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“Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good.” ― Søren Kierkegaard

When there’s nothing else he’d rather do, a writer on a raft, idles on the tide. This series of picture poetry is an artist’s impressions of words which emerge from idling well.

It is better to idle well than to work poorly.

— Anon

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

William Shakespeare

Life’s so unpredictable. You never know when the next high or low will strike you. The trick is just to flow with the tide.

— Zeenat Aman

Life is a tide; float on it. Go down with it and go up with it, but be detached. Then it is not difficult.

— Prem Rawat

It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top.

— Virginia Woolf

Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Remove idleness from the world and soon the arts of Cupid would perish.

―Francois Rabelais

He who cannot be idle, let him fall in love. 

— Ovid

Idleness is an appendix to nobility.

— Robert Burton

Life does not agree with philosophy: There is no happiness that is not idleness, and only what is useless is pleasurable.

— Anton Chekhov

Idleness allows you to turn a situation from boredom to pleasure.

— Tom Hodgkinson

Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.

— James Matthew Barrie

2 Comments Post a comment
  1. “Life is but a dream. Any rower of boats will tell you this.” The best thing about writing is that idleness is part and parcel to the process. I can’t remember who said it, but sitting in a chair and doing nothing is part of being a writer. Viva Idleness. But who am I to spend so much time in the comment section. There are things to do! Good job, Leduc & Sum.

    May 12, 2025
    • Much appreciated, George. Just to answer your question, I’d say you are a writer who has nothing else you’d rather do than idle in the comment section. And you do it well.

      May 12, 2025

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