quotations about work
This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize that it is play.
ALAN WATTS
The Essence of Alan Watts
No matter how humble your work may seem, do it in the spirit of an artist, of a master. In this way you lift it out of commonness and rob it of what would otherwise be drudgery.
ORISON SWETT MARDEN
He Can Who Thinks He Can
Are you the type of person who gets taken in by flattery and ends up staying late to do work others could be doing? What would happen if you said no? These habits are tough to break in organisations, but if you don't gently steer these requests more fairly to others on your team, you will continue to be given more work just because you always say yes and your happiness at work will be undermined. It really is okay for everyone to say no sometimes, as this lets your organisation know that workloads are heavy and assistance may be required.
LOUISE LAMBERT
"You can't do it all: turning down work is sometimes a necessity", Albawaba Business, February 3, 2016
Measure not the work
Until the day's out and the labour done.
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING
Aurora Leigh
Since the Fall, man had accepted labor as a penance and for its power to work redemption. It was not a law of nature which forced man to work, but the effect of a curse.
MICHEL FOUCAULT
Madness & Civilization
I loved work and I loved pouring myself into the work, you know. It was the real life that I had trouble with.
ROSEANNE BARR
Larry King Live, March 2, 2006
You reach a point where you don't work for money.
WALT DISNEY
attributed, The Quotable Billionaire
The workman is a vine that is crushed by the burden of its own clustered grapes.
ABRAHAM MILLER
Unmoral Maxims
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
Changes to the way we work are bringing a focus on both the role of the stand alone workplace, and the design of cities. As co-working spaces evolve to meet the demand of workers for flexible, autonomous and creative work environments, broader changes are occurring in how we work and live.
LIBBY SANDER
"Co-working is evolving to combine co-living", Business Insider, March 29, 2017
I think that this thing, my work, has made me, in a sense, what I am. The work possesses a consciousness which shapes that of the worker. The work flatters the worker. Only the strongest worker can do this work, the work says. You must be a fine fellow, that you can do this work. But disaffection is also possible. The worker grows careless. The worker pays slight regard to the work, he ignores the work, he flirts with other work, he is unfaithful to the work. The work is insulted. And perhaps it finds little ways of telling the worker... The work slips in the hands of the worker--a little cut on the finger. You understand? The work becomes slow, sulky, consumes more time, becomes more tiring. The gaiety that once existed between the worker and the work has evaporated. A fine situation! Don't you think?
DONALD BARTHELME
"The Genius"
Each man delights in the work that suits him best.
HOMER
The Odyssey
He must put his whole life into his work, who would do it well, and make it potential to influence other lives.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
I don't like work -- no man does -- but I like what is in work -- the chance to find yourself.
JOSEPH CONRAD
The Heart of Darkness
Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty.
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
Little Women
Work is oft a four-letter word, bemoaned, begrudged and belittled by those bored by their nine-to-five routine.
PAULYNE POGORELSKE
"Faith: work is not a dirty word", The Age, March 25, 2017
Many a man works himself to death by burying himself in his work.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Some men are so eager for success that they are even willing to work for it.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
No man is born into the world whose work
Is not born with him. There is always work,
And tools to work withal, for those who will;
And blessed are the horny hands of toil.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
A Glance Behind the Curtain
Many hands make light work.
JOHN HEYWOOD
Proverbs