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Tom Hodgkinson Biography

Tom Hodgkinson (born 1968) is a British writer, and the editor of The Idler, which he established in 1993 with his friend Gavin Pretor-Pinney. His philosophy, in his published books and articles, is of a relaxed approach to life, enjoying it as it comes rather than toiling for an imagined better future. The Idler was originally a series of essays written by Dr Johnson from 1758 to 1760.

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Tom Hodgkinson Quotes

Part of this individualism is you feel this pressure that you alone have to conquer the world, and if you don't work all the hours God gives then you start feeling really guilty. If you can stop feeling guilty, then I think it's easier to start doing what you want to do.

Conquer The World, Giving, Guilty, Part, Stop, Thinking

One of the least arduous but most productive of gardening jobs, the magic of deadheading never fails to delight me. It was a revelation when the principle was explained to me: that flowers are the attempt by the plant to reproduce itself. So if you cut the heads off before the flower turns into seeds, the plant will continue to flower.

Cutting, Delight, Explained, Flower, Jobs, Magic

Education itself is a putting off, a postponement; we are told to work hard to get good results. Why? So we can get a good job. What is a good job? One that pays well. Oh. And that's it? All this suffering, merely so that we can earn a lot of money, which, even if we manage it, will not solve our problems anyway? It's a tragically limited idea of what life is all about.

Anyway, Earn, Good, Hard Work, Jobs, Learning

It takes a while to master the art of hammock-lounging. At first I could only manage five minutes or so before I thought I ought to get out and go and help a child learn how to swim or something. But after observing the Mexicans' capability for staring into space for hours on end, I decided to put in some proper practice.

Art, Children, Practice, Space, Staring, Thought

Working is bad enough in the winter, but in the summer it can become completely intolerable. Stuck in airless offices, every fibre of our being seems to cry out for freedom. We're reminded of being stuck in double maths while the birds sing outside.

Birds, Intolerable, Math, Sing, Summer, Winter

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

Beauty, Freedom, Hard Work, Sleep, Successful, Work

Little things like making clothes, baking bread, cooking, even useless things like bird-watching, sketching flowers, playing guitar in the home - that sort of time is gone. And the time we have? We're so exhausted, we want to let ourselves get sucked in to the escape world of TV. I'm speaking from experience; I'm not above all this.

Clothes, Flower, Home, Playing, Sketching, Things

We have to wonder whether digital technology, rather than making it easier to communicate, is actually doing the opposite. We now sit alone at a keyboard, firing off zeros and ones into the ether. Offices are silent.

Actually, Keyboard, Office, Ones, Opposites, Technology

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

Count, Everyone, Naps, Paradise, Sleep

I suddenly realised, hey, I'm not a lazy idiot, I'm an idler! It's something to aspire to, it's part of the creative process! That's fantastic!

Aspire, Creative, Fantastic, Idlers, Lazy, Part

We need to claim lunch back. It is our natural right. It has been stolen from us by our rulers. The fear that keeps you chained to your desk, staring at your screen, does not serve your spirit. Lunch is a time to forget about being sensible, practical, efficient. A proper lunch should be spiritually as well as physically nourishing. Cosy, convivial, a treat; lunch is for loafers.

Desk, Doe, Efficient, Lunch, Needs, Practical

I don't put much faith in the political system because it's a question of how are you going to run capitalism, not how are we going to develop a different system to capitalism.

Capitalism, Different, Political, Running, System

Pain will never leave us. Instead of putting energy into destroying pain, we need to put energy into creating pleasure.

Creating, Energy, Leave, Pain, Putting

When the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.

Gets, Nap, Naps, Sleep, Take, Tough Times

A conclusion I’ve come to at the Idler is that it starts with retreating from work but it’s really about making work into something that isn’t drudgery and slavery, and then work and life can become one thing.

Become, Idlers, Retreating, Slavery, Work And Life

Idleness allows you to turn a situation from boredom to pleasure.

Allows, Boredom, Pleasure, Situation

Being lazy does not mean that you do not create. In fact, lying around doing nothing is an important, nay crucial, part of the creative process. It is meaningless bustle that actually gets in the way of productivity. All we are really saying is, give peace a chance.

Bustle, Giving, Lying, Mean, Nothing, Saying

Benjamin Franklin and the whole idea of a new attitude to money: "Time is money. " He invented that idea. Before that, time wasn't money in the same way; in the medieval age it was regarded as sinful for money to be the object of your life.

Age, Attitude, Ideas, Regarded, Same, Whole

I like the idea of becoming [fairly] good at lots of things rather than very good at just one thing. So it would be nice to be okay at the guitar or at the piano, a reasonable cook, perhaps able to fix your car or do some basic carpentry, and be able to write the odd article. Rather than being super good at one tiny thing, to be kind of average at lots of things. It might mean that you have a more kind of enjoyable, complete life.

Cook, Mean, Nice, Things, Writing

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

Car, Giving, Motor, See, Space

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