quotations about work
No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes.
KÄTHE KOLLWITZ
Diaries and Letters
True Work is the necessity of poor humanity's earthly condition. The dignity is in leisure. Besides, 99 hundredths of all the work done in the world is either foolish and unnecessary, or harmful and wicked.
HERMAN MELVILLE
letter to Catherine G. Lansing, September 5, 1877
Having boundaries in life, especially at work, is important for protecting our happiness. Boundaries allow us to say no when we need to, but also mean we can say yes when the opportunity is right.
LOUISE LAMBERT
"You can't do it all: turning down work is sometimes a necessity", Albawaba Business, February 3, 2016
None but those who work are entitled to eat.
AESOP
"The Brazier and His Dog", Aesop's Fables
If you care about what you do and work hard at it, there isn't anything you can't do if you want to.
JIM HENSON
It's Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider
There is no such thing as unfortunate genius; if a man or woman is fit for work, God appoints the field.
ADA ISAACS MENKEN
Infelicia
I am not sure that life, to any one,
A fuller measure of contentment brings,
With all its gifts, than in the draught which springs,
From honest work, well plann'd, and bravely done.
WILLIAM WILSEY MARTIN
"Labor"
Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Sorrows of Young Werther
If one man has a dollar he didn't work for, some other man worked for a dollar he didn't get.
BILL HAYWOOD
Roughneck: The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood
Work that is pure toil, done solely for the sake of the money it earns, is also sheer drudgery because it is stultifying rather than self improving.
MORTIMER ADLER
A Vision of the Future: Twelve Ideas for a Better Life and a Better Society
After forty years of close acquaintance with it, I've found that work is kind to its friends and harsh to its enemies. It pays the fellow who dislikes it his exact wages, and they're generally pretty small; but it gives the man who shines up to it all the money he wants and throws in a heap of fun and satisfaction for good measure.
GEORGE HORACE LORIMER
Old Gorgon Graham
Are there many situations more sublimely tragic than the struggle of the soul with the demand to renounce a work which has been all the significance of its life--a significance which is to vanish as the waters which come and go where no man has need of them?
GEORGE ELIOT
Middlemarch
Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction -- a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Walden
It is not work that kills; but no work and overwork.
ALDO MANUZIO
attributed, Day's Collacon
Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
speech to the New York State Agricultural Association, Syracuse, New York, September 7, 1903
If all you do in life is work really hard, you're never going to get wealthy. Because it's not enough that you work hard to make money to set some of it aside.... to ensure future wealth, you must equally work smart.
RIC EDELMAN
"Working hard won't make you rich", Business Insider, April 2, 2017
No nation can ever fulfil its potential without a positive mindset towards work, a commitment to work, and actual engagement in hard work. Work has to be a principle on which we build. Families should exemplify it, schools must teach it, churches must reinforce it and society must provide the opportunity for all to practice it.
AL MILLER
"The transforming power of work", Jamaica Observer, April 2, 2017
A man succeeds in completing a work only when his qualities transcend that work.
CESARE PAVESE
The Business of Living
While it will never be possible for employers to control all the factors that contribute to happiness at work, you can certainly help to create the right conditions for it. Ultimately, happiness is a choice, and a positive, healthy workplace environment is a good starting point. The benefits will be seen in better quality work, and significant improvements in recruitment and retention.
ROBERT HALF
"Happiness at work -- is it natural or necessary?", Business Zone , March 31, 2017
Nothing will work unless you do.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, January 2, 2014