Tom Hodgkinson quotes - page 4

Faffing is completely harmless, whereas its opposite - dynamic, purposeful activity - is often very harmful. Faffers do not tend to kill people or make them work 12-hour days or sell them shoddy merchandise or lend them vast sums of money that they cannot pay back. (Tom Hodgkinson)
Another characteristic of the idler's work is that it looks suspiciously like play. This, again, makes the non-idler feel uncomfortable. Victims of the Protestant work ethic would like all work to be unpleasant. They feel that work is a curse, that we must suffer on this earth to earn our place in the next. The idler, on the other hand, sees no reason not to use his brain to organise a life for himself where his play is his work, and so attempt to create his own little paradise in the here and now. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
The art of living is the art of bringing dreams and reality together. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
In the West, we have become addicted to work. Americans now work the longest hours in the world. And the result is not health, wealth and wisdom, but rather a lot of anxiety, a lot of ill health and a lot of debt. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
Life is becoming no more than staring at the screen. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
Self-importance is a trap, because the moment we start to think that we actually matter is the moment when things start to go wrong. The truth is that you are supremely unimportant and nothing matters. All of man's striving is for nothing; all effort is wasted. To realize that everything is meaningless is tremendously liberating, since it then leaves us completely free to create our own lives and ignore the plans that others have for us. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
Life has been reduced to a series of long periods of boredom in the office punctuated by high-octane "experiences" which you can rack up on your list of things to do before you die. That's not really living: that is slavery with the occasional circus thrown in. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
Being good to people is the only insurance policy you need. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
Pain will never leave us. Instead of putting energy into destroying pain, we need to put energy into creating pleasure. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
The accusation 'unprofessional' means 'You did not behave like a machine today. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
Beauty feeds us. Anarchy is beauty. We are against the grey people. We want to decorate, like those fantastic Indian lorries which are covered with flowers. Beauty must conquer the lust for order; order is ugliness. (Tom Hodgkinson)
Guilt is also a way for us to express to others that we are a person of good conscience. 'I feel really guilty about getting drunk last night,' we say, when in actual fact we feel no guilt whatsoever or, at least, we could choose to feel no guilt. When people say to me, 'I drank too much last night,' I always reply, 'I drank exactly the right amount. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
Sensible people advise against drinking on an empty stomach, but to my mind it is the best sort of drinking. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
We have become so obsessed by numbers and by bottom lines that beauty and truth has been knocked aside. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
We need to claim lunch back. It is our natural right. It has been stolen from us by our rulers. The fear that keeps you chained to your desk, staring at your screen, does not serve your spirit. Lunch is a time to forget about being sensible, practical, efficient. A proper lunch should be spiritually as well as physically nourishing. Cosy, convivial, a treat; lunch is for loafers. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
If Adam and Eve were not hunter-gatherers, then they were certainly gatherers. But, then, consumer desire, or self-embitterment, or the 'itch,' as Schopenhauer called it, appeared in the shape of the serpent. This capitalistic monster awakens in Adam and Eve the possibility that things could be better. Instantly, they are cast out of the garden and condemned to a life of toil, drudgery, and pain. Wants supplanted needs, and things have been going downhill ever since. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
It will soon be difficult to put up a shelf without a degree in shelf putting up. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
When people say " I just don't have enough time " they mean " I prioritized something else. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
Our dreams take us into other worlds, alternative realities that help us make sense of day-to-day realities. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson
Labour-saving devices just make us try to cram more pointless activities into each day, rather than doing the important thing, which is to enjoy our life. View quote
Tom Hodgkinson