve in righteousness, faithfully keeping the commandments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-tom-perry/may-god-bless-each-of-us-in-our-calls-to-serve-may-our-faith/) [L. Tom Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-tom-perry/) > [Never belong to a crowd; Never belong to a nation; Never belong to a religion; Never belong to a race. Belong to the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/never-belong-to-a-crowd-never-belong-to-a-nation-never-belong-to-a/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/a-knowledge-of-the-existence-of-something-we-cannot-penetrate-of-the/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Universities are the cathedrals of the modern age. They shouldn't have to justify their existence by utilitarian criteria.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lodge/universities-are-the-cathedrals-of-the-modern-age-they-shouldn-t-have/) [David Lodge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lodge/) > [Just as everybody has the vote including women, I think children should, because as a child is conscious of itself then it has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/just-as-everybody-has-the-vote-including-women-i-think-children/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [To divide one's life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/to-divide-one-s-life-by-years-is-of-course-to-tumble-into-a-trap-set/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [The party in Alobar’s head, which agitation and anxiety were throwing, now was crashed by a notion: existence can be rearranged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-party-in-alobar-s-head-which-agitation-and-anxiety-were-throwing/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) [Browse all 7,646 Existence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There are now very few significant interludes of human existence (with the colossal exception of sleep) that have not been penetrated and taken over as work time, consumption time, or marketing time.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jonathan Crary" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-crary/there-are-now-very-few-significant-interludes-of-human-existence-with/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Existence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-crary/there-are-now-very-few-significant-interludes-of-human-existence-with/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd0/jonathan-crary-39402_existence_there-are-now-very-few-significant-inter_114798.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd0/jonathan-crary-39402_existence_there-are-now-very-few-significant-inter_114798.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd0/jonathan-crary-39402_existence_there-are-now-very-few-significant-inter_114798.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There are now very few significant interludes of human existence (with the colossal exception of sleep) that…” — Jonathan Crary", "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": "Jonathan Crary", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-crary/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“There are now very few significant...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-crary/there-are-now-very-few-significant-interludes-of-human-existence-with/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-crary/there-are-now-very-few-significant-interludes-of-human-existence-with/#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 } } ] } ```