“Work becomes worship when done with sincerity and integrity. Every profession, whether humble or prestigious, contributes to the fabric of society. Honour lies not in rank but in the honesty with which one fulfils duty.”
Related quotes
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher
As quoted in German Thought, From The Seven Years' War To Goethe's Death : Six Lectures (1880) by Karl Hillebrand, p. 208
Context: As everybody likes to be honoured, so people imagine that God also wants to be honoured. They forget that the fulfilment of duty towards men is the only honour adequate to him. Thus is formed the conception of a religion of worship, instead of a merely moral religion. … Apart from moral conduct, all that man thinks himself able to do in order to become acceptable to God is mere superstition and religious folly. If once a man has come to the idea of a service which is not purely moral, but is supposed to be agreeable to God himself, or capable of propitiating him, there is little difference between the several ways of serving him. For all these ways are of equal value. … Whether the devotee accomplishes his statutory walk to the church, or whether he undertakes a pilgrimage to the sanctuaries of Loretto and Palestine, whether he repeats his prayer-formulas with his lips, or like the Tibetan, uses a prayer-wheel … is quite indifferent. As the illusion of thinking that a man can justify himself before God in any way by acts of worship is religious superstition, so the illusion that he can obtain this justification by the so-called intercourse with God is religious mysticism (Schwärmerei). Such superstition leads inevitably to sacerdotalism (Pfaffenthum) which will always be found where the essence is sought not in principles of morality, but in statutory commandments, rules of faith and observances.
Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher
Source: Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970), Chapter 4, Divide and Rule
Gordon B. Hinckley book Standing for Something
Standing for Something: Ten Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes.
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
Bk. II, ch. 9.
1830s, Sartor Resartus (1833–1834)
Brian Souter (1954) British businessman
As quoted on the Stagecoach Group Web Site http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/media/press/pr2010/2010-06-14/ (22nd May 2010 )
“To protect those who are not able to protect themselves is a duty which every one owes to society.”
Edward Macnaghten, Baron Macnaghten (1830–1913) Anglo-Irish rower, barrister, politician and Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Jenoure v. Delmege (1890), 60 L. J. Rep. (N. S.) Q. B. 13.
“When people work in a place that cares about them, they contribute a lot more than duty.”
Dennis Hayes (1950) founder of Hayes Microcomputer Products
“Confidence in others' honesty is no light testimony of one's own integrity.”
Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman