While success ostensibly is won during working hours, in reality it is most often won during non business hours, the hours that are spent away from the bench or the office; the hours during which we are our own masters; the hours we are at liberty to use or misuse. The right kind of recreation is almost as essential to success as the right kind of education. Nay, the man or woman who has not learned to pursue helpful recreation is deficient in education. Books, walks, music, plays, athletics, automobiling, gardening, friends, conversation — each and all in their proper place can supply ideal recreation. Recreation need not mean, should not mean, rusting.

 

Recreation should mean renewing one’s vital forces, getting a fresh outlook and a fresh hold of life, imbibing fresh knowledge, refilling the well springs of joy. Recreation is not to be thought of as the end of life. Recreation is the salt which gives life its savor. (Bertie Forbes, “Recreation,” in Keys to Success: Personal Efficiency (New York: B. C. Forbes, 1918) 222-230.)