Sunday, October 30, 2005

Two observations that ruined my life

Notwithstand my previous post, not all reading is good for you.

When I was about fourteen we studied Charles Lamb at school. One sentence of his leapt out at me and maybe helps to account for my abiding sloth. Sonorously he intoned, "Man is out of his element as long as he is operative." It was, as they say, like a lightbulb going off in my brain. These sentiments were re-inforced shortly afterwards when I read Jerome K Jerome's "Three Men In A Boat" where he too expressed his extreme dislike of work.

What really fucked me up though was when I took to heart Edgar Wallace's dictum that "No one ever avoided temptation by running away from it." Maybe not, but I wish I'd given the alternative a try while I was up at uni. Might even have passed some exams if I had.

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