"It would indeed be a sad misfortune if man were released from the necessity of work and struggle, for it is a well-known fact that organs which do not function atrophy; and according to the old saying, 'Idleness is the devil's workshop.'"
Charles A. Beard was an American historian and public intellectual associated with progressive historiography. He is widely known for An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. Beard was a major scholarly voice in early 20th-century American historical writing.