Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it -- namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign. Mark Twain
About This Quote

From the viewpoint of a child, the idea that work is not always work and play is not always play seems obvious. The idea that there are things that we have to do and things that we can do is a fundamental definition of life. As an adult, I know enough about the world to understand the truth of this quote. However, I still find it to be a profound way to look at life and how we have to do things in order to have a good life.

Source: The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

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