“A restless state of mind that wanders away from an object while observing it is a mental state called restlessness (uddhacca). It flies away from the object. Due to restlessness the mind cannot remain very long with an object but often wanders elsewhere.”

Source: Manual of Insight (1945), pp. 62-63

Quoted, This Side of Paradise (1920)
Context: I simply state that I'm a product of a versatile mind in a restless generation — with every reason to throw my mind and pen in with the radicals. Even if, deep in my heart, I thought we were all blind atoms in a world as limited as a stroke of a pendulum, I and my sort would struggle against tradition; try, at least, to displace old cants with new ones. I've thought I was right about life at various times, but faith is difficult. One thing I know. If living isn't seeking for the grail it may be a damned amusing game.

Variant: I’m restless. Things are calling me away. My hair is being pulled by the stars again.

The Ageless Wisdom (1897)

Mind
Source: I am That, P.142.

Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter III: On true and false friendship, Line 5.

Expressionism by Norbert Wolf, Uta Grosenick (2004), p. 40.

Source: A Mother's Advice to Her Son, 1726, p. 170