A conclusion I’ve come to at the Idler is that it starts with retreating from work, but it’s really about making work into something that isn’t drudgery and slavery, and then work and life can become one thing.

— Tom Hodgkinson

All of our technology is completely unnecessary to a happy life.

— Tom Hodgkinson

Beauty, pleasure, freedom and plenty of sleep: these are the hallmarks of a successful idler's break. Travel should not be hard work.

— Tom Hodgkinson

Being lazy does not mean that you do not create. In fact, lying around doing nothing is an important, nay crucial, part of the creative process. It is meaningless bustle that actually gets in the way of productivity. All we are really saying is, give peace a chance.

— Tom Hodgkinson

Boredom is the very opposite of beauty and truth. Life has been sacrificed to profit, and the result is boredom on a massive scale.

— Tom Hodgkinson

Career is just posh slavery.

— Tom Hodgkinson

Computers tend to separate us from each other - Mum's on the laptop, Dad's on the iPad, teenagers are on Facebook, toddlers are on the DS, and so on.

— Tom Hodgkinson

Festivals are fun for kids, fun for parents and offer a welcome break from the stresses of the nuclear family. The sheer quantities of people make life easier: loads of adults for the adults to talk to and loads of kids for the kids to play with.

— Tom Hodgkinson

I could happily lean on a gate all the livelong day, chatting to passers-by about the wind and the rain. I do a lot of gate-leaning while I am supposed to be gardening; instead of hoeing, I lean on the gate, stare at the vegetable beds and ponder.

— Tom Hodgkinson

Idleness for me is not a giving up on life but a spirited grabbing hold of it.

— Tom Hodgkinson