But the joy of life is a very good thing, and while work is the essential in it, play also has its place.
 Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography (1913). copy citation

Context

“But I rarely took exercise merely as exercise. Primarily I took it because I liked it. Play should never be allowed to interfere with work; and a life devoted merely to play is, of all forms of existence, the most dismal. But the joy of life is a very good thing, and while work is the essential in it, play also has its place.
When obliged to live in cities, I for a long time found that boxing and wrestling enabled me to get a good deal of exercise in condensed and attractive form. I was reluctantly obliged to abandon both as I grew older.” source

Meaning and analysis

write a note
report