quotations about work
It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?
HENRY DAVID THOREAU
letter to Harrison Blake, November 16, 1857
It just seems so useless to have to work so hard and nothin' ever really seems to come from it.
TOM PETTY
Here Comes My Girl
No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes.
KÄTHE KOLLWITZ
Diaries and Letters
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
Inter-cubicle friendship is every bit as good for your health and your output as an ergonomically correct ball chair. Even in our furiously multi-tasking world, work should still come with a good dose of play. And, okay, maybe some free pretzels too.
KATIE UNDERWOOD
"Why developing friendships at work is so important", Canadian Business, January 27, 2016
Caring about the quality of your work causes stress. Stress can kill you. Maintain good health by remembering that the stockholders are complete strangers who have never done anything for you.
SCOTT ADAMS
Dilbert's Guide to the Rest of Your Life: Dispatches from Cubicleland
Remember, work, well done, does good to the man who does it. It makes him a better man.
GEORGE S. CLASON
The Richest Man in Babylon
Many companies see happiness at work as an intangible "nice to have", rather than an important organisational priority. While you can't force employees to be happy -- or control every factor that contributes to happiness -- it's still possible to create the conditions that will help to promote happiness and positivity at work.
ROBERT HALF
"Happiness at work -- is it natural or necessary?", Business Zone, March 31, 2017
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"
It is not work that kills; but no work and overwork.
ALDO MANUZIO
attributed, Day's Collacon
We need economy that rewards work, not just wealth.
JOE BIDEN
speech on Super Tuesday, March 3, 2020
If every man should work at that for which nature fitted him, the cows would be well tended.
FLORIAN
attributed, Day's Collacon
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
If we look at things from a results level -- what hours one puts in -- which is, I think, where we're going in the future of work, then we're going to have to balance our lives a little better. And, therefore, the organisational challenge really will be how we facilitate people to do that.
MARGOT SLATTERY
"Data is absolutely essential to the future of work", Silicon Republic, March 23, 2017
Formerly when a man worked ten hours a day, it was called economic slavery; nowadays it is called moonlighting.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
I like to call in sick to work at places where I've never held a job. Then when the manager tells me I don't work there, I tell them I'd like to. But not today, as I'm sick.
JAROD KINTZ
This Book is Not For Sale
Every man is better for a period of work under the open sky.
HENRY FORD
My Life and Work
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
When master and workmen unite the work is soon done.
WAKATAUKI
attributed, Day's Collacon
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