Quotes about work
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“Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone. I openly joined RSS wing of anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social and religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession.”

Nathuram Godse (1910–1949) Assassin of Mahatma Gandhi

Nathuram Godse: Why I Assassinated Gandhi (1993)

Family, Religion, History, Thinking

“I made a metamorphose, I'm a new person today, because I used to strongly and honestly, honestly! I feel like I can represent my generation so much because I honestly did not care whether I lived or died. But now I can not die, with people thinking I'm a rapist or a criminal, I can not leave until this shit is straight, you know I'm not suicidal. I can't go until ya'll really know what time it is. And then after that, BOOM!, It's all over and we can see how this shit fall, but that's how it is, and the reason being is because if I can't live free, if I can't live with the same respect as the next man, I don't wanna be here, because god has cursed me to see what life should be like, If God wanted me to be this person and be happy here, he wouldn't let me feel so oppressed, he wouldn't let me feel so trampled on, you know what I'm saying, he wouldn't let me think the things I think. So I feel I'm doing Gods work, you know what I'm saying just because I don't have nothing to pass around for people to put money in a bucket don't mean I ain't doing God's work.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

1990s, Ed Gordon interview (1994)

Money, God, Suicide, Time

“If you want peace, work for justice.”

Pope Paul VI (1897–1978) 262nd Pope of the Catholic Church

Peace, Justice

“Work is the best antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Source: The Return of Sherlock Holmes

“I don't want to die as long as I can work; the minute I can not, I want to go.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist

“I used to work at McDonald's making minimum wage. You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? "Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law.”

Chris Rock (1965) American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer, and director

Law

“If there's any message to my work, it is ultimately that it's OK to be different, that it's good to be different, that we should question ourselves before we pass judgment on someone who looks different, behaves different, talks different, is a different color.”

Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician

Variant: If there's any message, it is ultimately that it's okay to be different; that it's good to be different, that we should question ourselves before we pass judgment on someone who looks different, behaves different, talks different, is a different color.

Color, Question

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist.”

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

Success, Children, Teachers, Success

“True human capabilities will not find expression in competition. True human capabilities will find expression only in absolute relaxation. Your mind, your body will work best, will find fullest expression, only when you are joyful and peaceful, and quiet within yourself.”

Sadhguru (1957) Yogi, mystic, visionary and humanitarian

Source: Inspire Your Child Inspire the World: In the Presence of the Master

Peace

“Any great work of art … revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world — the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air.”

Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist

"What Makes Opera Grand?", Vogue (December 1958)

World, Art, Time, Success

“People are more difficult to work with than machines. And when you break a person, he can't be fixed.”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

People, Personality

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman

Business

“The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

People

“Work is what horses die of”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian writer

Horse

“You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can't control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Soul

“It's true hard work never killed anyone, but I figure, why take the chance?”

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

On his relaxed approach to work, as quoted in Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio : a History Illustrated from the Collection of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum (2001) by Lou Cannon
Post-presidency (1989–2004)

Chance, Funny

“Your cold blood cannot be worked into a fever; your veins are full of ice water; but mine are boiling, and the sight of such chillness makes them dance.”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Source: Wuthering Heights

Water, Dance

“Every once in a while she'll get worked up and cry like that. But that's ok. She's letting her feelings out. The scary thing is not being able to do that. Then your feelings build up and harden and die inside. That's when you're in big trouble.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Feeling, Cry

“If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control - myself.”

Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) American businessman and philanthropist

Motivational, For Team, Success, Life

“The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs.”

John Dewey (1859–1952) American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer

“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise”

Ted Turner (1938) American media mogul and philanthropist

Hell

“America has become one of the foremost countries in regard to the depth of the abyss which lies between the handful of arrogant multimillionaires who wallow in filth and luxury, and the millions of working people who constantly live on the verge of pauperism.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

Collected Works, Vol. 28, p. 62–75.
Collected Works
Source: A Letter to American Workingmen: From the Socialist Soviet Republic of Russia

People, Country

“I don’t think of myself as being a celebrity, it’s too mortifying. I have a hard time watching myself on screen and it’s getting worse. I can’t tell whether my work is good or not.”

Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician

Thinking, Time

“I've got so much work to do today, I'd better spend two hours in prayer instead of one.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

Variant: I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.

“We all do better when we work together. Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more.”

Bill Clinton (1946) 42nd President of the United States

“The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Back To Work

“Drugs are a bet with your mind.”

“It’s like gambling, somehow. You go out for a night of drinking and you don’t know where you’re going to end up the next day. It could work out good, or it could be disastrous. It’s like the throw of the dice.”

Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors

Drink, Night

“One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important, and that to take a holiday would bring all kinds of disaster. If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.”

Bertrand Russell book The Conquest of Happiness

Source: 1930s, The Conquest of Happiness (1930)

Holiday, Funny

“If I had to tell you how humans made their way to Earth, it would go like this: In the beginning, there was nothing at all but the moon and the sun. And the moon wanted to come out during the day, but there was something so much brighter that seemed to fill up all those hours. The moon grew hungry, thinner and thinner, until she was just a slice of herself, and her tips were as sharp as a knife. By accident, because that is the way most things happen, she poked a hole in the night and out spilled a million stars, like a fountain of tears.

Horrified, the moon tried to swallow them up. And sometimes this worked, because she got fatter and rounder.. But mostly it didn't, because there were just so many. The stars kept coming, until they made the sky so bright that the sun got jealous. He invited the stars to his side of the world, where it was always bright. What he didn't tell them, though, was that in the daytime, they'd never be seen. So the stupid ones leaped from the sky to the ground, and they froze under the weight of their own foolishness.

The moon did her best. She carved each of these blocks of sorrow into a man or a woman. She spent the rest of her time watching out so that her other stars wouldn't fall. She spent the rest of her time holding onto whatever scraps she had left.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Stupidity, World, Way, Star

“The creative person should have no other biography than his works.”

B. Traven (1890–1969) German novelist

Source: Quoted by Red Marriott in " Traven, B. – An Anti-Biography https://libcom.org/library/b-traven-anti-biography" (2007) Ref: en.wikiquote.org - B. Traven / Quotes

Personality

“A tree has roots in the soil yet reaches to the sky. It tells us that in order to aspire we need to be grounded and that no matter how high we go it is from our roots that we draw sustenance. It is a reminder to all of us who have had success that we cannot forget where we came from. It signifies that no matter how powerful we become in government or how many awards we receive, our power and strength and our ability to reach our goals depend on the people, those whose work remain unseen, who are the soil out of which we grow, the shoulders on which we stand”

Wangari Maathai (1940–2011) Kenyan environmental and political activist

People, Tree, Success, Drawing

“When jumping is the sole option, you jump, and try to make it work.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Grip of the Shadow Plague

“I don't want to take my time going to work. I got a motorcycle and a sleeping bag and 10 or 15 girls. What the hell I want to go off and go to work for? Work for what? Money? I've got all the money in the world. I'm the king, man! I run the underworld, guy! I decide who does what and where they do it at! What am I gonna run around and act like I'm some teeny-bopper somewhere for somebody else's money? I make the money, man. I roll the nickels. The game is mine! I deal the cards.”

Charles Manson (1934–2017) American criminal and musician

Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-U2-cAUMM

Money, World, Guy, Girl

“I am often asked why men don’t get as worked up as they might about women—particularly poor women—having to use their bodies as prostitutes. Because most men unconsciously experience themselves as prostitutes every day—the miner, the firefighter, the construction worker, the logger, the soldier, the meatpacker—these men are prostitutes in the direct sense: they sacrifice their bodies for money and for their families.”

Warren Farrell book The Myth of Male Power

Source: The Myth of Male Power (1993), Part II: The Glass Cellars of the disposable sex, p. 233.

Women, Men, Money, Family

“The singular mission of the working woman is to fuse her feminine calling with her vocational calling and, by means of that fusion, to give a feminine quality to her vocational calling.”

Edith Stein (1891–1942) Jewish-German nun, theologian and philosopher

Essays on Woman (1996), Fundamental Principles of Women's Education (1931)

“You almost create this infinite universe for the character that you’re playing and then you’re compromising it into the story that you’re doing. Whatever character you’re playing, you kind of explore endlessly more than what’s on the page. You use that exploration to do the performance that’s in the film, but hopefully, people will see all that work and preparation in those little glimpses of scenes and moments. Oh, there’s something there. There’s so much more happening with this character.”

Bill Skarsgård (1990) Swedish actor

Bill Skarsgard on ‘IT’ and Tapping into His Fears to Create a Terrifying New Pennywise http://collider.com/bill-skarsgard-pennywise-it-movie-interview/#images (July 28, 2017)

People, Universe

“Famous people come up to me, but I don't know who they are because my sight is so bad. It's always at the pool of the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills when I don't have my lenses in and my glasses are in my room. … With the number of people I ignore, I'm lucky I work at all in this town.”

