The fruits of labor are the sweetest of all pleasures.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
He who does not teach his son a handicraft trade neglects his parental duty.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
I tell you, sir, the only safeguard of order and discipline in the modern world is a standardized worker with interchangeable parts. That would solve the entire problem of management.
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944) French Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
What the country needs are a few labor-making inventions.
—Arnold Glasow (1905–98) American Businessman
Labor is the instituted means for the methodical development of all our powers under the direction and control of the will.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Editor, Novelist
Capital is a result of labor, and is used by labor to assist it in further production. Labor is the active and initial force, and labor is therefore the employer of capital.
—Henry George (1839–97) American Political Economist, Journalist
Such hath it been— shall be— beneath the sun The many still must labor for the one.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Large fortunes are all founded either on the occupation of land, or lending or the taxation of labor.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Ah, why should life all labor be?
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
Look for a thing until you find it and you’ll not lose your labor.
—Chinese Proverb
Of all pleasures the fruit of labor is the sweetest.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. He has a work, a life-purpose… Get your happiness out of your work or you will never know what real happiness is… Even in the meanest sorts of labor, the whole soul of a man is composed into a kind of real harmony the instant he sets himself to work.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
He that never labors may know the pains of idleness, but not the pleasures.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Whatever there is of greatness in the United States, or indeed in any other country, is due to labor. The laborer is the author of all greatness and wealth. Without labor there would be no government, and no leading class, and nothing to preserve.
—Ulysses S. Grant (1822–85) American Civil War General, Head of State
If you divorce capital from labor, capital is hoarded, and labor starves.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
Get your living by skinning carcasses in the street, if you cannot otherwise, and do not say, “I am a priest, I am a great man; this work would not befit my dignity”.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Good to sell knowledge for labor, honor for risk.
—Arabic Proverb
By labor fire is got out of stone.
—Dutch Proverb
The labor of the body relieves us from the fatigues of the mind; and this it is which forms the happiness of the poor.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Today’s greatest labor-saving device is tomorrow.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
Love makes labor light.
—Dutch Proverb
Industry need not wish, and he that lives upon hopes will die fasting. There are no gains without pains. He that hath a trade hath an estate, and he that hath a calling hath an office of profit and honor; but then the trade must be worked at, and the calling followed, or neither the, estate nor the office will enable us to pay our taxes. If we are industrious, we shall never starve; for, at the workingman’s house hunger looks in, but dares not enter. Nor will the bailiff or the constable enter, for industry pays debts, while idleness and neglect increase them.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
If we would have anything of benefit, we must earn it, and earning it become shrewd, inventive, ingenious, active, enterprising.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
No way has been found for making heroism easy, even for the scholar. Labor, iron labor, is for him. The world was created as an audience for him; the atoms of which it is made are opportunities.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I have long been profoundly convinced that in the very nature of things, employers and employees are partners, not enemies; that their interests are common, not opposed; that in the long run the success of each is dependent upon the success of the other. If the labor movement will do its share is outlawing industrial warfare; substituting partnership therefor; if more men of broad vision and high purpose respond to the opportunity for constructive leadership which labor unionism offers, well may it be that the trade union movement will enjoy the glory and honor of ushering in industrial peace.
—John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874–1960) American Philanthropist, Businessperson
There is but one method, and that is hard labor; and a man who will not pay that price for greatness had better at once dedicate himself to the pursuit of the fox, or to talk of bullocks, and glory in the goad.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
Labor is the curse of the world, and nobody can meddle with it without becoming proportionately brutified.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
From labor, health; from health, contentment springs.
—James Beattie
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