All poets are idlers, even if all idlers are not poets.

The terrible thing about the internet and Amazon is that they take the magic and happy chaos out of book shopping. The internet might give you what you want, but it won't give you what you need.

The art of living is the art of bringing dreams and reality together.

When you go for a walk, take seeds with you, poppies, rainbow chard, rocket. Plant them among the weeds in patches of wasteland. See what happens.

In a world where you are constantly asked to be 'committed,' it is liberating to give yourself the license to be a dilettante. Commit to nothing. Try everything.

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

My idea of childcare at festivals is to sit at a trestle table with an ale while the kids run around and make up their own games.

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

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

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

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

Each malevolence has a cousin that heals it. I fancy Hurtsickle and Heartsease as herbal enemies –weeds growing in reach of one another

My own experience is that a certain kind of genius among students is best brought out in bed.

Proper business planning demands that you focus on the self-interest of the customer at all times.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise...Blessed are those whose strength is in you...blessed is the one who trusts in you!

I grew up in the Midwest and had a lot of exposure to big religion. I went to church every Sunday - my mother even sang in the choir - and most families I knew where practicing Christians.

There is no disgrace in staying behind, not when it's the right thing.

Fortune had favoured me in this war that I feared, the rather, that some tempest would follow so favourable a gale.

Laughing on the way to your execution is not generally understood by less-advanced life forms, and they call you crazy.

Do not serve time, let time serve you.