How various his employments whom the world
Calls idle; and who justly in return
Esteems that busy read more

How various his employments whom the world
Calls idle; and who justly in return
Esteems that busy world an idler too!

Their only labour was to kill the time;
And labour dire it is, and weary woe,
They read more

Their only labour was to kill the time;
And labour dire it is, and weary woe,
They sit, they loll, turn o'er some idle rhyme,
Then, rising sudden, to the glass they go,
Or saunter forth, with tottering steps and slow.

A man who has no office to go to--I don't care who he is--is a
trial of which you read more

A man who has no office to go to--I don't care who he is--is a
trial of which you can have no conception.

Certainly work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness - the read more

Certainly work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness - the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.

Idleness is many gathered miseries in one name.

Idleness is many gathered miseries in one name.

Thus idly busy rolls their world away.

Thus idly busy rolls their world away.

That destructive siren, sloth, is ever to be avoided.
[Lat., Vitanda est improba--desidia.]

That destructive siren, sloth, is ever to be avoided.
[Lat., Vitanda est improba--desidia.]

Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.

Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.

I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely.

I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely.