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Quotes about work

220 quotes from 151 people

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It is not society’s fault that most men seem to miss their vocation. Most men have no vocation.
George Santayana1863–1952The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress (1905-1906), Vol. II, Reason in Society, Ch. IV: The Aristocratic Ideal
The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.
James Baldwin1924–1987“The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy”
No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it well, ever loses his self-respect.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950The Doctor’s Dilemma (1911), Preface
- Pride
The Sabbath is not simply a time to rest, to recuperate. We should look at our work from the outside, not just from within.
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Culture and Value (1980), p. 91e
Some people work an entire lifetime and wonder if they ever made a difference to the world. But the Marines don’t have that problem.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Letter to Lance Cpl. Joe Hickey (23 September 1983), R.W. “Dick” Gaines refers in detail
Idleness and Pride Tax with a heavier Hand than Kings and Parliaments; If we can get rid of the former we may easily bear the Latter.
Benjamin Franklin1706–1790Letter to Charles Thomson, 11 July 1765
- Pride
Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
Ayn Rand1905–1982The Ayn Rand Letter (1971–1976)
- Motivation & Goals
This is the real secret of life⁠—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.
Alan Watts1915–1973The Essence of Alan Watts (1977)
- Life & Death
No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top.
Booker T. Washington1856–1915The Atlanta Exposition Address (1895)
- Race
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 Fitzgerald1896–1940“Amory Blaine” in This Side of Paradise (1920) Bk. 2, Ch. 5
- Money
Avoid studies of which the result dies with the worker.
Leonardo da Vinci1452–1519XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
I work for a Government I despise for ends I think criminal.
John Maynard Keynes1883–1946Letter to Duncan Grant (15 December 1917)
- Government
Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages.
Terry Pratchett1948–2015Wyrd Sisters (1988)
- Freedom
You specialize in something until one day you find it is specializing in you.
Arthur Miller1915–2005The Price (1967)
Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately you occasionally find men disgrace labor.
Ulysses S. Grant1822–1885Speech at Midland International Arbitration Union, Birmingham, United Kingdom (1877)