Thee too, my Paridel! she mark'd thee there,
Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair,
read more

Thee too, my Paridel! she mark'd thee there,
Stretch'd on the rack of a too easy chair,
And heard thy everlasting yarn confess
The Pains and Penalties of Idleness.

Other men have acquired fame by industry, but this man by
indolence.
[Lat., Utque alios industria, ita hunc read more

Other men have acquired fame by industry, but this man by
indolence.
[Lat., Utque alios industria, ita hunc ignavia ad vamam
protulat.]

Their only labour was to kill the time;
And labour dire it is, and weary woe,
They read more

Their only labour was to kill the time;
And labour dire it is, and weary woe,
They sit, they loll, turn o'er some idle rhyme,
Then, rising sudden, to the glass they go,
Or saunter forth, with tottering steps and slow.

Valor, gradually overpowered by the delicious poison of sloth,
grows torpid.
[Lat., Blandoque veneno
Desidiae virtus read more

Valor, gradually overpowered by the delicious poison of sloth,
grows torpid.
[Lat., Blandoque veneno
Desidiae virtus paullatim evicta senescit.]

A man who has no office to go to--I don't care who he is--is a
trial of which you read more

A man who has no office to go to--I don't care who he is--is a
trial of which you can have no conception.

Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.

Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.

I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely.

I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely.

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time,
which every day produces, and which most read more

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time,
which every day produces, and which most men throw away, but
which nevertheless will make at the end of it no small deduction
for the life of man.

As peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy.

As peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy.