Quotes about shoemaker

A collection of quotes on the topic of shoemaker, shoe, shoes, making.

Quotes about shoemaker

Martin Luther photo
Arthur Miller photo

“That is a very good question. I don't know the answer. But can you tell me the name of a classical Greek shoemaker?”

Arthur Miller (1915–2005) playwright from the United States

His reply to a shoe manufacturer who had asked why Miller's job should be subsidized when his was not, as recounted at a London press conference. The Guardian (25 January 1990)

Plato photo
Abraham Lincoln photo
Mark Twain photo
Albert Einstein photo

“If I had known they were going to do this, I would have become a shoemaker.”

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

According to The Quote Verifier (2006) by Ralph Keyes, Einstein never said any such thing. (According to p. 285 of the book's "source notes" Keyes checked New Statesman 16 April 1965, which is commonly cited as the source of this quote. Some other books claim it is from New Statesman 16 April 1955 and at least one has it as 1945, but a Google Books search http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search?num=10&q=einstein+watchmaker+%22new+statesman%22 with the date range restricted to 1900-1995 shows that all the earliest sources give it as 1965. This includes the earliest source located, The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations from 1971, as can be verified by this search http://www.google.com/search?q=%22of+his+making+the+atom+bomb+possible.+quoted+in+new+statesman%2C+16+april+1965%22&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1.) Keyes notes that Einstein "did use similar words to make a very different point" when he wrote, in a 1954 letter to the editor at The Reporter magazine, "If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances."
Similarly, in Einstein and the Poet by William Hermanns, p. 86 http://books.google.com/books?id=QXCyjj6T5ZUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA86#v=onepage&q&f=false, Einstein is quoted saying the following in a 1948 interview: "If I should be born again, I will become a cobbler and do my thinking in peace."
Misattributed
Variant: If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.

Ludwig Boltzmann photo

“Elegance should be left to shoemakers and tailors”

Ludwig Boltzmann (1844–1906) Austrian physicist

Eleganz sei die Sache der Schuster und Schneider
reported by [Arnold Berliner, Curt Thesing, Die Naturwissenschaften, Springer-Verlag, 1946, 36]
also reported by [Albert Einstein, translation by Robert W. Lawson, Relativity, Plain Label Books, 1921, 1-603-03164-2, preface]
Attributed

Plutarch photo

“To Harmodius, descended from the ancient Harmodius, when he reviled Iphicrates [a shoemaker's son] for his mean birth, "My nobility," said he, "begins in me, but yours ends in you."”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

54 Iphicrates
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

John Heywood photo

“Who is worse shod than the shoemaker's wife?”

John Heywood (1497–1580) English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of proverbs

Part I, chapter 11.
Proverbs (1546), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Variant: Who is wurs shod, than the shoemakers wyfe,
With shops full of shoes all hir lyfe?

Alain de Botton photo
Alfred Stieglitz photo
Philip Schaff photo
Plutarch photo
Pliny the Elder photo
John R. Commons photo
Tom Rath photo

“Hector had always been known as a great shoemaker. In fact, customers from such far-off places as France claimed that Hector made the best shoes in the world. Yet for years, he had been frustrated with his small shoemaking business. Although Hector knew he was capable of making hundreds of shoes per week, he was averaging just 30 pairs. When a friend asked him why, Hector explained that while he was great at producing shoes, he was a poor salesman -- and terrible when it came to collecting payments. Yet he spent most of his time working in these areas of weakness.
So, Hector's friend introduced him to Sergio, a natural salesman and marketer. Just as Hector was known for his craftsmanship, Sergio could close deals and sell. Given the way their strengths complemented one another, Hector and Sergio decided to work together. A year later, this strengths-based duo was producing, selling, and collecting payment for more than 100 pairs of shoes per week -- a more than threefold increase.
While this story may seem simplistic, in many cases, aligning yourself with the right task can be this easy. When we're able to put most of our energy into developing our natural talents, extraordinary room for growth exists. So, a revision to the "You-can-be-anything-you-want-to-be" maxim might be more accurate.”

Tom Rath (1975) American author

StrengthsFinder 2.0, 2007
Source: Tom Rath, "The Fallacy Behind the American Dream," Business Journal, Feb. 8, 2007 (Excerpted from StrengthsFinder 2.0)

Daniel Webster photo
Wilhelm Reich photo

“Every physician, shoemaker, mechanic or educator must know his shortcomings if he is to do his work and make his living.”

Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Context: Every physician, shoemaker, mechanic or educator must know his shortcomings if he is to do his work and make his living. For some decades, you have begun to play a governing role on this earth. It is on your thinking and your actions that the future of humanity depends. But your teachers and masters do not tell you how you really think and are; nobody dares to voice the one criticism of you which could make you capable of governing your own fate. You are "free" only in one sense: free from education in governing your life yourself, free from self-criticism.

John Heywood photo

“Who is wurs shod, than the shoemakers wyfe,
With shops full of shoes all hir lyfe?”

John Heywood (1497–1580) English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of proverbs

Who is worse shod, than the shoemakers wife,
With shops full of shoes all her life?
Part I, chapter 11.
Proverbs (1546)