Quotations

[Dave B]

I recently rediscovered Dorothy Parker; poet and wit:

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

"I like to have a martini, 
two at the very most. 
After three I'm under the table, 
after four I'm under my host."

"If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to."

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

"Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open, and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away."

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=doroth...zmaUF0AAAA

[Edwardo Piet]

I recently rediscovered Dorothy Parker; poet and wit:

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

"I like to have a martini, 
two at the very most. 
After three I'm under the table, 
after four I'm under my host."

"If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to."

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

"Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open, and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away."

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=doroth...zmaUF0AAAA

IMO the cure for boredom is distraction, not curiosity. And distractions aren't always available.

If you're doing something mundane and wishing you were somewhere else, then it doesn't matter how curious you are there's no cure for that boredom. Unless you're especially adept at daydreaming. And even then, if the mundane task requires your full concentration then you won't be able to daydream to escape it. And the more effort you put into your thinking the harder it is to daydream, too. You have to stop trying to think and just let your mind drift, to daydream, and it's hard to do that when you're concentrating on a mundane task. And if it's important you concentrate fully on that mundane task, then you will definitely be unable to daydream or distract yourself. And you probably shouldn't.

Unfortunately I am an expert at avoiding boredom but a novice at actually being happy. Going on autopilot allows me to never be bored and it also allows me to get to sleep with ease . . . staying in Daniel Kahneman's "System 1" in other words . . . is key to self amusement. Unfortunately it does mean I drift though life. But being an epiphenomenologist it does make it hard, if not impossible, for me to find reason to do anything else.