An idle life always produces varied inclinations.
[Lat., Variam semper dant otia mentem.]

An idle life always produces varied inclinations.
[Lat., Variam semper dant otia mentem.]

Busy idleness urges us on.
[Lat., Strenua nos exercet inertia.]

Busy idleness urges us on.
[Lat., Strenua nos exercet inertia.]

How various his employments whom the world
Calls idle; and who justly in return
Esteems that busy read more

How various his employments whom the world
Calls idle; and who justly in return
Esteems that busy world an idler too!

Idleness is emptiness; the tree in which the sap is stagnant,
remains fruitless.

Idleness is emptiness; the tree in which the sap is stagnant,
remains fruitless.

That destructive siren, sloth, is ever to be avoided.
[Lat., Vitanda est improba--desidia.]

That destructive siren, sloth, is ever to be avoided.
[Lat., Vitanda est improba--desidia.]

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.

Idleness is the only refuge of weak minds, and the holiday of fools

Idleness is the only refuge of weak minds, and the holiday of fools

It is not the hours we put in on the job, it is what we put into the hours that read more

It is not the hours we put in on the job, it is what we put into the hours that counts.

Were't not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honored love,
I rather read more

Were't not affection chains thy tender days
To the sweet glances of thy honored love,
I rather would entreat thy company
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.