...[W]e should be mucking about all the time, because mucking about is enjoying life for its own sake, now, and not in preparation for an imaginary future. It's obvious that the mirth-filled man, the cheerful soul, the childish adult is the one who has least to fear from life.

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

Often, the things that a lot of work has gone into have been incredibly bad because they're over-worked.

The idea of a government is to create an ordered, willing work force where there's no trouble. I think idlers are generally seen as potentially dangerous because they're asking questions.

I count it as a certainty that in paradise, everyone naps.

Although I played a lot of computer games in my 20s, now I have children of my own I hate them with a passion.

We have become so obsessed by numbers and by bottom lines that beauty and truth has been knocked aside.