Quotes about desk

A collection of quotes on the topic of desk, work, working, doing.

Quotes about desk

Lewis Carroll photo
Stephen King photo
Lewis Carroll photo
Terry Pratchett photo
Rabindranath Tagore photo
Ronald Reagan photo

“All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)

As quoted in Burlington Free Press [Vermont] (15 February 1980)
1980s

Steven Weinberg photo
Maria Montessori photo

“Rewards and punishments, to speak frankly, are the desk of the soul, that is, a means of enslaving a child's spirit, and better suited to provoke than to prevent deformities.”

Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian pedagogue, philosopher and physician

Source: The Discovery of the Child (1948), Ch. 1

Karl Dönitz photo
W.B. Yeats photo
Nikola Tesla photo
Steven Weinberg photo
Barack Obama photo
Ronald Reagan photo

“If a tax hike makes it to my desk, I'll veto it in less time than it takes Vanna White to turn the letters V-E-T-O!”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)

Speech regarding planned Democratic tax hikes http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1D6123EF935A25754C0A961948260 (16 July 1987)
1980s, Second term of office (1985–1989)

Barack Obama photo
Fernando Pessoa photo

“I come closer to my desk as to a bulwark against life.”

Ibid.
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Achego-me à minha secretária como a um baluarte contra a vida.

Haruki Murakami photo
Malcolm Gladwell photo
Franz Kafka photo
William Faulkner photo
Charlaine Harris photo
Patrick Rothfuss photo

“Rosie get off your desk, and please put your beard away.”

Louise Rennison (1951–2016) British writer

Source: Stop in the Name of Pants!

Raymond Chandler photo
Raymond Chandler photo

“If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?”

Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) Canadian eductor

p. 333 https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7725710M/Peter's_Quotations
Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977)

Haruki Murakami photo
Brian Andreas photo
Khaled Hosseini photo
Primo Levi photo
Dave Eggers photo
Holly Black photo
Raymond Chandler photo

“The boys with their feet on the desks know that the easiest murder case in the world to break is the one somebody tried to get very cute with.”

essay, first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly (November, 1945)
The Simple Art of Murder (1950)

Albert Einstein photo

“If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Attributed to Dr. Laurence J. Peter. Earliest source is "Peter's Quotations," page 333. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7725710M/Peter's_Quotations
Misattributed
Variant: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind then what are we to think of an empty desk?
Variant: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

Donald Barthelme photo
Gyles Brandreth photo

“I get to my desk at eight in the morning and I leave it at seven in the evening and I just work away. I'm a work machine.”

Gyles Brandreth (1948) British writer, broadcaster and former Member of Parliament

WhatsonStage interview, 2010

C. D. Broad photo

“Those who, like the present writer, never had the privilege of meeting Sidgwick can infer from his writings, and still more from the characteristic philosophic merits of such pupils of his as McTaggart and Moore, how acute and painstaking a thinker and how inspiring a teacher he must have been. Yet he has grave defects as a writer which have certainly detracted from his fame. His style is heavy and involved, and he seldom allowed that strong sense of humour, which is said to have made him a delightful conversationalist, to relieve the uniform dull dignity of his writing. He incessantly refines, qualifies, raises objections, answers them, and then finds further objections to the answers. Each of these objections, rebuttals, rejoinders, and surrejoinders is in itself admirable, and does infinite credit to the acuteness and candour of the author. But the reader is apt to become impatient; to lose the thread of the argument: and to rise from his desk finding that he has read a great deal with constant admiration and now remembers little or nothing. The result is that Sidgwick probably has far less influence at present than he ought to have, and less than many writers, such as Bradley, who were as superior to him in literary style as he was to them in ethical and philosophical acumen. Even a thoroughly second-rate thinker like T. H. Green, by diffusing a grateful and comforting aroma of ethical "uplift", has probably made far more undergraduates into prigs than Sidgwick will ever make into philosophers.”

C. D. Broad (1887–1971) English philosopher

From Five Types of Ethical Theory (1930)

Raymond Chandler photo

“We sneered at each other across the desk for a moment. He sneered better than I did.”

