The Inertia Variations Quotes

“I feel as if I don’t have time
To do anything. So I do nothing
Other than remind myself
Of what I should be doing,
And admonish myself for not doing it.
I tell myself to be patient.
But I don’t have time for patience anymore.
I don’t have time for time.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“Inactivity breeds impure thoughts.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“All I already haven’t done.
The day, without starting, has drawn to a close.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“In a continual stricken hurry to do nothing.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“With so much unfinished, so much unbegun.
I’m not in the mood
For anything.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“It is hard to give up
Giving up. It is hard to give.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“How good it feels
At the end of such a long stale day
Of sedentary agitation; a relief
From the restraints of restlessness:
To walk forth in relatively fresh air and recognize anew
That the concept that everything is possible
Can be grasped
Theoretically.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“Another day lies squandered behind me.
The effluvia of recent useless vacillation
Pollutes my abode and suffocates my higher faculties.
I seek relief from the nausea of my own society
In the outside world.
To reward myself with distraction:
Not for work well done, or done at al
But as relief from tormenting myself over not doing the work.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“I was always sluggishly scrambling
On to the next thing that would remain undone.
Or underdone.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“Of another tedious shift of exhausting agitation,
It occurs to me, once again, that over the course of this day
I have made no contribution to anybody else’s life.
I haven’t even made a contribution to my own life.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“Time spent alone, to others unknown:
Black and white afternoons,
Sallow evenings and discolored nights
Spent grasping for distraction;
Glancing at moments
That could have been savored -
That will disappear, unaccounted for, forgotten,
Along with everything else, even by myself.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“Days when certain atmospheric conditions prevail:
A climate of hopeless, against which it is useless to struggle,
And equally useless to surrender to.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“Mornings are spent preparing for activity.
Nights are spent recovering from inactivity.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“ANOTHER DAY

Take some initiative,
Do something with your life:
I get up from the sofa,
Walk across to the table
And write these words
Down on a scrap of paper.
Then I return to the sofa
And fall asleep.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“FROM PILLAR TO PILLOW

Every day is a journey
From hidden hope to resignation;
From honorable intention
To blurred self-flagellation.
But there comes a point
When it is easier to do one's work
Than agonize about not doing it.
I haven't reached that point yet.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“REMAINS

I lie awake on grainy mornings,
Gently killing the hours
Of causeless hope, dozing
Without reason and numbing myself
To the numbness of what will be left
Of this new day, by the time I finally rise
And the crooked struggle begins
To remain awake.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“BENEATH MYSELF

Anything that requires perseverance
Has a wilting effect upon me.
When opportunity calls,
Apathy is the natural response.
I cannot even call myself a failure.
I have never tried hard enough
At anything
To earn even that accolade.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“MY BRILLIANT NON-CAREER

I often tell myself that I could have done anything
I applied myself to. When, out of all the things I could have
Applied myself to, I applied myself to doing nothing.
And found that I couldn't even do that.
The notion that I should have been doing something
Kept getting in the way.
And now, of course, it is too late
To do anything: It has always been too late.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“LOOK BACK IN LANGUOR

It is strange to consider
That I once actually had a future.
And It is becoming difficult to look back
With any pleasure upon my past. A lostness
Washes through me, freighted with bitter nostalgia.
I am reminded of a time of hope that never materialized.
And I find that the past itself has become tainted
By the future.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations:

“It is strange to consider
That I once actually had a future.
And It is becoming difficult to look back
With any pleasure upon my past. A lostness
Washes through me, freighted with bitter nostalgia.
I am reminded of a time of hope that never materialized
And I find that the past itself has become tainted
By the future.”
― John Tottenham, The Inertia Variations: