--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Men cannot labor on always. They must…" description: "\"Men cannot labor on always. They must have intervals of relaxation. They cannot sleep through these intervals. What are they to do? Why, if they do not..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca2/orville-dewey-26967_forbidden_men-cannot-labor-on-always-they-must-hav_52604.jpg" --- # Men cannot labor on always. They must have intervals of… ![“Men cannot labor on always. They must have intervals of relaxation. They cannot sleep through these intervals. What are they to do? Why, if they do not work or sleep, they must have recreation. And if they have not recreation from healthful sources, they will be very likely to take it from the…” quote by Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca2/orville-dewey-26967_forbidden_men-cannot-labor-on-always-they-must-hav_52604.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca2/orville-dewey-26967_forbidden_men-cannot-labor-on-always-they-must-hav_52604.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca2/orville-dewey-26967_forbidden_men-cannot-labor-on-always-they-must-hav_52604.jpg) > “Men cannot labor on always. They must have intervals of relaxation. They cannot sleep through these intervals. What are they to do? Why, if they do not work or sleep, they must have recreation. And if they have not recreation from healthful sources, they will be very likely to take it from the poisoned fountains of intemperance. Or, if they have pleasures, which, though innocent, are forbidden by the maxims of public morality, their very pleasures are liable to become poisoned fountains.” [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human beings need regular breaks from work; without healthy recreation they risk turning to harmful vices. **In simple terms:** Work needs balanced rest. Key Takeaway Rest prevents destructive habits. Themes balance health morality self‑control leisure Mood concerned reflective Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - busy professionals - students facing burnout - people lacking leisure options Key Concepts work‑life integration addiction risk social norms Practical Applications - designing wellness programs - promoting healthy hobbies Questions to Reflect On - How can societies encourage constructive recreation? - What signs indicate a need for healthier breaks? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Forbidden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forbidden/) [Fountain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fountain/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Innocent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocent/) [Intemperance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intemperance/) [Intervals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intervals/) [Intervals Relaxation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intervals-relaxation-742825/) [Labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labor/) [Liable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liable/) [Maxims](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/maxims/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Men Labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-labor-294445/) [Morality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/morality/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Recreation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recreation/) [Relaxation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relaxation/) [Relaxation Sleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relaxation-sleep-742824/) [Sleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleep/) [Sleep Recreation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleep-recreation-742823/) [Source](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/source/) ## Related quotes > [Life is best enjoyed when time periods are evenly divided between labor, sleep, and recreation...all people should spend one-third of their time in recreation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brigham-young/life-is-best-enjoyed-when-time-periods-are-evenly-divided-between/) [Brigham Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brigham-young/) > [Men cannot labor on always. They must have recreation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/men-cannot-labor-on-always-they-must-have-recreation/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [The presence of a body of well-instructed men, who have not to labor for their daily bread, is important to a degree which cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-presence-of-a-body-of-well-instructed-men-who-have-not-to-labor/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“The laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day; he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men; his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-laboring-man-has-not-leisure-for-a-true-integrity-day-by-day-he/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [For when men labor they keep out of mischief. You remember the old proverb--An idle mind is the Devils workshop...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-q-cannon-2/for-when-men-labor-they-keep-out-of-mischief-you-remember-the-old/) [George Q Cannon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-q-cannon-2/) > [There is no right more universal and more sacred, because lying so near the root of existence, than the right of men to their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/there-is-no-right-more-universal-and-more-sacred-because-lying-so/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [ The creation of new capital always... releases... labor. Its actual effect \[though\] is not to make jobs scarce, but to free men's labor for… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-creation-of-new-capital-always-releases-labor-its-actual-effect/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [“Men can labor to make sense out of single steps toward the goal without ever pausing to reflect that the goal itself is ludicrous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/men-can-labor-to-make-sense-out-of-single-steps-toward-the-goal/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [The Earth is given as a common for men to labor and live in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-earth-is-given-as-a-common-for-men-to-labor-and-live-in/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon plowed into the soil for compost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/but-men-labor-under-a-mistake-the-better-part-of-the-man-is-soon/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“All men labor under some impingements on their freedom; none is absolutely at liberty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-saunders/all-men-labor-under-some-impingements-on-their-freedom-none-is/) [George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-saunders/) > [An industrious farmer occupies a more dignified place in the scale of beings...than a lazy lounger...too proud to work, and drawing out a miserable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/an-industrious-farmer-occupies-a-more-dignified-place-in-the-scale-of/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A man hath riches. Whence came they, and whither go they? for this is the way to form a judgment of the esteem which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-jortin/a-man-hath-riches-whence-came-they-and-whither-go-they-for-this-is/) [John Jortin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-jortin/) > [Intemperance is naturally punished with diseases; rashness, with mischance; injustice; with violence of enemies; pride, with ruin; cowardice, with oppression; and rebellion, with slaughter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/intemperance-is-naturally-punished-with-diseases-rashness-with/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [Drunkenness is an immoderate affection and use of drink. That I call immoderation that is besides or beyond that order of good things for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-taylor/drunkenness-is-an-immoderate-affection-and-use-of-drink-that-i-call/) [Jeremy Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-taylor/) ## More by Orville Dewey > [ There is nothing to do with men \[and women\] but to love them; to contemplate their virtues with admiration, their faults with pity and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/there-is-nothing-to-do-with-men-and-women-but-to-love-them-to/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [The love of truth is the stimulus to all noble conversation. This is the root of all the charities. The tree which springs from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/the-love-of-truth-is-the-stimulus-to-all-noble-conversation-this-is/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [Godliness is practical religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/godliness-is-practical-religion/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [The less we parade our misfortunes the more sympathy we command.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/the-less-we-parade-our-misfortunes-the-more-sympathy-we-command/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [What is there glorious in the world, that is not the product of labor, either of the body or of the mind?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/what-is-there-glorious-in-the-world-that-is-not-the-product-of-labor/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [Argument does not soften, but rather hardens, the obdurate heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/argument-does-not-soften-but-rather-hardens-the-obdurate-heart/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [A man seems never to know what anything means till he has lost it; and this I suppose is the reason why losses--vanishing away…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/a-man-seems-never-to-know-what-anything-means-till-he-has-lost-it-and/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [Men cannot labor on always. They must have recreation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/men-cannot-labor-on-always-they-must-have-recreation/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [Our hearts must not only be broken with sorrow, but be broken from sin, to constitute repentance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/our-hearts-must-not-only-be-broken-with-sorrow-but-be-broken-from-sin/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [Every relation to mankind, of hate or scorn or neglect, is full of vexation and torment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/every-relation-to-mankind-of-hate-or-scorn-or-neglect-is-full-of/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [The taxes of government are heavy enough, but not so heavy as the taxes we lay upon ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orville-dewey/the-taxes-of-government-are-heavy-enough-but-not-so-heavy-as-the/) [Orville Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orville-dewey/) > [Labour is man's great function, his peculiar distinction, his privilege. 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It is forbidden for men to enter with bare arms or in shorts. It is forbidden for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pio-of-pietrelcina/the-church-is-the-house-of-god-it-is-forbidden-for-men-to-enter-with/) [Pio of Pietrelcina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pio-of-pietrelcina/) > [It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted and only a few things forbidden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/it-is-shorter-to-state-the-things-forbidden-than-the-things-permitted/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [“a hot dog shop where ketchup was forbidden,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-r-wise/a-hot-dog-shop-where-ketchup-was-forbidden/) [A.R. Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-r-wise/) > [Knowledge forbidden? Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord Envy them that? Can it be sin to know, Can it be death? 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