Most footprints on the sands of time were made with work shoes.
—Caroline Schoeder American Aphorist
The Work is the end of the world as we understand it to be, sweetheart. And it’s the opening to reality, as it really is, in all its beauty.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
How can there be so much difference between a day off and an off day?
—Unknown
Know them which labor among you … esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
When men are employed, they are best contented; for on the days they worked they were good-natured and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good day’s work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were mutinous and quarrelsome.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
All our work, our whole life is a matter of semantics, because words are the tools with which we work, the material out of which laws are made, out of which the Constitution was written. Everything depends on our understanding of them.
—Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American Judge
Get happiness out of your work or you may never know what happiness is.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
He who does nothing renders himself incapable of doing any thing; but while we are executing any work, we are preparing and qualifying ourselves to undertake another.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
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
No ethic is as ethical as the work ethic.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Men, for the sake of getting a living forget to live.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
Because I helped to wind the clock, I come to hear it strike.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Work to become, not to acquire.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Doing more of what doesn’t work won’t make it work any better.
—Charles J. Givens (1941–98) American Self-Help Writer
When work goes out of style, we may expect to see civilization totter and fall.
—John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) American Oil Magnate, Philanthropist
Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now!
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
I use the word inquiry as synonymous with The Work…Inquiry is a way to end confusion and to experience internal peace, even in a world of apparent chaos. Above all else, inquiry is about realizing that all the answers we ever need are always available inside us.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Occupation is the scythe of time.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Elbow grease is the best polish.
—English Proverb
When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
No man can make good during working hours who does the wrong thing outside of working hours.
—William J. H. Boetcker (1873–1962) American Presbyterian Minister
Work alone will efface the footsteps of work
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) American Painter, Etcher
Here below is not the land of happiness; it is only the land of toil; and every joy which comes to us is only to strengthen us for some greater labor that is to succeed.
—Immanuel Hermann Fichte (1796–1879) German Philosopher
The most important question to ask on the job is not “What am I getting?” The most important question to ask on the job is “What am I becoming?”
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
Let every man practice the art that he knows best.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Concentration is my motto—first honesty, then industry, then concentration.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic