Quotes from Samuel Butler, 1870s

For my own part I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better... To lie there careless of everything, quiet and warm, and with no weight upon the mind... to watch the soft shadows come and go upon the ceiling... not only to be a lotus-eater but to know that it was one's duty to be a lotus-eater.