Helena Bonham Carter (1966) British actress

Los Angeles Magazine Vol. 44, No. 11 (November 1999), p. 169

People, Season

“I see every director as a different brand. That way, it’s easy for me to compartmentalise my work. So I can easily switch from one film to the other and refresh myself when I hit a mental block. I don’t want my music to sound like a pastiche of other works. So I stop listening to my songs once the audio for a film is released. When I unwind, it’s usually with jazz.”

Yuvan Shankar Raja (1979) Indian musician

Yuvan Unplugged (2009)

Music, Way

“A piece of art is not a loaf of bread. When someone steals a loaf of bread from the store, that's it. The loaf of bread is gone. When someone downloads a piece of music, it's just data until the listener puts that music back together with their own ears, their mind, their subjective experience. How they perceive your work changes your work.”

Jeff Tweedy (1967) musician

Interviewed in 2004 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65688,00.html

Art, Music, Change

“Theres no short cut. It’s hard work being a Body builder. If you’re not willing to do the hard work, then it’s the wrong sport for you. You’ve got to love it. If you love it, you will get to where you want to be.”

Rich Piana (1970–2017) American bodybuilder and internet personality

Love, Sport

“However great the work that God may achieve by an individual, he must not indulge in self-satisfaction. He ought rather to be all the more humbled, seeing himself merely as a tool which God has made use of.”

Vincent de Paul (1581–1660) French priest, founder and saint

As quoted in Reflection for November 5 in Saint Companions for Each Day (1986) by A. J. M. Mousolfe & J. K. Mousolfe, p. 417

God

“I want to live my next life backwards: You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in a nursing home feeling better every day. Then you get kicked out for being too healthy. Enjoy your retirement and collect your pension. Then when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day. You work 40 years until you're too young to work. You get ready for High School: drink alcohol, party, and you're generally promiscuous. Then you go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, and you have no responsibilities. Then you become a baby, and then… You spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury, in spa-like conditions – central heating, room service on tap, and then… You finish off as an orgasm.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Variations of this piece have also been misattributed to Andy Rooney and Woody Allen. The original source is a variation on a piece by Sean Morey. ( "snopes.com: Andy Rooney on Everything", Snopes.com, 2012-09-09 http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/rooney3.asp, ) Misattributed

Life, Alcohol, School, Way

“Everyone who works with me calls me "Ma." I'm the motherly type.”

Jennifer Lopez (1969) American singer and actress

Interview http://web.archive.org/20000815073212/www.eonline.com/Celebs/Qa/Lopez2000/interview2.html for E! Online, 15 August 2000.

“I am a feminist. I reject wholeheartedly the way we are taught to perceive women. The beauty of women, how a woman should act or behave. Women are strong and fragile. Women are beautiful and ugly. We are soft-spoken and loud, all at once. There is something mind-controlling about the way we're taught to view women. My work, both visually and musically, is a rejection of all those things. And most importantly a quest.”

Lady Gaga (1986) American singer, songwriter, and actress

SHOWstudio Interview. In Camera with Lady Gaga 30 May 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmcxdZQCnT4&feature=PlayList&p=6DB0E6483F09B62E&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1.

Women, Beauty, Music, Way

“I live and work with three basic assumptions, 1) There is no problem in science that can be solved by a man that cannot be solved by a woman. 2) Worldwide, half of all brains are in women. 3) We all need permission to do science, but, for reasons that are deeply ingrained in history, this permission is more often given to men than to women.”

Vera Rubin (1928–2016) American astronomer

As quoted in NPR obituary http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/26/507022497/vera-rubin-who-confirmed-existence-of-dark-matter-dies-at-88

Women, Men, History, Problem

“One ought to fast, watch, and labor to the extent that such activities are needed to harness the body’s desires and longings; however, those who presume that they are justified by works pay no attention to the need for self-discipline but see the works themselves as the way to righteousness. They believe that if they do a great number of impressive works all will be well and righteousness will be the result. Sometimes this is pursued with such zeal that they become mentally unstable and their bodies are sapped of all strength. Such disastrous consequences demonstrate that the belief that we are justified and saved by works without faith is extremely foolish.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

Source: The Freedom of a Christian (1520), p. 73

Faith, Way

“When we understand this we see clearly that the subject round which the alternative senses play must be twofold. And we must therefore consider the subject of this work [the Divine Comedy] as literally understood, and then its subject as allegorically intended. The subject of the whole work, then, taken in the literal sense only is "the state of souls after death" without qualification, for the whole progress of the work hinges on it and about it. Whereas if the work be taken allegorically, the subject is "man as by good or ill deserts, in the exercise of the freedom of his choice, he becomes liable to rewarding or punishing justice."”
Hiis visis, manifestum est quod duplex oportet esse subiectum circa quod currant alterni sensus. Et ideo videndum est de subiecto huius operis, prout ad litteram accipitur; deinde de subiecto, prout allegorice sententiatur. Est ergo subiectum totius operis, litteraliter tantum accepti, status animarum post mortem simpliciter sumptus. Nam de illo et circa illum totius operis versatur processus. Si vero accipiatur opus allegorice, subiectum est homo, prout merendo et demerendo per arbitrii libertatem iustitie premiandi et puniendi obnoxius est.

