
XXIII, An Ode, to Himself, lines 1-6
The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640), Underwoods
Source: Who Is Man? (1965), Ch. 5<!-- Manipulation and appreciation, p. 81 -->
Context: The sense of meaning is not born in ease and sloth. It comes after bitter trials, disappointments in the glitters, foundering, strandings. It is the marrow from the bone. There is no manna in our wilderness.
Thought is not bred apart from experience or from inner surroundings. Thinking is living, and no thought is bred in an isolated cell in the brain. No thought is an island.
XXIII, An Ode, to Himself, lines 1-6
The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640), Underwoods
Source: The Analects of Confucius
Representative Writings (1981), pp. xvi-xvii
1900s, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1900), The Strenuous Life
Context: If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the domination of the world. Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.
“Cynicism is only intellectual sloth.”
Riff on life's journey blends humor, hope http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/04/02/review-henry-rollins.html, Columbus Dispatch
“Division of labor is a justification for sloth.”
Source: Path of Life (1909), p. 79
“Glory in hardship, sloth in comfort lies.”
A Young Soul