Quotes About Leisure

I enjoyed reading when I was a boy, but these days, I read all the time and it has rather taken the pleasure out of it for me. When I am at leisure, reading is the last thing I want to do." "That makes sense, I suppose. But for me, reading is an adventure. It makes me an armchair traveler and takes me places I shall never be able to go.

Consciously lingering in pleasurable downtime reminds us that we have downtime. And that can make us feel like we have more time than when we let is slip through our hands.

So, each week, take one evening (or an equivalent number of hours) off from family and work responsibilities and do something that makes life feel meaningful and fun. This evening or block of weekend time can be spent as you wish, but ideally, it features a commitment to an activity, like playing on a softball team, being part of a community drama troupe, or, like Hannah, going to a regular meet-up with specific people for a specific purpose.

What the most successful people know about weekends is that life cannot happen only in the future. It cannot wait for some day when we are less tired or less busy. If you work long hours, then weekends are key to feeling like you have a life that is broader than your professional identity—even if, and probably because, you take that identity very seriously.

As Anatole France once wrote, "Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.

One recent University of Maryland study found that unhappy people watched 20 percent more television than happy ones. Unhappy people like to escape.

Conscious fun takes effort. This seeming paradox—Why should fun be work?—stops us in our tracks. So we overindulge in effortless fun (scrolling through Instagram posts about dinner parties), and underindulge in effortful fun (throwing a dinner party ourselves). But "although minutes spent in boredom or anxiety pass slowly," writes Grudin, "they nonetheless add up to years which are void of memory.

What the most successful people know about weekends is that life cannot happen only in the future. It cannot wait for some day when we are less tired or less busy. If you work long hours, then weekends are key to feeling like you have a life that is broader than your professional identity—even if, and probably because, you take that identity very seriously. The marathoner knows that rest days and cross-training days spur physical breakthroughs.

The U.S. worker] gets to appear at his least national when he is working and at his most national at leisure, with his family or in semipublic worlds of other men producing surplus manliness (e.g. via sports).

I'm into mellow dates with really good food.

The best intelligence test is what we do with our leisure.

L'ozio rende lente le ore e veloci gli anni. L'operosità rapide le ore e lenti gli anni.

I also have a hammock I spend a lot of time in - mostly just because hammocks are awesome and people don't have to explain why they have them.

See, my hope and dream is that people have a good time watching basketball. It's not church. It's not serious.

Everything considered, work is less boring than amusing oneself.

Life has but one true charm: the charm of the game. But what if we're indifferent to whether we win or lose?

They don't mind it; it's a regular holiday to them—all porter and skittles.

Yes. I'm going to take a holiday. More than that; I'm going to take a walk. More than that; I'm going to ask you to take a walk with me.

What an idle time! What an insubstantial, happy, foolish time!

People must be amuthed." - Mr. Sleary

Hoeing in the garden on a bright, soft May day, when you are not obligated to, is nearly equal to the delight of going trouting.

Take your pleasures seriously.

The hardest work is to go idle.

My childhood may be over, but that doesn't mean playtime is.