6 ideas
Human character is modeled as a mix of realism, dreams (idealism), and humor. Reality minus dreams yields animal being; dreams minus humor yields fanaticism; reality plus dreams without humor yields heartache; and reality plus dreams plus humor yields wisdom. Humor is the ingredient that keeps idealism from becoming dangerous or merely painful.
The best life lies midway between action and inaction, worldly ambition and withdrawal: half-drunk, half-sober, half-famous, half-obscure. Taking anything fully, whether fame, wealth, or renunciation, spoils the enjoyment it was meant to give. Moderation here is a positive art of savoring, not timid compromise.
The American cult of efficiency, punctuality, and the desire for achievement makes people unhappy and nervous. Each converts living into a schedule of outputs, leaving no room for idle, unplanned hours where enjoyment and reflection happen. Leisure is not wasted time but the condition under which culture and wisdom are produced.
The most dignified human type is the carefree, curious, playful, and somewhat unpredictable 'scamp,' not the obedient, disciplined soldier or the perfectly rational man. Human freedom rests on this inconsistency and irreverence, which resists regimentation by states and ideologies. Mischief and whim are marks of the free individual, not flaws to be corrected.
Lying in bed in the morning, with muscles relaxed and no demands pressing, is when the mind best sees problems whole and ideas arrive. Posture and bodily ease directly shape the quality of thought, so a 'lazy' position can be the most intellectually productive one. What looks like idleness is often the incubation phase of real work.
A reasonable person, one who weighs common sense, feeling, and human circumstance, is a better guide than a strictly logical one. Pure logic followed to its end produces rigid, inhuman conclusions, while reasonableness tolerates contradiction and adjusts to what people actually are. A culture should prize the sense of proportion over consistency of system.