Idleness is the only refuge of weak minds, and the holiday of fools

Idleness is the only refuge of weak minds, and the holiday of fools

Were't not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honored love,
I rather read more

Were't not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honored love,
I rather would entreat thy company
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.

I was raised to feel that doing nothing was a sin. I had to
learn to do nothing.

I was raised to feel that doing nothing was a sin. I had to
learn to do nothing.

Thus idly busy rolls their world away.

Thus idly busy rolls their world away.

He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing.

He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing.

Indolence is the sleep of the mind.
[Fr., L'indolence est le sommeil des esprits.]

Indolence is the sleep of the mind.
[Fr., L'indolence est le sommeil des esprits.]

The frivolous work of polished idleness.
- Sir James Mackintosh,

The frivolous work of polished idleness.
- Sir James Mackintosh,

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time,
which every day produces, and which most read more

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time,
which every day produces, and which most men throw away, but
which nevertheless will make at the end of it no small deduction
for the life of man.

Other men have acquired fame by industry, but this man by
indolence.
[Lat., Utque alios industria, ita hunc read more

Other men have acquired fame by industry, but this man by
indolence.
[Lat., Utque alios industria, ita hunc ignavia ad vamam
protulat.]