There is precious little hope to be got out of whatever keeps us industrious, but there is a chance for us whenever we cease work and become stargazers.

Tomlinson contrasts the narrow, often self-justifying optimism of constant industry with the wider, more humane “chance” that comes from contemplation. The line suggests that ceaseless work can become a kind of enclosure—keeping people busy, compliant, and focused on immediate tasks—while offering little genuine hope or renewal. By invoking “stargazers,” he gestures toward leisure, wonder, and perspective: moments when one steps outside utilitarian routines to recover imagination, moral clarity, or spiritual breadth. The quote thus reads as a critique of modern busyness and an argument that hope is more likely to arise from reflective attention to the larger world than from productivity alone.