Leisure Quotes

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  I believe in manicures.
  I believe in overdressing.
  I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipsitck.

  Audrey Hepburn

  Beauty, Believe, Wearing Pink

  95 Copy quote
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  The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.

  William Hazlitt

  Life, Attitude, Leisure Activities

  William Hazlitt (1848). “The Miscellaneous Works”, p.199

  76 Copy quote

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  The end of labor is to gain leisure.

  Aristotle

  Philosophy, Work, Tunnels

  83 Copy quote
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  All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.

  John Gunther

  Happiness, Happy, Food

  169 Copy quote

• Leisure is the Mother of Philosophy.

  Thomas Hobbes

  Mother, Philosophy, Philosophical

  Thomas Hobbes (2016). “The Essential Leviathan: A Modernized Edition”, p.260, Hackett Publishing

  53 Copy quote

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• What we lack is not so much leisure to do as time to reflect and time to feel. What we seldom "take" is time to experience the things that have happened, the things that are happening, the things that are still ahead of us.

  Margaret Mead

  Feels, Stills, Happened

  Margaret Mead, Rhoda Bubendey Métraux (1970). “A way of seeing”

  17 Copy quote

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• Leisure is the time for doing something useful. This leisure the diligent person will obtain the lazy one never.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Work, Lazy, Laziness

  24 Copy quote

• If work and leisure are soon to be subordinated to this one utopian principle - absolute busyness - then utopia and melancholy will come to coincide: an age without conflict will dawn, perpetually busy - and without consciousness.

  Gunter Grass

  Age, Dawn, Principles

  "From the Diary of a Snail". Book by Gunter Grass, www.theguardian.com. 1972.

  8 Copy quote

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• The challenge of screenwriting is to say much in little and then take half of that little out and still preserve an effect of leisure and natural movement

  Raymond Chandler

  Writing, Challenges, Movement

  Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Gardiner, Kathrine Sorley Walker (1977). “Raymond Chandler Speaking”, p.119, Univ of California Press

  59 Copy quote

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• Leisure is the most challenging responsibility a man can be offered.

  William Russell

  Work, Responsibility, Men

  6 Copy quote

• Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed.

  Prince Philip

  Edinburgh, Complaining, Unemployed

  "Wince Philip: Prince's Most Famous Comments and Clangers". www.theguardian.com. May 04, 2017.

  14 Copy quote

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• Who wooed in haste, and means to wed at leisure.

  William Shakespeare

  Love, Marriage, Mean

  William Shakespeare (2016). “The New Oxford Shakespeare: Modern Critical Edition: The Complete Works”, p.445, Oxford University Press

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• It is already possible to imagine a society in which the majority of the population, that is to say, its laborers, will have almost as much leisure as in earlier times was enjoyed by the aristocracy. When one recalls how aristocracies in the past actually behaved, the prospect is not cheerful.

  W. H. Auden

  Past, Cheerful, Majority

  7 Copy quote

• Nothing is as certain as that the vices of leisure are gotten rid of by being busy.

  Seneca the Younger

  Happiness, Vices, Busy

  6 Copy quote

• A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Life, Beautiful, Book

  Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.83, Heron Dance Press

  20 Copy quote

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• No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.

  James K. Polk

  Patriotic, Political, President

  Polk, James K. (1910). “The diary of James K. Polk during his presidency, 1845 to 1849, now first printed from the original manuscript in the collections of the Chicago historical society; Volume 4”, p.261, Best Books on

  111 Copy quote

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• Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Life, Haste Makes Waste, Housekeeping

  Henry David Thoreau, Steve Grant (2005). “Daily Observations: Thoreau on the Days of the Year”, p.103, Univ of Massachusetts Press

  8 Copy quote

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• Do not mistake a crowd of big wage earners for the leisure class.

  Clive Bell

  Work, Mistake, Class

  7 Copy quote

• I'm never less at leisure than when at leisure, or less alone than when alone.

  Scipio Africanus

  26 Copy quote

• I am moreover inclined to be concise when I reflect on the constant occupation of the citizens in public and private affairs, so that in their few leisure moments they may read and understand as much as possible.

  Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

  Citizens, Occupation, May

  Marcus VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Joseph GWILT (1826). “The Architecture of M. Vitruvius Pollio in Ten Books, Translated from the Latin by J. Gwilt”, p.124

  6 Copy quote

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• Leisure is the time for doing something useful.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Time, Leisure Time, Diligent

  25 Copy quote

• The artist is a member of the leisured classes who cannot pay for his leisure.

  Cyril Connolly

  Art, Class, Pay

  David Pryce-Jones, Cyril Connolly (1984). “Cyril Connolly: Journal and Memoir”

  6 Copy quote

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• The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Success, Business, Work

  Henry David Thoreau, Odell Shepard (1961). “The Heart of Thoreau's Journals”, p.31, Courier Corporation

  6 Copy quote

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• What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.

  W. H. Davies

  Life, Stress, Humor

  Songs of Joy (1911) "Leisure"

  65 Copy quote

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• Automation and technology would be a great boon if it were creative, if there were more leisure, more opportunity to engage in raising a family, providing guidance to the young, all the stuff we say we need. America will work if we're all in it together. It'll work when there's a shared sense of destiny. It can be done!

  Jerry Brown

  Technology, Opportunity, Destiny

  47 Copy quote