quotations about work
Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity,
And the regard of Heav'n on all his ways;
While other animals unactive range,
And of their doings God takes no account.
JOHN MILTON
Paradise Lost
There's nothing but what's bearable as long as a man can work.... The square o' four is sixteen, and you must lengthen your lever in proportion to your weight, is as true when a man's miserable as when he's happy; and the best o' working is, it gives you a grip hold o' things outside your own lot.
GEORGE ELIOT
Adam Bede
The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.
ELBERT HUBBARD
The American Bible
The truth is that as soon as we are no longer obliged to earn our living, we no longer know what to do with our life and recklessly squander it.
ANDRE GIDE
Journals
No man will labor for himself who can make another labor for him.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Notes on Virginia
The first assignment that God gave to man was work. God gave man work before He gave man a wife.
AL MILLER
"The transforming power of work", Jamaica Observer, April 2, 2017
Clearly the most unfortunate people are those who must do the same thing over and over again, every minute, or perhaps twenty to the minute. They deserve the shortest hours and the highest pay.
JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH
Made to Last
The worker puts his life into the object; but now it no longer belongs to him, it belongs to the object.
KARL MARX
"Alienated Labor", Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts
I have infinite capacity to do more work as long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero.
SCOTT ADAMS
Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert
We are not people who believe only in the survival of the fittest. Work in America is more than a paycheck; it a source of pride, self-reliance and identity.
JOHN MCCAIN
speech, June 3, 2008
In this society we live in now, our work is a 24/7 reality for most people.
DAWN WHITE
"Lower Allen Township Police begin 90-day trial of 12-hour work days", abc27, April 1, 2017
Work is for people who don't know how to fish.
ANONYMOUS
We work to eat to get the strength to work to eat to get the strength to work.
JOHN DOS PASSOS
Airways Inc
The idea that to make a man work you've got to hold gold in front of his eyes is a growth, not an axiom. We've done that for so long that we've forgotten there's any other way.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
This Side of Paradise
How hard you work matters more than how much you make.
MICHELLE OBAMA
speech at Democratic National Convention, September 4, 2012
Work with some men is as besetting a sin as idleness.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Notebooks
I do not believe we can repair the basic fabric of society until people who are willing to work have work. Work organizes life. It gives structure and discipline to life.
BILL CLINTON
speech in Memphis, November 13, 1993
It's all too tempting to assign your over-performing employees the most important tasks; you trust their work will be of the utmost quality, and they can clearly do their job very well. Yet, where do you draw the line? The more duties you allocate to a select few workers could have harmful effects on them, the team or even the company's performance.
LIZZI HART
"10 reasons why giving your best employee more work is a terrible idea", Business Insider, February 10, 2016
The more one works, the better one works, and the more one wants to work. The more one produces, the more fertile one grows.
CHARLES BAUDELAIRE
My Heart Laid Bare
A foreman, if he's got a conscience, and delights in his work, will do his business as well as if he was a partner. I wouldn't give a penny for a man as 'ud drive a nail in slack because he didn't get extra pay for it.
GEORGE ELIOT
Adam Bede