The Quotes canon
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Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
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.
Anatole France1 quote
Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another. — Anatole France · 1881Ben Sira1 quote
The wisdom of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure; and he that hath little business shall become wise. — Ben Sira · 175 BCBertrand Russell1 quote
The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich. — Bertrand Russell · 1932Bill Watterson1 quote
There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want. — Bill Watterson · 1988Cicero1 quote
The thing which is the most outstanding and chiefly to be desired by all healthy and good and well-off persons, is leisure with honor. — Cicero · 56 BCGeorge MacDonald1 quote
Work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as sacred idleness. — George MacDonald · 1872Hannah More1 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 · 1813Leonardo da Vinci1 quote
Men of genius sometimes accomplish most when they work the least. — Leonardo da Vinci · 1568Marthe Troly-Curtin1 quote
Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. — Marthe Troly-Curtin · 1912Soren Kierkegaard1 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 · 1843Tao Yuanming1 quote
I have done my plowing:
I have sown my seed.
Again I have time to sit and read my books. — Tao Yuanming · 427William Shakespeare1 quote
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work. — William Shakespeare · 1597