"To be read through in office hours whenever time hangs a little heavy:Q: Why am I working here?
A. In order that stockbrokers may exchange their Rovers for Armstrong-Siddeleys, buy the latest jazz records and spend the week-end at Brighton.
Q. Why do I go on working here?
A. In the hope that I too may some day be able to spend the week-end at Brighton..
Q. What is progress?
A. Progress is stockbrokers, more stockbrokers and still more stockbrokers.
Q. What is the aim of social reformers?
A. The aim of social reformers is to create a state in which every individual enjoys the greatest possible amount of freedom and leisure.
Q. What will the citizens of this reformed state do with their freedom and leisure?
A. They will do, presumably, what the stockbrokers do with these things today, e.g., spend the week-end at Brighton, ride rapidly in motor vehicles and go to the theatre.
Q. On what condition can I live a life of contentment?
A. On the condition that you do not think.
Q. What is the function of newspapers, cinemas, radios, motorbikes, jazz bands, etc.?
A. The function of these things is the prevention of thought and the killing of time. They are the most powerful instruments of human happiness.
Q. What did Buddha consider the most deadly of the deadly sins?
A. Unawareness, stupidity.
Q. And what will happen if I make myself aware, if I actually begin to think?
A. Your swivel chair will turn into a trolley on the mountain railway, the office floor will gracefully slide away from beneath you and you will find yourself launched into the abyss."
- Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
