Quote by Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Le

Who has never killed an hour? Not casually or without thought, but carefully: a premeditated murder of minutes. The violence comes from a combination of giving up, not caring, and a resignation that getting past it is all you can hope to accomplish. So you kill the hour. You do not work, you do not read, you do not daydream. If you sleep it is not because you need to sleep. And when at last it is over, there is no evidence: no weapon, no blood, and no body. The only clue might be the shadows beneath your eyes or a terribly thin line near the corner of your mouth indicating something has been suffered, that in the privacy of your life you have lost something and loss is too empty to share...

Summary

This quote describes the act of wasting time and the detrimental effects it can have on one's life. It portrays the deliberate and calculated nature of killing an hour, emphasizing that it is not just a casual or thoughtless act, but a conscious decision to give up, not care, and accept the inability to move forward. The absence of any physical evidence suggests that this act is often invisible to others, though the toll it takes on the individual may manifest in subtle ways, such as exhaustion or a deep sadness. Ultimately, the quote highlights the loneliness and emptiness that can result from consistently squandering precious time.