Tom Hodgkinson
Tom Hodgkinson was born on 1 January 1968 in Newcastle upon Tyne, in the north-east of England. A British citizen, he was educated at Westminster School, and his working life has taken him across several related fields in the English language.
Hodgkinson has built his career around writing in its various forms. He works as a writer, author, and essayist, and also as a journalist. One notable work associated with him is The Idler, a publication that sits at the intersection of those roles. Alongside his writing and journalism, he has also worked as a bookseller, making him something of a rare figure who engages with the written word from multiple directions.
As a living subject, Hodgkinson remains a UK citizen working in English across the disciplines of writing, journalism, and bookselling. The Idler stands as the concrete work the facts attach to his name, and it ties together the different strands of a career that has consistently revolved around the written word.
Quotes by Tom Hodgkinson
Tom Hodgkinson's insights on:
What seems extraordinary is that the richest countries in the world, in terms of economic output, are the ones where we work hardest.
Part of this individualism is you feel this pressure that you alone have to conquer the world, and if you don’t work all the hours God gives then you start feeling really guilty. If you can stop feeling guilty, then I think it’s easier to start doing what you want to do.
We have a job. A job! Our reward after years of education! We worked hard in our youth in order to work hard again in our adulthood. A job! The summit of our lives!
Working is bad enough in the winter, but in the summer it can become completely intolerable. Stuck in airless offices, every fibre of our being seems to cry out for freedom. We’re reminded of being stuck in double maths while the birds sing outside.
It’s senseless to think of complaining, since nothing foreign has decided what we feel, what we live, or what we are .
In a world where you are constantly asked to be ‘committed,’ it is liberating to give yourself the license to be a dilettante. Commit to nothing. Try everything.
I’ve never understood activity holidays since we seem to have far too much activity in our daily lives as it is. Find a culture where loafing is the order of the day and where they don’t understand our need to be constantly doing things. Find somewhere you can have a hammock holiday.
Behaving as if you are better than others shows a lack of regard for other people.
Alongside my ‘no email’ policy, I resolve to make better use of the wonderful Royal Mail, and send letters and postcards to people. There is a huge pleasure in writing a letter, putting it in an envelope and sticking the stamp on it. And huge pleasure in receiving real letters, too.