Confucius 孔子
5th century BC · Lu, Spring and Autumn China · On finding a pupil napping
Zai Yu slept in the daytime. The Master said: "Rotten wood cannot be carved, and a wall of dung cannot be trowelled. What is the use of scolding Yu?"
宰予晝寢。子曰：「朽木不可雕也，糞土之牆不可杇也。於予與何誅？」Analects, book 5 (Gongye Chang)
More from Confucius · #complaints
In the same thread
Bai Juyi 白居易
early 9th century · Tang China
There is office to be had, and I am too lazy to apply. I have fields, and am too lazy to farm them. The roof leaks, and I am too lazy to mend it. My clothes are torn, and I am too lazy to sew. I have wine, and am too lazy to pour it, which is the same as a jar always empty.
有官慵不選，有田慵不農。
屋穿慵不葺，衣裂慵不縫。
有酒慵不酌，無異尊常空。"On Laziness," in the Complete Tang Poems
Yang Wanli 楊萬里
c. 1166 · Song China
The plums have left a sourness that softens my teeth. The banana tree shares its green with the window gauze. The day is long; I wake from my nap with nothing on my mind, and idly watch the children catching willow down.
梅子留酸軟齒牙，芭蕉分綠與窗紗。
日長睡起無情思，閑看兒童捉柳花。"Waking from a Nap in Early Summer," the first poem, in the Complete Song Poems
Leo Tolstoy Лев Толстой
August 20, 1854 · Russian Empire
The most important thing in life for me is to cure myself of three vices: laziness, irritability and lack of character.
Важнее всего в жизни для меня исправление от 3 -х пороков. Лень, Раздражительность и Бесхарактерность.
Diary, in the Complete Works of Tolstoy, vol. 47
Mark Twain
1894 · Missouri, USA · Connecticut
Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.
Pudd'nhead Wilson, epigraph to chapter 6, from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar"
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us