Leslie Stephen Quotes

That the Devil finds work for idle hands to do is probably true. But there is a profound difference between leisure and idleness.

The best way for me to procrastinate as a writer is research.

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.

I think of myself as naturally idle. The trouble is, the 'nothing' that I do every day is not really nothing. I potter. I muck about with emails, I make coffee, I fiddle with my computer to make sure that the book I haven't started writing is perfectly synced across all platforms and devices.

Flee idleness... for no one is more exposed to such temptations than he who has nothing to do.

Personally I regard idling as a virtue, but civilized society holds otherwise.

Am I a slacker? I can be a slacker. When I was in college, most people got summer jobs for college or did research during college. I went home and watched TV the whole day for three months; it was really awesome.

I didn't work hard to sit down and not work.

You can spend a day in a library and feel: 'Great, I've done a day's work.' But it's only research, not writing.

I am capable of being idle.

One of the things I'm really good at is procrastinating.

Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.

I'm so good at procrastinating.

I love working. I feel guilty about doing nothing; I get bored.

It is the idle man, not the great worker, who is always complaining that he has no time or opportunity.

A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave.

Those who have least to do are generally the most busy people in the world.

I think being idle is quite hard for me to do.

Every job is good if you do your best and work hard. A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have nothing to do but smell.

You can't get anything done hanging out all day long.

Our own laziness taxes us more than kings...

Another reason I did not make films is that I liked being unemployed, since that is when I read, study and write.

When I do have spare time to write, I'm tempted to spend it napping.

Free time is the enemy of progress

I suppose that there is no point wasting time being lazy, though of course indolence in a divine way, actually has its advantages.