“Absence of occupation is not rest,
A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.”

— William Cowper , Retirement

Source: Retirement (1782), Line 623.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed." by William Cowper?

William Cowper 174

(1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist 1731–1800

Related quotes

“Power-lust is a weed that grows only in the vacant lots of an abandoned mind.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

“The watchdog's voice that bayed the whispering wind,
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.”

Oliver Goldsmith The Deserted Village

Source: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 121.

“Vacant minds have their uses, yet it seems a pity to waste first-class bodies on them.”

Henry S. Haskins (1875–1957)

Source: Meditations in Wall Street (1940), p. 70

“Our best support and succor in distress is fortitude of mind.”
In re mala animo si bono utare, adjuvat.

Plautus Captivi

Captivi, Act II, scene 1, line 8
Variant translation: The best assistance in distress is fortitude of soul. (translator unknown)
Captivi (The Prisoners)

“The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.”

Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State

As quoted in "Special Section: They Are Fated to Succeed" in TIME magazine (2 January 1978) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915860,00.html
1970s