Our dreams take us into other worlds, alternative realities that help us make sense of day-to-day realities.

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

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.

Labour-saving devices just make us try to cram more pointless activities into each day, rather than doing the important thing, which is to enjoy our life.

Idleness for me is not a giving up on life but a spirited grabbing hold of it.

Long weekends at festivals, short weeks at home, all summer long: now that is surely preferable to the immense cost and headache of the nuclear family holiday in the sun?