Source: Farewell, My Lovely (1940), chapter 20

Constant Lambert photo
Victor Villaseñor photo
Camille Paglia photo
Alexander Maclaren photo
Hsiao Chia-chi photo
Fred Thompson photo

“After sleeping late on Sunday, I was back at my desk that afternoon. I had two prime considerations. First, I wanted to be certain that the tapes were not a trap for the committee or that there was a significant bit of missing information that we lacked; experience taught me that matters of this importance do not usually fall into your lap without more complications that are immediately apparent. Second, if our information was legitimate, I wanted to be sure the White House was fully aware of what was to be disclosed so that it could take appropriate action. Legalisms aside, it was inconceivable to me that the White House could withhold the tapes once their existence was made known. I believed it would be in everyone’s interest if the White House realized, before making any public statements, the probable position of both the majority and the minority of the Watergate committee. Even though I had no authority to act for the committee, I decided to call Fred Buzhardt at home. Buzhardt was the only White House staff member with whom I had had any substantial contact. He had been unassuming and straightforward in his dealings with me. He never tried to enlist me in any White House strategy, to suggest that I relay confidential information, or to so any of the things that were probably assumed by many of the so-called sophisticates in Washington.”

Fred Thompson (1942–2015) American politician and actor

page 86
At That Point in Time, Warning the White House about the Watergate tapes

Oliver Wendell Holmes photo
Bel Kaufmanová photo
Amitabh Bachchan photo
Bel Kaufmanová photo
W. S. Gilbert photo
June Vincent photo
William Saroyan photo
Bill Gates photo

“Personal computing today is a rich ecosystem encompassing massive PC-based data centers, notebook and Tablet PCs, handheld devices, and smart cell phones. It has expanded from the desktop and the data center to wherever people need it — at their desks, in a meeting, on the road or even in the air.”

Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist

"The PC Era Is Just Beginning" in Business Week (22 March 2005) http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2005/tc20050322_7219.htm
2000s

Georg Brandes photo
Will Eisner photo
George W. Bush photo
Alexander von Humboldt photo
Robert Harris photo
George Dantzig photo

“One of the first applications of the simplex algorithm was to the determination of an adequate diet that was of least cost. In the fall of 1947, Jack Laderman of the Mathematical Tables Project of the National Bureau of Standards undertook, as a test of the newly proposed simplex method, the first large-scale computation in this field. It was a system with nine equations in seventy-seven unknowns. Using hand-operated desk calculators, approximately 120 man-days were required to obtain a solution. … The particular problem solved was one which had been studied earlier by George Stigler (who later became a Nobel Laureate) who proposed a solution based on the substitution of certain foods by others which gave more nutrition per dollar. He then examined a "handful" of the possible 510 ways to combine the selected foods. He did not claim the solution to be the cheapest but gave his reasons for believing that the cost per annum could not be reduced by more than a few dollars. Indeed, it turned out that Stigler's solution (expressed in 1945 dollars) was only 24 cents higher than the true minimum per year $39.69.”

George Dantzig (1914–2005) American mathematician

cited in: John J. O'Connor & Edmund F.; Robertson (2003) " George Dantzig http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Dantzig_George.html". in: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
Linear programming and extensions (1963)

L. Ron Hubbard photo

“Science Fiction Gods; Do they take much of an interest in us? I doubt it. How much entertainment does an ant's nest provide you with?
'Adepticus Sir, that bunch of Ornithoids on Artoc 4 that you asked me to observe, well they've just trashed their planet.'
'Oh that is a pity Initiatus Jones. What was it this time, ecological screw up or nuclear winter?'
'Worse than that sir, i looks lke they were mucking around with vacuum energy without having first invented the Mobius sphere.'
'Ah yes, the old classic mistake, we loose a few like that.'
'Could we not have tipped them off about it Sir?'
'I'm afraid not Jones, stupidity must remain its own reward, it's regrettable but there you are. Did you salvage anything?'
'They composed some fairly good poetry a couple of centuries ago, and some rather fine cloud sculptures fairly recently, I've logged some records in the archives.'
'Splendid Jones, I'll peruse them this evening. What about those Apes on Sol 3, how are they getting on?'
'Quit a bit of warfare as usual Sir, mostly based on chemical explosives these days, but with the occasional use of plutonium. Many of them have developed a belief in a big bang theory, and they reckon that they have the maths to prove it.'
'Really? Smith in anthropology will probably find that hilarious, I'm sure she would appreciate the data. It was one of her old Stomping grounds you know?'
'No I didnt know that Sir'
'It was a long time ago Jones, and a bit of a fiasco actually, she gave them a piece of her mind about some of their barbaric behavior which then abruptly became worse. Ever since then they have been obsessed with the number plate on her craft, it read 'JHVH'. The department gave her a desk job after that.”

Peter J. Carroll (1953) British occultist

Source: The Apophenion (2008), p. 107-108

“It’s amazing that I sit at my job all day and no one sees me clearly enough to say What is that boy doing behind a desk?”

James Richardson (1950) American poet

#247
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten Second Essays (2001)

Charles Krauthammer photo

“Longevity for a columnist is a simple proposition: once you start, you don't stop. You do it until you die, or can no longer put a sentence together. It has always been my intention to die at my desk, although my most cherished ambition is to outlive the estate tax.”

