Labor’s face is wrinkled with the wind, and swarthy with the sun.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Labor is a pleasure in itself.
—Marcus Manilius (c.48 BCE–20 CE) Roman Poet, Astrologer
Labor is life; from the inmost heart of the worker rises his God-given force, the sacred celestial life-essence breathed into him by Almighty God!
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Thinking is the hardest and most exhausting of all labor; and hence many people shrink from it.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Honest labor bears a lovely face.
—Thomas Dekker
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 no real wealth but the labor of man.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
I was made a revolutionary in spite of myself… [A]ll creation presupposes as its origin a sort of appetite that is brought on by the foretaste of discovery. This foretaste of the creative art accompanies the intuitive grasp of an unknown entity that will not take definite shape except by the action of a constantly vigilant technique. This appetite that is aroused in me at the mere thought of putting in order musical elements that have attracted my attention is not at all a fortuitous thing like inspiration, but as habitual and periodic, if not constant, as a natural need… The very act of putting my work on paper, of, as we say, kneading the dough, is for me inseperable from the pleasure of creation. So far as I am concerned, I cannot seperate the spiritual effort from the psychological and physical effort; they confront me on the same level and do not present a hierarchy…What concerns us here is not imagination itself, but rather creative imagination: the facultyy that helps us to pass from the level of conception to the level of realization. In the course of my labors I suddenly stumble upon something unexpected. this unexpected element strikes me. I make note of it. At the proper time I put it to profitable use… The faculty of creating is never given to us all by itself. It always goes hand in hand with the gift of observation. And the true creator may be recognized by his ability always to find about him, in the commonest and humblest thing, items worthy of note… The least accident holds his interest and guides his operations. If his finger slips, he will notice it; on occasion, he may draw profit from something unforeseen that a momentary lapse reveals to him. One does not contrive an accident: one observes it to draw inspiration therefrom.
—Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Russian-born American Composer, Musician
The laborer is allowed to shorten his prayers.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Labor disgraces no man, but occasionally men disgrace labor.
—Ulysses S. Grant (1822–85) American Civil War General, Head of State
The miracle of the seed and the soil is not available by affirmation; it is only available by labor.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
Good to sell knowledge for labor, honor for risk.
—Arabic Proverb
Blessed is the man that has found his work. One monster there is in the world, the idle man.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
He who helps himself will be helped by God.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Smooth hands love the labor of others.
—Russian Proverb
We are coming to see that there should be no stifling of labor by capital, or of capital by labor; and also that there should be no stifling of labor by labor, or of capital by capital.
—John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874–1960) American Philanthropist, Businessperson
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
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
Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this: When I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. I explore it in all its bearings. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort which I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought.
—Alexander Hamilton (c.1757–1804) American Federalist Politician, Statesman
God intends no man to live in this world without working, but it seems to me no less evident that He intends every man to be happy in his work.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. , Jr 1929
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
When you put on your clothes, remember the weaver’s labor; when you take your daily food, remember the husbandman’s work.
—Chinese Proverb
Avoid idleness, and fill up all the spaces of thy time with severe and useful employment; for lust easily creeps in at those emptinesses where the soul is unemployed and the body is at ease; for no easy, healthful, idle person was ever chaste if he could be tempted; but of all employments, bodily labor is the most useful, and of the greatest benefit for driving away the Devil.
—Jeremy Taylor
Labor: One of the processes by which A acquires property of B.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The preparations were elaborate and mammoth in scale, and Washington threw himself into the effort, demanding that not an hour be lost.
—David McCullough (1933–2022) American Historian
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
Labor is the divine law of our existence; repose is desertion and suicide.
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–72) Italian Patriot, Political Leader
Labor is one of the great elements of society—the great substantial interest on which we all stand. Not feudal service, or predial toil, or the irksome drudgery by one race of mankind subjected, on account of their color, to another; but labor, intelligent, manly, independent, thinking and acting for itself, earning its own wages, accumulating those wages into capital, educating childhood, maintaining worship, claiming the right of the elective franchise, and helping to uphold the great fabric of the State—that is American labor; and all my sympathies are with it, and my voice, till I am dumb, will be for it.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
He who teaches his son no trade is as if he taught him to steal.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
What the country needs are a few labor-making inventions.
—Arnold Glasow (1905–98) American Businessman