time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time (1912)

[Garson O'Toole]

The following delightful quote is indispensable when justifying
procrastination. The maxim with slight variations has accumulated a
mysteriously eclectic collection of supposed creators.

"Time you enjoy wasting isn't wasted time." Bertrand Russell
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Procrastination

"Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time." T. S. Elliot
http://quotations.about.com/cs/inspirationquotes/a/Time1.htm

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted." John Lennon
http://www.quotesandpoem.com/quotes/showquotes/subject/happiness/1465

"The time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time." Soren Kierkegaard
http://books.google.com/books?id=AAS6H5WdL_kC&q=Soren#search_anchor

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." Laurence J. Peter
http://books.google.com/books?id=xTYH7ANjjS4C&q=Laurence#v=snippet&q=Laurence&f=false

I have only been able to trace the saying back to 1912. None of the
candidate coiners above appear in the first citation. Evidently, John
Lennon did not originate the phrase though he may have crafted it
independently or simply repeated it.

Citation: 1912, Phrynette Married by Marthe Troly-Curtin, Grant
Richards Ltd. (Google Books snippet access only).

  "… Your father, for instance, don't you think he would have done
three times as much work if it had not been for your — what shall I
say — 'bringing up'?"
  "He liked it - time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
  "Oh, but it was in his case — wasted for him and for many lovers of art."

http://books.google.com/books?id=uH4OAAAAIAAJ&q=wasting#search_anchor

Phrynette Married should be in the public domain but Google Books
restricts access. I think that the 1912 date provided by Google is
probably correct. WorldCat concurs with the date and other
contemporaneous publications mention the novel. Phrynette Married is
likely a sequel to Phrynette which was published in 1911 and is fully
accessible in Google Books.

A theosophical magazine in 1927 credits someone named Meredith as the
author of the saying. But it does not discuss whether the Monad
(reincarnating unit of the human soul according to theosophist
Blavatsky) associated with Meredith propounded the advice during an
earlier lifetime.

Citation: 1927 July, The Theosophical Path magazine, Vol. XXXIII, No.
1, On Looking Up Words in the Dictionary, Emmett Small, Jr., An
Address delivered at the William Quan Judge Theosophical Club Meeting,
May 27, 1927.

Which brings to mind Meredith's words: "Time enjoyed wasted, is not
wasted time."

http://books.google.com/books?id=Iv7Z3bts1_UC&q=%22wasted+time%22#v=snippet&q=%22wasted%20time%22&f=false
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/ttp/ttp_v33n01.pdf

Garson

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