It’s not the work which kills people, it’s the worry. It’s not the revolution that destroys machinery it’s the friction.

Beecher contrasts productive exertion with the corrosive mental strain that often accompanies it. The first sentence argues that labor itself is rarely what breaks people down; rather, anxiety, rumination, and anticipatory fear sap vitality. The second sentence extends the idea through a mechanical metaphor: machines are not ruined by dramatic “revolutions” (their normal turning motion) but by friction—unnecessary resistance, poor lubrication, or misalignment. Together the lines suggest that sustainable work and progress depend less on avoiding activity or change than on reducing needless stressors and impediments—psychological “worry” and practical “friction”—that convert motion into damaging heat.