Laziness, comfort, and a bit of wisdom

Given my slothful nature this summer, I looked for quotations on the corrupting nature of comfort and laziness. I spent a good hour in idle reflection on the brief witicisms of dead men. It didn't cure my indolence. But it gave me plenty excuse to put off actual work.

"I have named the destroyers of nations: comfort, plenty, and security - out of which grow a bored and slothful cynicism, in which rebellion against the world as it is, and myself as I am, are submerged in listless self-satisfaction"

"Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power."

"In every bit of honest writing in the world, there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love."

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual."

"Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise,
I say ignore the bastard."

John Steinbeck (American Novelist and Writer, Nobel Prize for Literature for 1962, 1902-1968)


"The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish."

"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."

"Radical changes in world politics leave America with a heightened responsibility to be, for the world, an example of a genuinely free, democratic, just and humane society."

"Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes."

"Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it."

"Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it."

Pope John Paul II (264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, 1920-2005)


"It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?"

"The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away."

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

"Coersion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him."

"I know in my heart that man is good.
That what is right will always eventually triumph.
And there's purpose and worth to each and every life."

Ronald Reagan (40th President of the United States, 1911-2004)


As always, Twain steals the show.

"I am no lazier now than I was forty years ago, but that is because I reached the limit forty years ago. You can't go beyond possibility."

"Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. It is a trait that is not known to the higher animals."

"It is curious--curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare."

"The insincerity of man--all men are liars, partial or hiders of facts, half tellers of truths, shirks, moral sneaks. When a merely honest man appears he is a comet--his fame is eternal--needs no genius, no talent--mere honesty--Luther, Christ, etc."

"After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her."

"A man will do anything, no matter what it is, to secure his spiritual comfort; and he can neither be forced nor persuaded to any act which has not that goal for its object."

Mark Twain (American humorist and writer, 1835-1910)


I wish I could say that idleness produces wisdom. It probably does, but it also adds weight and a healthy skepticism of all things done in a hurry. But, mostly, it keeps me honest about my true ambitions. Never hurts to be too honest.