"
And again, "It is astonishing that any one can squander away in absolute
idleness one single moment of that small portion of time which is allotted
to us in the world ... Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and
enjoy every moment of it."
"Are you in earnest? seize this very minute,
What you can do, or think you can, begin it." [3]
There is a Turkish proverb that the Devil tempts the Idle man, but the
Idle man tempts the Devil. I remember, says Hilliard, "a satirical poem,
in which the Devil is represented as fishing for men, and adapting his
bait to the tastes and temperaments of his prey; but the idlers were the
easiest victims, for they swallowed even the naked hook."
The mind of the idler indeed preys upon itself. "The human heart is like a
millstone in a mill; when you put wheat under it, it turns and grinds and
bruises the wheat to flour; if you put no wheat, it still grinds on--and
grinds itself away." [4]
It is not work, but care, that kills, and it is in this sense, I suppose,
that we are told to "take no thought for the morrow.
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