“There’s nothing but what’s bearable as long as a man can work,” he said to himself, “the nature o’things doesn’t change, though it seems as if one’s own life was nothing but change. The square o’four is sixteen, and you must lengthen your lever in proportion to your weight, is as true when a man’s miserable as when he’s happy; and the best o’working is it gives you a grip hold o’things outside your own lot.”

I’m early in the book — 100 pages or so — so the only caveat I’d add for the 21st century is that Adam Bede is a craftsman. He’s not talking of work that’s crud work for someone else or mindless work in service of nothing…