Man is so made that he can only find relaxation1 from one kind of labor2 by taking up another.
Anatole France (1844 - 1924), The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970), Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 14
This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men.
Captain J. A. Hadfield
Acquire inner peace and a multitude will find their salvation3 near you.
Catherine de Hueck Doherty
Nothing is permanent in this wicked world - not even our troubles.
Charlie Chaplin (1889 - 1977)
Sometimes the cure for restlessness is rest.
Colleen Wainwright, Communicatrix, 08-06-08
Put duties aside at least an hour before bed and perform soothing4, quiet activities that will help you relax.
Dianne Hales
No matter how much pressure you feel at work, if you could find ways to relax for at least five minutes every hour, you'd be more productive.
Dr. Joyce Brothers (1928 - )
There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
We have to fight them daily, like fleas5, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.
Etty Hillesum, O Magazine, October 2002
Light be the earth upon you, lightly rest.
Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC), Alcestis, 438 B.C.
When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680)
During [these] periods of relaxation after concentrated intellectual activity, the intuitive mind seems to take over and can produce the sudden clarifying insights which give so much joy and delight.
Fritjof Capra, physicist6
What's the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile.
George Asaf
He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), Journal, February 11, 1840
If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable7 without knowing it.
Herodotus (484 BC - 430 BC), The Histories of Herodotus
We spend most of our time and energy in a kind of horizontal thinking. We move along the surface of things [but] there are times when we stop. We sit still. We lose ourselves in a pile of leaves or its memory. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.
James Carroll
To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment8.
Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)
Never lose sight of this important truth, that no one can be truly great until he has gained a knowledge of himself, a knowledge which can only be acquired by occasional retirement9.
Johann Georg von Zimmermann
I take it that what all men are really after is some form or perhaps only some formula of peace.
Joseph Conrad (1857 - 1924)
If you can attain10 repose11 and calm, believe that you have seized happiness.
Julie-Jeanne-Eleonore de Lespinasse, O Magazine, October 2002
Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone12. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination13 of non-essentials.
Lin Yutang
Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important.
Natalie Goldberg
Before you agree to do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: What is my truest intention? Give yourself time to let a yes resound14 within you. When it's right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it.
Oprah Winfrey (1954 - )
Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.
Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD)
Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.
Robert J. Sawyer (1960 - ), "Calculating God", 2000
Working in the garden...gives me a profound feeling of inner peace.
Ruth Stout15
Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.
Satchel16 Paige (1906 - 1982)
The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.
Sydney J. Harris
