“His noble negligences teach
What others' toils despair to reach.”
Matthew Prior (1664–1721) British diplomat, poet
Alma, Canto II, l. 7 (1718).
The National Gain, §20, 1765.
“His noble negligences teach
What others' toils despair to reach.”
Matthew Prior (1664–1721) British diplomat, poet
Alma, Canto II, l. 7 (1718).
William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman
Signs of Change (1888), Useful Work versus Useless Toil
Context: Worthy work carries with it the hope of pleasure in rest, the hope of the pleasure in our using what it makes, and the hope of pleasure in our daily creative skill.
All other work but this is worthless; it is slaves' work — mere toiling to live, that we may live to toil.
John Angell James (1785–1859) British abolitionist
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 315.
Devdutt Pattanaik (1970) Indian physician; leadership consultant, mythologist and author
Devdutt Pattanaik, in "Myth = Mithya (2008)", p. 200.
Adam Smith book The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Section II, Chap. I.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Part VI
“While there are two ways of contending, one by discussion, the other by force, the former belonging properly to man, the latter to beasts, recourse must be had to the latter if there be no opportunity for employing the former.”
Nam cum sint duo genera decertandi, unum per disceptationem, alterum per vim, cumque illud proprium sit hominis, hoc beluarum, confugiendum est ad posterius, si uti non licet superiore.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
Book I, section 34. Translation by Andrew P. Peabody
De Officiis – On Duties (44 BC)
“Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.”
Hesiod book Works and Days
Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 412.
James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)
1820s, Letter to F. Corbin (1820)