Named source · 1908

The Wind in the Willows Quotes by Kenneth Grahame: Context & Meanings

1 quotation linked to The Wind in the Willows by or associated with Kenneth Grahame, with source notes, explanations and related topics.

More by Kenneth Grahame

Read the source

Open a public or archival text connected with these quotations

Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.

Primary / edition source · gutenberg.org ↗

Represented passages

1 quotations with source context and meaning

Source identified1

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.

Image design Rose Studio

Read & copy

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Kenneth Grahame

Meaning & context

Rat expresses exuberant delight in a simple shared activity, valuing absorbed enjoyment of the moment over a more utilitarian measure of what is worth doing.

Source details

The Wind in the Willows, Chapter I, “The River Bank,” Project Gutenberg #27805. Water Rat tells Mole that nothing is half so worth doing as messing about in boats during their first excursion, then immediately crashes into the bank while daydreaming. The line is enthusiastic comic fictional dialogue, not a universal prescription about leisure or life priorities.

Open a public or archival text connected with these quotations

Prominent ideas connected with the quotations represented here

1 quotations with source context and meaning

Continue through other sources by Kenneth Grahame