Alive Quote by Alice Cary
“With hand on the spade and heart in the sky Dress the ground and till it; Turn in the little seed, brown and dry, Turn out the golden millet. Work, and your house shall be duly fed: Work, and rest shall be won; I hold that a man had better be dead Than alive when his work is done.”
About This Quote
Source Poem: “Work and Rest” by Alice Cary, 1855
Hard work yields sustenance and peace; when tasks are finished, one can rest, and death is preferable to endless toil.
In simple terms: Work brings food and rest; death is better than endless labor.
Key Takeaway
Finish your work, then rest.
Themes
labor
rest
ful
Mood
determined
reflective
Type
advice
philosophical
When to use this quote
- farming
- personal projects
- career completion
- life planning
Key Concepts
agricultural ethic
existential choice
Questions to Reflect On
- What task can you complete today?
- How do you balance effort and rest?
A Different Perspective
If work never ends, rest may never come.
![“SONIA: What can we do? We must live our lives. [A pause] Yes, we shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live through the long procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us; we shall work for others without rest, both now and when…” quote by Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/dda/anton-chekhov-298_beautiful-life_sonia-what-can-we-do-we-must-live-our-li_426820.jpg)
