Truly, the bench is a boon to idlers. Whoever first came up with the idea is a genius: free public resting places where you can take time out from the bustle and brouhaha of the city, and simply sit and watch and reflect.

I think it's good to look at how people lived before, and then take the best bits of that culture and try to mix it in with your own.

When walking you see things that you miss in a motor car or on the train. You give your mind space to ponder.

Idleness for me is not a giving up on life but a spirited grabbing hold of it.

We have an idea that if something we're doing isn't actually earning money, or spending it, then it's completely worthless. But if you start to work less, you can actually start to give more to society, but on a local level.

Self-importance is a trap, because the moment we start to think that we actually matter is the moment when things start to go wrong. The truth is that you are supremely unimportant and nothing matters. All of man's striving is for nothing; all effort is wasted. To realize that everything is meaningless is tremendously liberating, since it then leaves us completely free to create our own lives and ignore the plans that others have for us.

There is nothing so perfect as pinball and a pint at 11 a.m.