quotations about laziness
Being lazy at work or in any sphere of the world means you are in the wrong place, doing what does not bring you self-fulfillment.
GABRIELLE KOVALENKO
"The reason for laziness", The Greater New Milford Spectrum, December 7, 2015
The only time a lazy man ever succeeds is when he tries to do nothing.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Laziness prevents more crimes than morality.
ABRAHAM MILLER
Unmoral Maxims
You're not lazy. You're a person who has adopted lazy habits. Start seeing your habit as just a behavior--a behavior you can change.
JASON SELK
"Laziness Isn't A Personality Flaw--It's Just A Habit", Forbes, July 10, 2014
Folks as have no mind to be o' use have allays the luck to be out o' the road when there's anything to be done.
GEORGE ELIOT
Adam Bede
Laziness, according to the modern view, is like an illness or something we need to be coached out of. Instead ... the reverse is true -- it is something senior executives need to be coached into. Just to be clear: the sort of laziness to encourage is not the slobbish variety that means you do bad work. That is not laziness: it is stupidity. Instead, we need the clever version that comes from knowing there is an opportunity cost to every minute we spend working, so we use our time wisely.
LUCY KELLAWAY
"Why 'lean in' if laziness can be just as effective?", Financial Times, February 22, 2016
Laziness is not a personality disorder. It's just a habit. Lazy thinking and lazy behavior, like any other habits, can be broken. Laziness isn't something we're born with. It's a behavior we learned along the way.
JASON SELK
"Laziness Isn't A Personality Flaw--It's Just A Habit", Forbes, July 10, 2014
One can think of the decision of whether or not to pursue a goal as an effort-motivation balance. That is, individuals will only engage in goal pursuit if the effort necessary to achieve a goal stands in adequate proportion to how motivated they are. Laziness, or a lack of goal pursuit, can therefore be thought of as a situation where individuals are not motivated to expend the effort necessary to achieve their goals. As a result, what influences the effort-motivation balance, and thus the decision of whether to engage in goal pursuit or remain lazy, is how effortful the goal pursuit is and how motivated individuals are to achieve their goal.
JON JACHIMOWICZ
"Laziness Is More Complex Than You Think: How a More Nuanced Approach Can Help Us Overcome Laziness When Needed", Huffington Post, May 5, 2016
My passions are all asleep from my having slumbered till nearly eleven and weakened the animal fibre all over me to a delightful sensation about three degrees on this sight of faintness -- if I had teeth of pearl and the breath of lilies I should call it langour -- but as I am I must call it laziness. In this state of effeminacy the fibres of the brain are relaxed in common with the rest of the body, and to such a happy degree that pleasure has no show of enticement and pain no unbearable frown. Neither poetry, nor ambition, nor love have any alertness of countenance as they pass by me.
JOHN KEATS
letter to his brother and sister-in-law, George and Georgiana Keats, 1819
For most of human history, it's been recognized that we tend to follow the path of least resistance. We go to comical lengths to avoid work of even the most trivial sort.... However, before we throw up our hands and bemoan this seemingly unfortunate feature of human nature, we should ask some questions: Is this an inevitable feature of our biology? Or, is this something that we can modify, and even eliminate, in due time?
JASON HREHA
"Is Human Laziness Human Nature?", Big Think, December 11, 2014
The lazy man claims he is too heavy for light work and too light for heavy work.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Idlers seem to be a special class for whom nothing can be planned, plead as one will with them -- their only contribution to the human family is to warm a seat at the common table.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
letter to his daughter, Frances Scott Fitzgerald, Jul. 7, 1938
Sometimes I get so fed up with feeling lazy and lethargic that I literally just start running. I have learned that if you can overcome physical laziness, your mind will naturally follow. You will find that you will become more willing to think about complicated things, such as working on a project or doing something that you have been avoiding. Exercise will help you break through that barrier of inertia and will help you feel motivated and more willing to put in effort.
CHANTALLE BLIKMAN
"5 Ways to Get Energized and Motivated When You Feel Lazy", Tiny Buddha
Shall we keep our hands in our bosom, or stretch ourselves on our beds of laziness, while all the world about us is hard at work, in pursuing the designs of its creation?
ISAAC BARROW
The Duty and Rewards of Industry Considered
A lazy man's wife is generally the power behind the drone.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Turn on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes,
Observe her labours, sluggard, and be wise.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
"The Ant"
Laziness grows on people; it begins in cobwebs, and ends in iron chains.
WILLIAM HALES
"Memoir of William Hales, D. D.", British Magazine and Monthly Register of Religious and Ecclesiastical Information
You are only as lazy or lacking in willpower as you think you are.
KEN CHRISTIAN
Your Own Worst Enemy
To the lazy man the world appears bereft of all blessings; if poor, he has no friends; if rich, he has no ambition; he aims at nothing, and generally hits his mark.
JAMES ELLIS
Evening Herald, Jan. 21, 1897
My experience, both as an individual and therapist, has led me to conclude that laziness as an explanation of human behavior is practically useless. Referring to--or rather, disparaging, or even dismissing--a person as lazy seems to me a glib and overly simplistic way of accounting for a person's apparent disinterest or inertia. And resorting to this term to categorize a person's inactivity suggests to me a laziness more on the part of the describer than the person described. In short, I view this pejorative designation as employed mostly as a "default" when the person talked about is not particularly well understood.
LEON F. SELTZER
"Laziness: Fact or Fiction?", Psychology Today, June 23, 2008