In both word and deed, one of the greatest idlers of all time was John Lennon. In his songs we see repeated defences of simply lying around doing nothing.

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.

Never give advice unless you have walked the walk, because anybody can talk the talk.

Because you don't learn anything unless you can find the patience to read. TV takes that away from you. It robs you from your mind.

You can't make anything if you're lost to yourself. You'll want to again, it's who you are. Wren, grieving is hard. Complex. Takes its own time.

When the old men kill themselves, the cities are dying.

Keep your eyes open. Look at the world without prejudice, pay attention to your sources, and decide for yourself where the truth lies. That is the greatness of the path I'm offering you.

Whatever with the past has gone the best is always yet to come.

This is the complacency I have run into.

Neither gods nor men can foresee when an evil deed will bear its fruit.

The people who knew me and knew my work and trusted me, they knew then as they do now that I've never fabricated or plagiarized a story. People who know me know I didn't do this.

Being precedes Truth, and ... Truth precedes the Good.