Charles Krauthammer (1950–2018) American journalist

Column, 18 December 2009, An anniversary of sorts http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/krauthammer121809.php3#.WzW2c8KWyUk at jewishworldreview.com.
2000s, 2009

Donald J. Trump photo

“You ever see guys with nothing on their desk? They always fail. I don't know what it is. I've seen it for years.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Explaining his messy desk, NY Times Magazine interview. * 2015-09-21
Donald Trump is not going anywhere
Mark Leibovich
The New York Times Magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/magazine/donald-trump-is-not-going-anywhere.html
2010s, 2015

Will Eisner photo
Nicole Lapin photo

“I didn't know whether to run from my seat…I was in the line of fire. My desk is now a crime scene.”

Nicole Lapin (1984) American journalist

Interview with Variety Magazine. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117962430.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 (April 2007)

Nigel Cumberland photo

“During your typical working day how often do you stop and take a break, step away from your desk to recharge? Too few breaks can kill your productivity.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, 100 Things Successful People Do: Little Exercises for Successful Living (2016) https://books.google.ae/books?idnu0lCwAAQBAJ&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIMjAE

Harry Turtledove photo
Aldous Huxley photo
Stephen King photo
Eugène Boudin photo
Mark Strand photo
Fred Allen photo

“A molehill man is a pseudo-busy executive who comes to work at 9 am and finds a molehill on his desk. He has until 5 pm to make this molehill into a mountain. An accomplished molehill man will often have his mountain finished even before lunch.”

Fred Allen (1894–1956) comedian

Treadmill to Oblivion http://books.google.com/books?id=8IC6ZSGPAAYC&q="A+molehill+man+is+a+pseudo+busy+executive+who+comes+to+work+at+9+am+and+finds+a+molehill+on+his+desk+He+has+until+5+pm+to+make+this+molehill+into+a+mountain+An+accomplished+molehill+man+will+often+have+his+mountain+finished+even+before+lunch"&pg=PA27#v=onepage (1954).

John Banville photo
John Banville photo
Charlie Brooker photo

“If you're hell-bent on making your bank look and sound like a simpleton, a desk labelled Travel Money is still a bit too formal. Why not call it Oooh! Look at the Funny Foreign Banknotes instead? And accompany it with a doodle of a French onion-seller riding a bike, with a little black beret on his head and a baguette up his arse and a speech bubble saying, "Zut Alors! Here is where you gettez les Francs!"”

Charlie Brooker (1971) journalist, broadcaster and writer from England

The Guardian, 6 November 2006, The banks are coming over all chummy. It's nauseating http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1940584,00.html
On Barclays' rebranding in an attempt to make themselves appear less stuffy
Guardian columns

Bill Bryson photo
Russell Brand photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Robert A. Heinlein photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Joseph Goebbels photo
Conor McGregor photo

“It’s tradition. I remove a head, I bring it backstage, I place it on Mr. Fertitta and Mr. White’s desk. "Here you go boss. Another one done."”

Conor McGregor (1988) Irish mixed martial artist and boxer

And then we discuss big business.
UFC Fight Night: Boston post-event press conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlE8zHZBepg (January 2015) Ultimate Fighting Championship, Zuffa, LLC
2010s, 2015

Jonah Goldberg photo
Francis Parkman photo
Thomas Kuhn photo

“I rapidly discovered that Aristotle had known almost no mechanics at all. … How could his characteristic talents have deserted him so systematically when he turned to the study of motion and mechanics? Equally, if his talents had so deserted him, why had his writings in physics been taken so seriously for so many centuries after his death? … I was sitting at my desk with the text of Aristotle's Physics open in front of me… Suddenly the fragments in my head sorted themselves out in a new way, and fell into place together. My jaw dropped, for all at once Aristotle seemed a very good physicist indeed, but of a sort I'd never dreamed possible. Now I could understand why he had said what he'd said, and what his authority had been. Statements that had previously seemed egregious mistakes, now seemed at worst near misses within a powerful and generally successful tradition. That sort of experience -- the pieces suddenly sorting themselves out and coming together in a new way -- is the first general characteristic of revolutionary change that I shall be singling out after further consideration of examples. Though scientific revolutions leave much piecemeal mopping up to do, the central change cannot be experienced piecemenal, one step at a time. Instead, it involves some relatively sudden and unstructured transformation in which some part of the flux of experience sorts itself out differently and displays patterns that were not visible before.”

Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996) American historian, physicist and philosopher

Source: The Road Since Structure (2002), p. 16-17; from "What Are Scientific Revolutions?" (1982)

Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan photo
George Dantzig photo
Ragnar Frisch photo