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About this quote

What does it mean?
A day can be filled with intense effort that paradoxically feels like idleness.
In plain terms
I spent a day working hard but felt like I was doing nothing.
What can you take from it?
Mental or creative effort can feel like idleness despite being strenuous.

Where it applies

  • discussing creative work
  • reflecting on productivity
  • questioning value

Putting it to work

  • redefining productivity
  • journaling workdays
  • discussing mental labor

Questions to consider

  • Is your work strenuous or idle?
  • How do you measure a day?

Another view

It risks undervaluing visible, physical forms of labor.

More from William Wordsworth

  1. When from our better selves we have too long Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop, Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, How gracious, how beni…

    Permalink to quote #129
  2. Whether we be young or old, Our destiny, our being's heart and home, Is with infinitude, and only there; With hope it is, hope that can never die, Effort and e…

    Permalink to quote #131
  3. Where the statue stood Of Newton with his prism and silent face, The marble index of a mind forever Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.

    Permalink to quote #128

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