work

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The riders in a race do not stop short when they reach the goal. There is a little finishing canter before coming to a standstill. There is time to hear the kind voice of friends and to say to one's self: »The work is done.« But just as one says that, the answer comes: »The race is over, but the work never is done while the power to work remains.« The canter that brings you to a standstill need not be only coming to rest. It cannot be, while you still live. For to live is to function. That is all there is in living.

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 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935)
 – Radio address on his ninetieth birthday
 – [March 8, 1931]