Idleness Quotes, Sayings about being idle

One of the commonest characteristics of the successful man is his idleness, his immense capacity for wasting time. ~Arnold Bennett (1867-1931)

The hour of idleness is the hour of temptation. ~Proverb

A steady and agreeable occupation is one of the most potent adjuncts and favorers of health and long life. The idler, without object, without definite direction, is very apt to brood himself into some moral or physical fever - and one is about as bad as the other. ~Mose Velsor (Walt Whitman), Manly Health and Training, New York Atlas, 1858 October 10th [Thanks, Zachary Turpin! -tg]

The idle man does not know what it is to enjoy rest, for he has not earned it. ~John Lubbock

Few women and fewer men have enough character to be idle. ~E.V. Lucas

The hardest work is to go idle. ~Yiddish Proverb

Idleness is the mother of vice. ~Spanish proverb

So runs the genealogy of many another sin: idleness is usually the grandfather of the crime, whatever the father might be. ~C.H. Spurgeon

In the afternoon they came unto a land in which it seemed always afternoon. I want to come to such a land. I want to be a lotus-eater.... I feel like that toad who, after being embedded in rock for thousands of years, on being rudely ejected, simply sat down on its haunches and blinked. I want to sit down on my haunches and blink in a sunny spot under a sunny wall. I might muster up sufficient energy to fold my hands on my lap as looking more elegant, but afterwards I should want to sit absolutely still and just let the sunshine filter through my tired being. ~Mabel Barnes-Grundy, The Vacillations of Hazel, Chapter XIX: I Desire to be a Lotus-Eater, and Sammy Brings Me Rudely to Earth, 1905

Idleness is certainly the Cause, and Busyness the never-failing Cure of Melancholy. ~Author unknown, circa mid-1700s, possibly Charles Palmer

There is a working class - strong and happy - among both rich and poor: there is an idle class - weak, wicked, and miserable - among both rich and poor. ~John Ruskin

The real source of almost all our crimes, if the trouble is taken to trace them to a common origin, will be found to be in idleness. ~Walter Gaston Shotwell

The only thing wrong with doing nothing is that you never know when youre finished. ~Author Unknown

Keep doing some kind of work, that the devil may always find you employed. ~St. Jerome

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavors with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself. ~Samuel Johnson

Hunger is not the worst feature of unemployment; idleness is. ~William E. Barrett

Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent. ~Samuel Johnson

All mans troubles come from not knowing how to sit still in one room. ~Blaise Pascal, Penses, 1670

Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind. ~Henry Ford

A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor ~Victor Hugo

Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals. ~Voltaire

Get busy living or get busy dying.

- Stephen King

28

He who indulges in idleness, deserves no success.

- Dr T.P.Chia

Submitted by: Ivy Lee on September 23, 2024

24

An idling mind produces a weak learner who enjoys the comfort of leisure time.

- Dr T.P.Chia

16

People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.

- A.A. Milne

10

Hunger is not the worst feature of unemployment; idleness is.

- William E. Barrett

10

Idle hands are the Devils workshop.

Submitted by: PeaceLoveHappiness on May 4, 2009

6

Gardens are not made by singing Oh, how beautiful, and sitting in the shade.

- Rudyard Kipling

5

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

- Lord Chesterfield

5

The only thing wrong with doing nothing is that you never know when youre finished.

5

If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary be not idle.

- Samuel Johnson

4

The hardest work is to go idle.

- Yiddish Proverb

4

Keep doing some kind of work, that the devil may always find you employed.

- St. Jerome

3

Even the strongest of iron is eaten away by rust.

Submitted by: Maduwa Thabo on September 27, 2024

3

The happiest part of a mans life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.

- Samuel Johnson

3

Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre.

- Albert Camus

2

One of the commonest characteristics of the successful man is his idleness, his immense capacity for wasting time.

- Arnold Bennett

2

Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind.

- Henry Ford

2

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

- Benjamin Franklin

2

There is a working class - strong and happy - among both rich and poor: there is an idle class - weak, wicked, and miserable - among both rich and poor.

- John Ruskin

2

Idleness is the stupidity of the body, and stupidity is the idleness of the mind.

- Johann Gottfried Seume

2

A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of Hell.

- George Bernard Shaw

2

There is no greater cause of melancholy than idleness.

- Robert Burton

2

The idle man does not know what it is to enjoy rest, for he has not earned it.

- John Lubbock

2

Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.

- Voltaire

2

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summers day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.

- John Lubbock

2

Theres never enough time to do all the nothing you want.

- Bill Watterson

2

A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor

- Victor Hugo

2

Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace.

- Hesiod

1

Idleness gives great advantage to the tempter. Standing waters gather filth.

- Matthew Henry

1

The hour of idleness is the hour of temptation.

- Proverb