To work hard, to live hard, to die hard, and then go to hell after all would be too damn hard.

The line is a blunt, comic protest against a moral economy that demands relentless labor and toughness (“work hard…live hard…die hard”) yet still threatens ultimate condemnation. Sandburg’s phrasing turns theological anxiety into working-class gallows humor: if life is already punishing, the idea that one might be damned “after all” makes the whole bargain feel rigged. The profanity is not mere shock; it underscores exhaustion and disbelief, puncturing pious platitudes about suffering as inherently ennobling. Read this way, the quote voices a democratic skepticism toward harsh moral judgment and a plea for mercy—or at least fairness—after a life of struggle.