For Aristotle, having σχολή (scholē), “leisure,” was an essential part of good citizenship. To his mind, leisure has an evident political importance. He praised the constitutions that restricted citizenship to those with scholē—for the reason that the absence of leisure (among other things) impeded the fulfillment of citizen duties. From his perspective, the flaw of democracy is that it includes people with time-consuming and toilsome occupations as citizens, whose way of life does not allow for scholē and engaging in political affairs. What was it about scholē that was so important? Should Aristotle’s position be dismissed as elitist, or can his idea that citizenship requires leisure help us to identify a weakness in modern democracy?