Tom Hodgkinson
Tom Hodgkinson
Tom Hodgkinsonis 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...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWriter
break family festivals fun kids life loads nuclear offer people quantities sheer talk welcome
Festivals are fun for kids, fun for parents and offer a welcome break from the stresses of the nuclear family. The sheer quantities of people make life easier: loads of adults for the adults to talk to and loads of kids for the kids to play with.
afternoon becomes demand explore fantastic less life moving odd outside seems time week work
Once you explore life outside of work, it becomes addictive. The less you work, the less you want to work. At first, the odd afternoon off seems like a fantastic luxury. Before long, you are opting for a four-day week. Then a four-day week becomes an intolerable demand on your time, so you find a way of moving to a three-day week.
electricity far gigantic good life lifestyles obvious rely resources western
It's pretty obvious that Western lifestyles which rely on gigantic amounts of electricity use up far more resources than a subsistence-based life. A little more poverty would be a good thing.
life mental pleasure rather suggest
If we are to make life into a pleasure rather than a struggle, then I would suggest that we have to start with our own mental attitudes.
writing garden things-in-life
If you look at the literature of the 19th century, you get things like Kafka and Dostoevsky, who basically write about feeling bored and alienated. That's because we lost contact with the important things in life like work that you enjoy, or the garden, nature, your family and friends.
becoming life-is staring
Life is becoming no more than staring at the screen.
men enjoy-life soul
...[W]e should be mucking about all the time, because mucking about is enjoying life for its own sake, now, and not in preparation for an imaginary future. It's obvious that the mirth-filled man, the cheerful soul, the childish adult is the one who has least to fear from life.
life-is lost
Life is about recapturing lost freedoms..
work-and-life slavery idlers
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.
happy-life technology unnecessary
All of our technology is completely unnecessary to a happy life.
depressing phrase
The phrase 'work/life balance' encapsulates a depressing outlook.
love poet
I love the 19th-century idea of the flaneur, the poet wandering through the streets.
existence poetry protest represents salute supremely
Poetry, being supremely useless, by its very existence represents a protest against the so-called 'real world' of busy-ness and moneymaking, so we must embrace, salute and support our poets.
active binge christmas festival longer passive people purely sing turned watch
We no longer sing and dance. We don't know how to. Instead, we watch other people sing and dance on the television screen. Christmas, which was once a festival of active enjoyment, has turned into a binge of purely passive pleasures.