C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.
Recreation
He that will make a good use of any part of his life must allow a large portion of it to recreation.
Amusements to virtue are like breezes of air to the flame—gentle ones will fan it, but strong ones will put it out.
For the bow cannot possibly stand always bent, nor can human nature or human frailty subsist without some lawful recreation.
Recreation is intended to the mind as whetting is to the scythe, to sharpen the edge of it, which otherwise would grow dull and blunt,—as good no scythe as no edge.
Sweet recreation barred, what doth ensue but moody and dull melancholy, kinsman to grim and comfortless despair; and at their heels, a huge infectious troop of pale distemperatures and foes to life.
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.