Whenever I feel the need to exercise, I lie down until it goes away.
Hutchins, the longtime president of the University of Chicago, wasn't simply endorsing laziness—he was highlighting how impulse and discipline wage their tireless war in each of us, and how waiting often reveals which craving was genuine. The humor masks something true: many of our urgent feelings fade if we don't immediately obey them, which means we're constantly mistaking a passing whim for a settled conviction. Watch yourself when you feel suddenly compelled to reorganize your desk, check your email, or start a new project—nine times out of ten, if you sit still for five minutes, that electrical charge dissipates entirely. Hutchins gives us permission to doubt our own urgency, which is oddly liberating.