Otherwise Known as the Human Condition

"I was twenty when I read Hazlitt's "First Acquaintance with Poets" and knew immediately that I wanted to emulate this man who had "loitered [his] life away, reading books, looking at pictures, going to plays, hearing, thinking, writing on what pleased [him] best." What could be better (assuming, of course, that you substitute "films" for "plays")? A crucial part of such a life is that you loiter--with no intent of entering--outside of the academy, unhindered by specialization (obviously) and the rigors of imposed method."
 
-- Geoff Dyer