ok- I had it right the first time- it is berochos 35b.
“Said Abaye- many tried to do it like R’Yishmoel [to work and learn] and they succeeded, many tried to do it like R’Shimon be jochai [to learn and not to work] and did not succeed”
Said Rovo to the rabbonon [his talmidim] :do not appear before me in the days of nissan and tishrei [days when they could get work] so that you should npt be worried about your “parnossoh’ all the time.”
Look at the whole sugya and you will see that the gemoro understood that one ultimately had to work to be able to learn properly.