“People who understand how to convert their time into useful products do not complain of boredom. They have too many important tasks to accomplish that they can hardly get bored.”

“Does it really take a full 9–5 to get our tasks done? Or … do we just “push paper,” masquerading as being productive while we are merely just running down the clock?”

“J’ai un but, une tâche, disons le mot, une passion. Le métier d’écrire en est une violente et presque indestructible.”(“I have an object, a task, let me say the word, a passion. The profession of writing is a violent and almost indestructible one.”)[Letter to Jules Boucoiran, 4 March 1831]”

“There’s the old saying about ‘killing two birds with one stone’. However, most of us aren’t paying enough attention to know what the birds are, and even if we did we wouldn’t know where to find the stones. So maybe we should start looking for both.”