"Her pupils were at once her salvation and her despair. They gave her the means of supporting life, but they made life hardly worth supporting"

This quote by P. G. Wodehouse speaks with the complex relationship between work and life. The speaker is describing a person's pupils, or trainees, as being both a source of salvation and anguish. On the one hand, the pupils supply the speaker with the ways of supporting life, as they are the source of income. On the other hand, the speaker implies that the work of mentor is so demanding and draining pipes that it makes life barely worth supporting. This quote speaks to the idea that work can be both a true blessing and a curse, offering us with the ways to live but likewise eliminating from our quality of life. It is a suggestion to discover balance between work and life, and to make sure that we are looking after ourselves and our psychological health.