--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Not to be occupied, and not to exist…" description: "\"“Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same thing,\" he said. \"All people are good except those who are idle.”\" — Will Durant" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/will-durant-948_occupied_not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amou_964675.png" --- # Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same… ![“Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same thing," he said. "All people are good except those who are idle.” quote by Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/will-durant-948_occupied_not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amou_964675.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/will-durant-948_occupied_not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amou_964675.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/will-durant-948_occupied_not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amou_964675.png) > ““Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same thing," he said. "All people are good except those who are idle.”” [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Idle people are morally deficient; activity defines goodness. **In simple terms:** Being busy is linked to moral goodness. Key Takeaway Stay active and purposeful. Themes morality productivity human nature Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - workplace - education - personal development - community service Key Concepts philosophy ethics Questions to Reflect On - Is idleness always negative? - How can productive idleness be beneficial? A Different Perspective Idle time can be restorative, not immoral. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Good Idle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-idle-1809739/) [Occupied](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/occupied/) [Occupied Exist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/occupied-exist-1809738/) [People Good](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-good/) [Said People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/said-people/) ## Related quotes > [I'm not good when idle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-wright/i-m-not-good-when-idle/) [Joe Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-wright/) > [“She said most people were good on the inside, where it mattered. You have to give them a chance to show their goodness, she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-brundage/she-said-most-people-were-good-on-the-inside-where-it-mattered-you/) [Elizabeth Brundage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-brundage/) > [I once knew a house rather like The Land of Smiles - an old house occupied by a varied collection of young people, mainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mahy/i-once-knew-a-house-rather-like-the-land-of-smiles-an-old-house/) [Margaret Mahy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mahy/) > [It was remarkable to see from space how predictable people are. Our homes and towns are almost all in places with moderate temperatures, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hadfield/it-was-remarkable-to-see-from-space-how-predictable-people-are-our/) [Chris Hadfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hadfield/) > [A man occupied with public or other important business cannot, and need not, attend to spelling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/a-man-occupied-with-public-or-other-important-business-cannot-and/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [My ¥ is temporarily OCCUPIED.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyssa/my-is-temporarily-occupied/) [ALYSSA](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyssa/) > [I don't know the literary world; I was scared of being confronted with famous names, not knowing what they had written. It was occupied…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-le-carre/i-don-t-know-the-literary-world-i-was-scared-of-being-confronted-with/) [John le Carre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-le-carre/) > [It's a fascinating area for me, UFOs have occupied a great part of my life since I was very young.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-schultz/it-s-a-fascinating-area-for-me-ufos-have-occupied-a-great-part-of-my/) [Dwight Schultz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-schultz/) > [Quite early on, and certainly since I started writing, I found that philosophical questions occupied me more than any other kind. I hadn't really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/quite-early-on-and-certainly-since-i-started-writing-i-found-that/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [We have very little, so we have nothing to be preoccupied with. The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/we-have-very-little-so-we-have-nothing-to-be-preoccupied-with-the/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [No thoroughly occupied man was ever yet very miserable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/letitia-elizabeth-landon/no-thoroughly-occupied-man-was-ever-yet-very-miserable/) [Letitia Elizabeth Landon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/letitia-elizabeth-landon/) > [I like to feel occupied.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-dukan/i-like-to-feel-occupied/) [Pierre Dukan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-dukan/) > [New York has arguably become the quintessential 1 percent city, a city that has been so given over to the rich that you now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graydon-carter/new-york-has-arguably-become-the-quintessential-1-percent-city-a-city/) [Graydon Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graydon-carter/) > [The way I was educated, maybe from just inhaling something in the air back then, I grew up believing that E. B. White occupied…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-di-filippo/the-way-i-was-educated-maybe-from-just-inhaling-something-in-the-air/) [Paul Di Filippo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-di-filippo/) > [Is it philosophical, is it quite allowable, to assume without evidence from fossil plants that the family or any of the genera was once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asa-gray/is-it-philosophical-is-it-quite-allowable-to-assume-without-evidence/) [Asa Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asa-gray/) ## More by Will Durant > [I came to think of myself, not as a dance and chaos of molecules, but as a brief and minute portion of that majestic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/i-came-to-think-of-myself-not-as-a-dance-and-chaos-of-molecules-but/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“This is the tragedy of almost every civilization—that its soul is in its faith, and seldom survives philosophy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/this-is-the-tragedy-of-almost-every-civilization-that-its-soul-is-in/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/education-is-a-progressive-discovery-of-our-own-ignorance/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [In philosophy, as in politics, the longest distance between two points is a straight line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/in-philosophy-as-in-politics-the-longest-distance-between-two-points/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [As long as there is poverty there will be gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/as-long-as-there-is-poverty-there-will-be-gods/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“Hence the uselessness of logic: no one ever convinced anybody by logic; and even logicians use logic only as a source of income. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/hence-the-uselessness-of-logic-no-one-ever-convinced-anybody-by-logic/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“It is a mistake to think that the past is dead. Nothing that has ever happened is quite without influence at this moment. