#pastime — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from Cicero

   Do you think that what I say each day on such a variety of topics could come to me if I did not cultivate my mind with learning, or that my mind could bear such a strain if I did not relax it by this same learning?
   Indeed I confess that I have devoted myself to these interests. Let others be ashamed who have so buried themselves in books that they can offer nothing for the common enjoyment and can bring nothing forward into the light and the sight of men; but, gentlemen of the jury, why should I be ashamed, I who have lived so long in such a way that leisurely interests have never lured me nor pleasure called me nor sleep kept me from timely service to anyone?
   Who, I ask, can censure me on this account, who can rightfully be angry at me, if I take as much time for the pursuit of these studies as is granted others to attend to their interests, to celebrate the festive days of the games, as much time as they devote to other pleasures and the relaxation of mind and body, as much time as others give to early-opening banquets, or even to throwing dice and playing ball?
 
   [An tu existimas aut suppetere nobis posse quod cotidie dicamus in tanta varietate rerum, nisi animos nostros doctrina excolamus, aut ferre animos tantam posse contentionem, nisi eos doctrina eadem relaxemus?
   Ego vero fateor me his studiis esse deditum: ceteros pudeat, si qui se ita litteris abdiderunt, ut nihil possint ex his neque ad communem adferre fructum neque in aspectum lucemque proferre: me autem quid pudeat, qui tot annos ita vivo, iudices, ut a nullius umquam me tempore aut commodo aut otium meum abstraxerit aut voluptas avocarit aut denique somnus retardarit?
   Qua re quis tandem me reprehendat aut quis mihi iure suscenseat, si, quantum ceteris ad suas res obeundas, quantum ad festos dies ludorum celebrandos, quantum ad alias voluptates et ad ipsam requiem animi et corporis conceditur temporum, quantum alii tribuunt tempestivis conviviis, quantum denique alveolo, quantum pilae, tantum mihi egomet ad haec studia recolenda sumpsero?]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Pro Archia Poeta [For Archia the Poet], ch. 6 / sec. 12-13 (62 BC) [tr. Guinach (1962)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cicero #proarchia #distraction #enjoyment #entertainment #hobby #literature #nerd #pastime #reading #relaxation #service #study #books

A quotation from Thomas Fuller

If thou wouldest be provident of thy Time; make choice of good Company, and good Books.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 1858 (1727)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/fuller-thomas-1654/7…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #books #conversation #conviviality #goodcompany #goodpeople #goodtime #pastime #reading

A quotation from Faulkner

One of the saddest things is that the only thing that a man can do for eight hours a day, day after day, is work. You can’t eat eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day nor make love for eight hours — all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy.

William Faulkner (1897-1962) American novelist
Interview (1956, Spring), by Jean Stein, “The Art of Fiction,” Paris Review, No. 12

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/faulkner-william/623…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #faulkner #labor #life #living #misery #pastime #unhappiness #work

A quotation from Bill Watterson

CALVIN: The only skills I have the patience to learn are those that have no real application in life.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1993-07-03)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/watterson-bill/4101/

#quote #quotes #quotation #pastime #patience #skill #training #usefulness #utility #reallife

Well. I mean who doesn't want to be spared from wasting their time on designing an obsolete and fiscally unwise F-35 engine? 🤷 We could all be doing so many other neat things now instead of planning that. Phew!

#AllOfUs
#F35
#hobby
#pastime