He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.

The aphorism contrasts passive “rest” with purposeful activity. Seeking rest as an end in itself can lead to boredom because it lacks direction, challenge, or meaning; the mind, unengaged, turns restless. By contrast, seeking work—understood as committed effort, craft, or vocation—can paradoxically produce rest: the satisfaction of progress, the absorption of concentration, and the earned calm that follows exertion. The saying also implies a moral psychology: fulfillment comes less from avoiding strain than from embracing it in a chosen task. In that sense, “rest” is redefined not as idleness but as the inner ease that accompanies meaningful labor.