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/it-is-a-mistake-to-think-that-the-past-is-dead-nothing-that-has-ever/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“There is hardly an absurdity of the past that cannot be found flourishing somewhere in the present. Underneath all civilization, ancient or modern, moved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/there-is-hardly-an-absurdity-of-the-past-that-cannot-be-found/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/the-islamic-conquest-of-india-is-probably-the-bloodiest-story-in/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“Intellectualism—the conception of man as above all a thinking animal, consciously adapting means to rationally chosen ends—fell sick with Rousseau, took to its bed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/intellectualism-the-conception-of-man-as-above-all-a-thinking-animal/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“All those fascinating varieties of terrain—mountains and valleys, fiords and straits, gulfs and streams—that make Europe a panorama of diverse delight, have broken the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/all-those-fascinating-varieties-of-terrain-mountains-and-valleys/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“To be great is not to be placed above humanity, ruling others; but to stand above the partialities and futilities of uninformed desire, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/to-be-great-is-not-to-be-placed-above-humanity-ruling-others-but-to/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“privately he composed—in French—a poem expressing his pleasure at having given the French a kick in the cul, which Carlyle delicately translated as “the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-expressing-his-pleasure-at/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [ “\[N\]o language has ever had a word for a virgin man.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/n-o-language-has-ever-had-a-word-for-a-virgin-man/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [“And in the individual too, justice is effective coördination, the harmonious functioning of the elements in a man, each in its fit place and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/and-in-the-individual-too-justice-is-effective-co-rdination-the/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) [Explore all 320 Will Durant quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) ## More Occupied quotes > [Is it philosophical, is it quite allowable, to assume without evidence from fossil plants that the family or any of the genera was once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asa-gray/is-it-philosophical-is-it-quite-allowable-to-assume-without-evidence/) [Asa Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asa-gray/) > [The way I was educated, maybe from just inhaling something in the air back then, I grew up believing that E. B. White occupied…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-di-filippo/the-way-i-was-educated-maybe-from-just-inhaling-something-in-the-air/) [Paul Di Filippo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-di-filippo/) > [New York has arguably become the quintessential 1 percent city, a city that has been so given over to the rich that you now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graydon-carter/new-york-has-arguably-become-the-quintessential-1-percent-city-a-city/) [Graydon Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graydon-carter/) > [I like to feel occupied.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-dukan/i-like-to-feel-occupied/) [Pierre Dukan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-dukan/) > [No thoroughly occupied man was ever yet very miserable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/letitia-elizabeth-landon/no-thoroughly-occupied-man-was-ever-yet-very-miserable/) [Letitia Elizabeth Landon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/letitia-elizabeth-landon/) > [We have very little, so we have nothing to be preoccupied with. The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/we-have-very-little-so-we-have-nothing-to-be-preoccupied-with-the/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [Quite early on, and certainly since I started writing, I found that philosophical questions occupied me more than any other kind. I hadn't really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/quite-early-on-and-certainly-since-i-started-writing-i-found-that/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [It's a fascinating area for me, UFOs have occupied a great part of my life since I was very young.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-schultz/it-s-a-fascinating-area-for-me-ufos-have-occupied-a-great-part-of-my/) [Dwight Schultz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-schultz/) > [I don't know the literary world; I was scared of being confronted with famous names, not knowing what they had written. It was occupied…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-le-carre/i-don-t-know-the-literary-world-i-was-scared-of-being-confronted-with/) [John le Carre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-le-carre/) > [My ¥ is temporarily OCCUPIED.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyssa/my-is-temporarily-occupied/) [ALYSSA](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyssa/) > [A man occupied with public or other important business cannot, and need not, attend to spelling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/a-man-occupied-with-public-or-other-important-business-cannot-and/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [It was remarkable to see from space how predictable people are. Our homes and towns are almost all in places with moderate temperatures, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hadfield/it-was-remarkable-to-see-from-space-how-predictable-people-are-our/) [Chris Hadfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hadfield/) > [I once knew a house rather like The Land of Smiles - an old house occupied by a varied collection of young people, mainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mahy/i-once-knew-a-house-rather-like-the-land-of-smiles-an-old-house/) [Margaret Mahy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mahy/) > [“Children live in occupied territory. The brave and the foolhardy openly rebel against authority, whether harsh or benign. But most tread warily, outwardly accommodating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/children-live-in-occupied-territory-the-brave-and-the-foolhardy/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The real danger to the world's resistance movements is the attempt to distort reality and to place the blame on the resistance groups' actions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hassan-nasrallah/the-real-danger-to-the-world-s-resistance-movements-is-the-attempt-to/) [Hassan Nasrallah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hassan-nasrallah/) [Browse all 69 Occupied quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/occupied/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same thing,\" he said. \"All people are good except those who are idle.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Will Durant" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amount-to-the-same-thing-he-said/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Occupied" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amount-to-the-same-thing-he-said/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/will-durant-948_occupied_not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amou_964675.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/will-durant-948_occupied_not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amou_964675.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/will-durant-948_occupied_not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amou_964675.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same thing,\" he said. \"All people are good except those…” — Will Durant", "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": "Will Durant", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Not to be occupied, and not...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amount-to-the-same-thing-he-said/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/not-to-be-occupied-and-not-to-exist-amount-to-the-same-thing-he-said/#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 } } ] } ```