Laudator Temporis Acti

In order to have original, extraordinary, perhaps even immortal thoughts it suffices to alienate oneself so thoroughly from the world and things for a few moments that the most ordinary objects and events appear to one as entirely new and unfamiliar, thereby revealing their true nature.

Um originelle, außerordentliche, vielleicht gar unsterbliche Gedanken zu haben, ist es hinreichend, sich der Welt und den Dingen auf einige Augenblicke so gänzlich zu entfremden, daß Einem die allergewöhnlichsten Gegenstände und Vorgänge als völlig neu und unbekannt erscheinen, als wodurch eben ihr wahres Wesen sich ausschließt.

For Time changes the nature of the whole world, and one phase
Must be succeeded by the next; there is no thing that stays
The same. Everything flows. Nature makes everything alter,
For as one thing grows feeble with old age and starts to falter,
Another strengthens, emerging from obscurity.

mutat enim mundi naturam totius aetas
ex alioque alius status excipere omnia debet
nec manet ulla sui similis res: omnia migrant,        830
omnia commutat natura et vertere cogit.
namque aliud putrescit et aevo debile languet,
porro aliud succrescit et e contemptibus exit.

Not that God, the Lord and Creator of the universe, takes any delight in the rumbling of our intestines or the emptiness of our stomach or the inflammation of our lungs...

non quo deus, universitatis creator et dominus, intestinorum nostrorum rugitu et inanitate ventris pulmonumque delectetur ardore....

Everything a man does in the service of the state is contrary to his nature...

Alles, was ein Mensch im Dienste des Staates thut, geht wider seine Natur...

I hope succeeding generations will be able to be idle. I hope that nine tenths of their time will be leisure time; that they may enjoy their days, and the earth, and the beauty of this beautiful world; that they may rest by the sea and dream; that they may dance and sing and eat and drink.

• The Case for Inactivity
• Heatherlegh's Prescription
• Song of the Slackers
• A Fool
• Laziness as a Good Quality
• On Laziness
• To Loaf
• Kayf
• Slackers
• Planet of the Apes
• Ode to Indolence
• The More Idle, the More Deserving
• Work and Leisure
• Praise of Laziness
• Lazy Man's Song
• Exquisite Pregnant Idleness
• How Can I Work?
• Dolce Far Niente
• Weekdays of Unfreedom
• The Dreary Vacuum of Idleness
• Idleness and Business
• Archilochus on the Idle Life
• Idleness
• Futile Work
• Otium Cum Dignitate

A human baby's like a sailor washed up on a beach
By the battering of the surf, naked, lacking the power of speech,
Possessing no means of survival, when first Nature pours
Him forth with birth-pangs from his mother's womb upon Light's shores.
He fills the room up with his sorrowful squalls, and rightly so!
Just think what lies in store for him, Life's full supply of woe.

tum porro puer, ut saevis proiectus ab undis
navita, nudus humi iacet infans indigus omni
vitali auxilio, cum primum in luminis oras
nixibus ex alvo matris natura profudit,        225
vagituque locum lugubri complet, ut aequumst
cui tantum in vita restet transire malorum.

227 restet transire Lact. opif. 3.2 : re et transirest (transire est Q) Ω

Stupidity carried beyond a certain point becomes a public menace.

I will do as you wish, as well as I can, and shall at once begin my discussion, following the rule which, I think, ought always to be observed in the exposition of a subject if one wishes to avoid confusion; that is, that if the name of a subject is agreed upon, the meaning of this name should first be explained. Not until this meaning is agreed upon should the actual discussion be begun; for the qualities of the thing to be discussed can never be understood unless one understands first exactly what the thing itself is.

faciam, quod vultis, ut potero, et iam ingrediar in disputationem ea lege, qua credo omnibus in rebus disserendis utendum esse, si errorem velis tollere, ut eius rei, de qua quaeretur, si nomen quod sit conveniat, explicetur, quid declaretur eo nomine; quod si convenerit, tum demum decebit ingredi in sermonem; numquam enim, quale sit illud, de quo disputabitur, intellegi poterit, nisi, quid sit, fuerit intellectum prius.

"I don't hold with politics," the Superintendent confided to Smiley inconsequentially, staring downward still. "I don't hold with politics and I don't hold with politicians either. Licensed lunatics most of them, in my view."

All this is recounted as though it had happened already, though in fact that psalm refers to future events, foreseen long before. But why need we labor this point? What does all our diligent research achieve? What does our careful inquiry reveal? When are we so confident in the result of our study that we can say with certainty, "This is how it is"? We observe that the prophets often use verbs in the past tense to predict the future; but it is not easy to find an example of the future tense being used to indicate past happenings. I do not presume to say that there is no such example; I would merely suggest to students of those writings a suitable object for their research. If they find an instance of it and report it to us, we busy older people will applaud the studies of younger scholars who have more time, and we too will learn something from their industry. We shall not think this beneath our dignity, for Christ uses all means to teach us.

Omnia quasi iam facta commemorantur, quae utique adhuc ventura cernebantur. Sed quantum potest nostra diligentia? Quantum autem potest tanta occupatio? Aut quando sic vacat, ut possimus pro certo dicere: 'Ita est'? Animadvertimus saepe prophetas praeterito tempore verborum dicere quae futura sunt; figura autem futuri dicere praeterita non facile occurrit legenti. Non audeo dicere: 'Non est', sed certe studiosis earum litterarum indixerim quid quaerant. Si invenerint et ad nos attulerint, gratulabimur adolescentium studiis otiosorum occupati senes, et ex eorum ministerio et nos aliquid discimus. Non enim dedignamur, quando Christus de omnibus docet.