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About this quote

What does it mean?
Wilde mocks hard work as a pastime for those with nothing better to do.
In plain terms
Hard work is a refuge for the idle.
What can you take from it?
Seek purposeful activity over mere busyness.

Where it applies

  • career planning
  • personal development

Putting it to work

  • prioritize meaningful goals
  • avoid work for work’s sake

Questions to consider

  • When does work become meaningful?
  • Is busyness ever productive?

Another view

Hard work can also be a path to mastery.

More from Oscar Wilde

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  3. And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

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