Fortune may find a pot, but your own industry must make it boil.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
To industry, nothing is impossible.
—Latin Proverb
The territorial aristocracy of former ages was either bound by law, or thought itself bound by usage, to come to the relief of its serving-men and to relieve their distress. But the manufacturing aristocracy of our age first impoverishes and debases the men who serve it and then abandons them to be supported by the charity of the public. This is a natural consequence of what has been said before. Between the workman and the master there are frequent relations, but no real association.
I am of the opinion, on the whole, that the manufacturing aristocracy which is growing up under our eyes is one of the harshest that ever existed in the world; but at the same time it is one of the most confined and least dangerous. Nevertheless, the friends of democracy should keep their eyes anxiously fixed in this direction; for if ever a permanent inequality of conditions and aristocracy again penetrates into the world, it may be predicted that this is the gate by which they will enter.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
There is no art or science that is too difficult for industry to attain to; it is the gift of tongues, and makes a man understood and valued in all countries, and by all nations; it is the philosopher’s stone, that turns all metals, and even stones, into gold, and suffers no want to break into its dwellings; it is the northwest passage, that brings the merchant’s ships as soon to him as he can desire: in a word, it conquers all enemies, and makes fortune itself pay contribution.
—Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1609–74) English Statesman, Historian
He doth allot for every exercise a several hour; for sloth, the nurse of vices and rust of action is a stranger to him.
—Philip Massinger (1583–1640) English Playwright
There is a perennial nobleness and even sacredness in work.—Were he ever so benighted and forgetful of his high calling, there is always hope in a man who actually and earnestly works.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
There is one rule for industrialists and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Many are discontented with the name of idler, who are nevertheless content to do worse than nothing.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–1795) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
The celebrated Galen said that employment was nature’s physician.—It is indeed so important to happiness that indolence is justly considered the parent of misery.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
There is room enough in human life to crowd almost every art and science in it. If we pass “no day without a line”—visit no place without the company of a book—we may with ease fill libraries, or empty them of their contents. The more we do, the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Don’t tell my parents that I work in the pharmaceutical industry. They think I am working in a brothel.
—Gerhard Kocher (b.1939) Swiss Publicist, Aphorist
A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them a fortune.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.
—Robert Fulghum (b.1937) American Unitarian Universalist Author, Essayist, Clergyman
No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him. There is always work, and tools to work with, for those who will, and blessed are the horny hands of toil. The busy world shoves angrily aside the man who stands with arms akimbo until occasion tells him what to do; and he who waits to have his task marked out shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
God has so made the mind of man that a peculiar deliciousness resides in the fruits of personal industry.
—William Wilberforce (1759–1833) English Philanthropist, Reformer
That man is but of the lower part of the world who is not brought up to business and affairs.
—Owen Feltham (1602–1668) English Essayist
With the black marble which gives the fireplace the air of a miniature family vault, to suggest early Victorian commercial respectability, belief in money, Bible fetichism, fear of hell always at war with fear of poverty, instinctive horror of the passionate character of art, love and Roman Catholic religion, and all the first fruits of plutocracy in the early generations of the industrial revolution.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Industry has operated against the artisan in favor of the idler, and also in favor of capital and against labor. Any mechanical invention whatsoever has been more harmful to humanity than a century of war.
—Remy de Gourmont (1858–1915) French Critic, Novelist
The chiefest action for a man of spirit is never to be out of action; the soul was never put into the body to stand still.
—John Webster (1580–1634) English Dramatist, Poet
In every rank, both great and small, it is industry that supports us all.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
The great cry that rises from all our manufacturing cities, louder than the furnace blast, is all in very deed for this—that we manufacture everything there except men.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Like the bee, we should make our industry our amusement.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
The opening of a foreign trade, by making them acquainted with new objects, or tempting them by the easier acquisition of things which they had not previously thought attainable, sometimes works a sort of industrial revolution in a country whose resources were previously undeveloped for want of energy and ambition in the people: inducing those who were satisfied with scanty comforts and little work, to work harder for the gratification of their new tastes, and even to save, and accumulate capital, for the still more complete satisfaction of those tastes at a future time.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
A man should inure himself to voluntary labor, and not give up to indulgence and pleasure, as they beget no good constitution of body nor knowledge of mind.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Though you may have known clever men who were indolent, you never knew a great man who was so; and when I hear a young man spoken of as giving promise of great genius, the first question I ask about him always is, “Does he work?”
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
An hour’s industry will do more to produce cheerfulness, suppress evil humors, and retrieve one’s affairs, than a month’s moaning.—It sweetens enjoyments, and seasons our attainments with a delightful relish.
—Isaac Barrow
Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry, all things easy.—He that rises late must trot all day, and hall scarce overtake his business at night, while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Mankind are more indebted to industry than ingenuity; the gods set up their favors at a price, and industry is the purchaser.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
One loses all the time which he might employ to better purpose.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
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
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