Most people, when they are left free to fill their own time according to their own choice, are at a loss to think of anything sufficiently pleasant to be worth doing. And whatever they decide on, they are troubled by the feeling that something else would have been pleasanter. To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
The Conquest of Happiness, ch. 14 (1930)
(Source)
Quotations about:
pastime
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Ordinary men are intent merely on how to spend their time; a man with any talent is interested in how to use his time.
[Die gewöhnlichen Leute sind bloß darauf bedacht, die Zeit zuzubringen; wer irgend ein Talent hat, — sie zu benutzen.]
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher
Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 1, “Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life [Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit],” ch. 2 “Of What One Is” [Von dem, was einer ist]” (1851) [tr. Payne (1974)]
(Source)
(Source (German)). Alternate translation:
Ordinary people think merely how they shall spend their time; a man of any talent tries to use it.
[tr. Saunders (1890)]
Do something every day that makes you feel guilty for wasting your time.
Robert Brault (b. c. 1945) American aphorist, programmer
(Attributed)
Dreams, books, are each a world; and books we know,
Are a substantial world, both pure and good:
Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness will grow.
The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you, and to make friends with people of a distant past you have never known.
Yoshida Kenkō (1284-1350) Japanese author and Buddhist monk [吉田 兼好]
Essays in Idleness [Tsurezuregusa] (c. 1330)
Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636-1711) French poet and critic
The Art of Poetry [L’Art Poétique], Canto 3 (1674)
Now when an American has an idea, he directly seeks a second American to share it. If there be three, they elect a president and two secretaries. Given four, they name a keeper of records, and the office is ready for work; five, they convene a general meeting, and the club is fully constituted.
[Or, quand un Américain a une idée, il cherche un second Américain qui la partage. Sont-ils trois, ils élisent un président et deux secrétaires. Quatre, ils nomment un archiviste, et le bureau fonctionne. Cinq, ils se convoquent en assemblée générale, et le club est constitué.]
Jules Verne (1828-1905) French novelist, poet, playwright
From the Earth to the Moon, ch. 1 “The Gun Club” (1865)
(Source)
You do not play then at whist, sir! Alas, what a sad old age you are preparing for yourself!
[Vous ne jouez donc pas le whist, monsieur? Hélas! quelle triste vieilesse vous vous préparez!]
Charles Maurice, Prince de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838) French statesman
(Attributed)
In Amédée Pichot, Souvenirs Intimes sur M. de Talleyrand, "Le Pour et le Contre" (1870).
When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not a pastime to her more than she is to me.
[Quand je me joue á ma chatte, qui sçait si elle passe son temps de moy plus que je ne fay d’elle.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
“Apology for Raymond Sebond,” Essays, Book 2, ch. 12 (1580) [tr. Frame (1958)]
Alternate translation: "When I play with my cat, who knows whether she isn't amusing herself with me more than I am amusing myself with her?"
There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.”
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American humorist
“25 Things I Have Learned In 50 Years,” #11 (1997)
