Of course, this characteristic of the intellectual man implies that he has one more need than the others, the need of reading, observing, studying, meditating, practising, the need, in short, of undisturbed leisure.
I read The Wisdom of Life by Arthur Schopenhauer recently, a philosopher that inspired Nietzsche to Toltsoy. He talks about how separation from ongoing labor is necessary to think well. I think back to Nabeel Qureshi's blog on how to understand things, "My countervailing advice to people trying to understand something is: go slow". Understanding things take uninterrupted time. Feynman was putzing around with wobbles before eventually landing on his work in quantum electrodynamics for which he won the Nobel prize. paul graham describes the value of a makers schedule which is really just an empty calendar. coding agents have made many parts of software feel frenetic which is interestingly also a uniquely characteristic quality of life in San Francisco today. most of us are not feynman but it seems clear that it is not possible to think well without leisure.