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Quotes about work

220 quotes from 151 people

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Will our descendants two hundred years from now, for whom we are breaking the road, remember to give us a kind word? No, nurse, they will forget.
Anton Chekhov1860–1904Uncle Vanya (1897), Act I, spoken by AstroffIn context
- Time
The human race progresses, perfecting its powers. Everything that is unattainable now will some day be near at hand and comprehensible, but we must work, we must help with all our strength those who seek to know what fate will bring.
Anton Chekhov1860–1904The Cherry Orchard (1904), Act Two, spoken by TrofimovIn context
- Hope
The real argument against aristocracy is that it always means the rule of the ignorant. For the most dangerous of all forms of ignorance is ignorance of work.
G. K. Chesterton1874–1936
I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention — invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble.
Agatha Christie1890–1976An Autobiography (1977), Part III: Growing Up, §II
- Ideas
For of all gainful professions, nothing is better, nothing more pleasing, nothing more delightful, nothing better becomes a well-bred man than agriculture.
Cicero107–43 BCDe Officiis – On Duties (44 BC), Book I, section 151. Translation by Cyrus R. Edmonds (1873), p. 73
Constant practice devoted to one subject often prevails over both ability and skill.
Cicero107–43 BCPro Balbo, section 45
- Success
The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play. That’s why we have to destroy the present politico-economic system.
Arthur C. Clarke1917–2008“Los Angeles Free Press” Interview (April 25 1969, p. 43)
Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And Hope without an object cannot live.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge1772–1834Work without Hope (1825), ll. 13-14
- Hope
The worker is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave.
James Connolly1868–1916The Re-Conquest of Ireland (1915), ch. VI “Woman”; repr. in P. Berresford Ellis (ed.), James Connolly: Selected Writings (1973), p. 191
- Women
I don’t like work⁠—no man does⁠—but I like what is in the work⁠—the chance to find yourself. Your own reality⁠—for yourself, not for others⁠—what no other man can ever know.
Joseph Conrad1857–1924Heart of Darkness (1899), Part IIn context
All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.
Calvin Coolidge1872–1933
There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.
Calvin Coolidge1872–1933Telegram to AFL president Samuel Gompers (14 September 1919); concerning the 1919 Boston Police strike.
- Government
One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.
Marie Curie1867–1934Letter to her brother (1894)
I think that the sweetest freedom for a man on earth consists in being able to live, if he likes, without having the need to work.
Salvador Dalí1904–1989Diary of a Genius (1964), p. 79
- Freedom
Intellectual darkness is essential to industrial slavery.
Eugene V. Debs1855–1926The Socialist Party and the Working Class (1904)
- Knowledge