The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Autobiography and memoir1 quote
When men are employ'd, they are best content'd; for on the days they worked they were good-natur'd and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good day's work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were mutinous and quarrelsome. — Benjamin Franklin · 1790Biography1 quote
We would all be idle if we could. — Samuel Johnson · 1776Philosophical literature1 quote
Idleness as such is by no means a root of evil; on the contrary, it is truly a divine life, if one is not bored. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Religious literature1 quote
Whether we consider the manual industry of the poor, or the intellectual exertions of the superior classes, we shall find that diligent occupation, if not criminally perverted from its end, is at once the instrument of virtue and the secret of happiness. Man cannot be safely trusted with a life of leisure. — Hannah More · 1813