Solomon
Proverbs 22:13KJV·traditional attribution

The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

Matthew Henry Presbyterian

Note, 1. Those that have no love for their business will never want excuses to shake it off. Multitudes are ruined, both for soul and body, by their slothfulness, and yet still they have something or other to say for themselves, so ingenious are men in putting a cheat upon their own souls.

John Gill Reformed Baptist

The slothful man saith, there is a lion without,.... Or, "in the street". This he says within himself; or to those who call out to him, and put him on doing the business of his proper calling, whether in the field or elsewhere, which, through his slothfulness, he has a disinclination to; and therefore frames excuses, and suggests this and that difficulty or danger in...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Reformed

Frivolous excuses satisfy the indolent man's conscience.