Max Lerner Quotes

The easiest thing to do in the world is to neglect the important and give in to the urgent.

There's nothing wrong with procrastination. Or is there? I'll leave it to you to decide, but only if you have the time.

If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.

You can't get anything done hanging out all day long.

No two things differ more than hurry and despatch. Hurry is the mark of a weak mind; despatch of a strong one.

I suppose that there is no point wasting time being lazy, though of course indolence in a divine way, actually has its advantages.

A goal or decision without a deadline has no urgency. It has no real beginning or end.

A man was desired to rise from bed because the sun was already up. He replied: "If I had as far to go and as much to do as he has, I should be up by now; but having but a little way to go, I shall not get up yet."

And of all glad words of prose or rhyme, The gladdest are Act while there yet is time

Whatever can be done another day can be done today.

While I am on, I can discipline myself to that extent. When I am off, I can't discipline myself at all. On the other hand, when I am off, there are so many things I like doing, it doesn't really matter.

This week I've been reading a lot and doing little work. That's the way things ought to be. That's surely the road to success.

Because, as we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.

I don't always do what I should but I do what I gotta do.

I make no secret of the fact that I would rather lie on a sofa than sweep beneath it. But you have to be efficient if you're going to be lazy.

Learn to say 'no' to the good so you can say 'yes' to the best.

Am I a slacker? I can be a slacker. When I was in college, most people got summer jobs for college or did research during college. I went home and watched TV the whole day for three months; it was really awesome.

This is the question I want everyone to ask yourself every single day when you come up with something you feel that needs to be done: if not now, then when? And if not me, then who?

Everyone confesses that exertion which brings out all the powers of body and mind is the best thing for us; but most people do all they can to get rid of it, and as a general rule nobody does much more than circumstances drive them to do.

You would not believe how much time people waste in a day. And how little time they put into things they genuinely love.

I am capable of being idle.

One of the things I'm really good at is procrastinating.

Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.

I'm so good at procrastinating.

There are people who literally cannot start a project until the deadline is four hours away, even if it's a big one. And those people have a serious problem. My recommendation is set up mini-deadlines. You might say, 'Okay, here's my deadline after three days for this and there's another deadline for that and then a third deadline.'