W. H. Auden

England
21 Jan 1907 // 29 Sep 1973
Poet

Laziness and Impatience

Laziness acknowledges the relation of the present to the past but ignores its relation to the future; impatience acknowledge its relation to the future but ignores its relation to the past; neither the lazy nor the impatient man, that is, accepts the present instant in its full reality and so cannot love his neighbour completely.

W. H. Auden, in 'The Complete Works of W.H. Auden'
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