When it comes to lying down, whose enticing charm is well known to everyone: the lazy and the active, the idle and the busy, the pseudo-achievers and the rest, I always seem to stumble upon statements and thoughts that constantly make me appreciate the popularity of this noble art and, within it, the very joy of living. Below, I quote four authors I have encountered, whose (not so) secret passion for this noble ability I discovered: the art of enjoying doing nothing, which seems easy, but isn't at all.

Number one, Cioran:

"Only while lying down can one speculate about eternity. For a considerable period, it was the primary concern of the Orientals: did they not favor the horizontal position? As soon as one lies down, time stops flowing and stops counting. History is the product of an upright species. As a vertical animal, man presumably formed the habit of looking ahead not only in space, but also in time. To what a miserable origin does the Future owe its roots!"

Number two, Céline (indirectly, but ever attentive):

"Just picture it: their city was standing up, completely straight. New York is a standing city. Sure, we had seen cities before, beautiful ones too, and ports, famous ones at that. But back home, as everyone knows, cities lie down—along the seashore or by rivers, stretching across the landscape, waiting for the traveler. Whereas that one, the American city, didn't swoon—no, she held herself nice and rigid right there, not slouched in the least, terrifyingly rigid."

Number three, Lin Yutang, who in his famous book The Importance of Living doesn't stop at merely mentioning the art of lying down, but dedicates entire chapters to it. Here are a few excerpts:

"It is astonishing how few people are aware of the importance of the art of lying in bed, even though, in my opinion, nine out of ten of the most important discoveries in the scientific and philosophical world occurred while the scientist was curled up in bed, whether at two or five in the morning."

And he goes on to discuss what the best way to lie down might be...

"All fine music should be listened to while lying down."

Lin Yutang is the very same genius who coined one of the sharpest aphorisms of all time:

"If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live."

Finally, I can't help but think of Oblomov, the ultimate couch potato!

"When he was at home—and he was almost always at home—he was always lying down, and always in the same room where we found him, which served as his bedroom, study, and sitting room.."