“If you look at the literature of the 19th century, you get things like Kafka and Dostoevsky, who basically write about feeling bored and alienated. That's because we lost contact with the important things in life like work that you enjoy, or the garden, nature, your family and friends.” IfsWritingLooksImportantFeelingsLiteratureLostEnjoyCenturyGardenImportant ThingsContactBoredOur FamilyThings In LifeFamily And Friends19th Century Author:Tom Hodgkinson
“We have an idea that if something we're doing isn't actually earning money, or spending it, then it's completely worthless. But if you start to work less, you can actually start to give more to society, but on a local level.” IfsGivingIdeasLevelsSpendingLocalsEarningWorthlessEarning Money Author:Tom Hodgkinson
“Part of this individualism is you feel this pressure that you alone have to conquer the world, and if you don't work all the hours God gives then you start feeling really guilty. If you can stop feeling guilty, then I think it's easier to start doing what you want to do.” IfsThinkingWorldWantGivingFeelsFeelingsHoursEasierPressureWhat You WantGuiltyConquerIndividualismConquer The WorldFeeling GuiltyDoing What You Want Author:Tom Hodgkinson
“I originally welcomed the mobile phone as it seemed to me that it would enable you to work from anywhere. On the mobile, who was to know if you were sitting on the branch of a tree or sitting in an office? But it instead had the opposite effect: instead of freeing us from the office, it allowed the office to take away our freedom.” IfsKnowsTreeEffectsOfficeSittingOppositesPhonesBranchesMobileMobile Phones Author:Tom Hodgkinson
“These days we seem more bound to our bosses than ever before. We even identify our own selves with the jobs we do: "What do you do?" is the first question we ask each other at parties, as if a job title could express a fundamental truth about our personality.” IfsFirstsSelfSeemsJobsAsksPartyPersonalityFundamentalsBoundsThese DaysTitlesBossJob Titles Author:Tom Hodgkinson
“If Adam and Eve were not hunter-gatherers, then they were certainly gatherers. But, then, consumer desire, or self-embitterment, or the 'itch,' as Schopenhauer called it, appeared in the shape of the serpent. This capitalistic monster awakens in Adam and Eve the possibility that things could be better. Instantly, they are cast out of the garden and condemned to a life of toil, drudgery, and pain. Wants supplanted needs, and things have been going downhill ever since.” IfsWantNeedsHas BeensSelfPainDesirePossibilityShapesGardenCastsMonstersConsumersAdamToilHuntersSerpentAdam And EveDrudgeryHunter Gatherers Author:Tom Hodgkinson
“Education itself is a putting off, a postponement; we are told to work hard to get good results. Why? So we can get a good job. What is a good job? One that pays well. Oh. And that's it? All this suffering, merely so that we can earn a lot of money, which, even if we manage it, will not solve our problems anyway? It's a tragically limited idea of what life is all about.” IfsWellsIdeasHardProblemJobsLife IsSufferingResultsPayLearningHard WorkSolveManageLots Of MoneyGood JobSchooledUnschoolingPostponementProblems In School Author:Tom Hodgkinson
“One of the least arduous but most productive of gardening jobs, the magic of deadheading never fails to delight me. It was a revelation when the principle was explained to me: that flowers are the attempt by the plant to reproduce itself. So if you cut the heads off before the flower turns into seeds, the plant will continue to flower.” IfsJobsTurnsPrinciplesCuttingFailingMagicFlowerPlantDelightSeedsRevelationsProductiveGardening Author:Tom Hodgkinson
