“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. ”

“A conclusion I’ve come to at the Idler is that it starts with retreating from work but it’s really about making work into something that isn’t drudgery and slavery, and then work and life can become one thing.”

“It seems no body's business to try to better things”

“Pain will never leave us. Instead of putting energy into destroying pain, we need to put energy into creating pleasure.”

“Labour-saving devices just make us try to cram more pointless activities into each day, rather than doing the important thing, which is to enjoy our life.”

“if anything, you may think of me as Adam without his Eve, cast out of the Garden with no hope of ever returning.”

“We have become so obsessed by numbers and by bottom lines that beauty and truth has been knocked aside.”