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian poet

Letter to Can Grande (Epistle XIII, 23–25), as translated by Charles Singleton in his essay "Two Kinds of Allegory" published in Dante Studies 1 (Harvard University Press, 1954), p. 87.
Epistolae (Letters)

Death, Justice, Exercises, Soul

“All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to think. The trouble is that men very often resort to all sorts of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such hard work.”

Tom Watson (1874–1956) American businessman

Actually a remark by Nicholas Murray Butler. Quoted by Watson in comments about "Think" and attributed to Nicholas Murray Butler - IBM Archives: Comments on "THINK" - Transcript https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/multimedia/think_trans.html Misattributed Source: American Dental Association (1959) The Journal of the American Dental Association. Vol 59. p. 289.

Men, World, Problem, Thinking

“The careful experiments of Joule, who developed heat in various ways by the application of mechanical force, establish almost to a certainty, not only the possibility of increasing the quantity of heat, but also the fact that the newly-produced heat is proportional to the work expended in its production.”

Rudolf Clausius (1822–1888) German mathematical physicist

First Memoir.
The Mechanical Theory of Heat (1867)

Way

“Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.”

Douglas Adams book The Salmon of Doubt

The Salmon of Doubt (2002)

World, Way, Nature, Parting

“Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Dissenting, Shelby County v. Holder (2013)

Change

“Thus the social position of women is in this respect very similar to that of philosophers and of the working classes. And we now see why these three elements should be united. It is their combined action which constitutes the moral or modifying force of society.”

Auguste Comte (1798–1857) French philosopher

Source: A General View of Positivism (1848, 1856), p. 235

Women

“Most people depend on the internet and cellphones to survive, but what happens when they stop working? I wanted to create a mother and child who wouldn't be defeated by life without them.”

Hayao Miyazaki (1941) Japanese animator, film director, and mangaka

(2009) Independent News article 2009 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/hayao-miyazaki-modern-movies-are-too-weird-for-me-1678129.html On Ponyo

Life, People, Dependency

“The belief in a certain idea gives to the researcher the support for his work. Without this belief he would be lost in a sea of doubts and insufficiently verified proofs.”

Konrad Zuse (1910–1995) German computer scientist and engineer

Der Glaube an eine bestimmte Idee gibt dem Forscher den Rückhalt für seine Arbeit. Ohne diesen Glauben wäre er verloren in einem Meer von Zweifeln und halbgültigen Beweisen. Attributed in Konrad Zuse http://www.dpma.de/ponline/erfindergalerie/bio_zuse.html on "Die Erfindergalerie", dpma.de, 2008

Idea, Support, Sea

“I have given my life to try to alleviate the sufferings of Africa. There is something that all white men who have lived here like I must learn and know: that these individuals are a sub-race. They have neither the intellectual, mental, or emotional abilities to equate or to share equally with white men in any function of our civilization. I have given my life to try to bring them the advantages which our civilization must offer, but I have become well aware that we must retain this status: the superior and they the inferior. For whenever a white man seeks to live among them as their equals they will either destroy him or devour him. And they will destroy all of his work. Let white men from anywhere in the world, who would come to Africa, remember that you must continually retain this status; you the master and they the inferior like children that you would help or teach. Never fraternize with them as equals. Never accept them as your social equals or they will devour you. They will destroy you.”

Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher

This has usually been presented as something "said shortly before his death" without any definite source, but appears to be entirely spurious. The "FAQ about the life and thoughts of Albert Schweitzer" http://www.schweitzer.org/faq?lang=en#rasist asserts "This quote is utterly false and is an outrageously inaccurate picture of Dr. Schweitzer’s view of Africans. Dr. Schweitzer never said or wrote anything remotely like this. It does NOT appear in the book African Notebook." This refers to some citations of it being from Afrikanische Geschichten (1938), which was translated as From My African Notebook (1939) by Mrs. C. E. B Russell Misattributed

Life, Men, Children, World

“Administration, which calls for the application of wide knowledge and many personal qualities, is above all the art of handling men, and in this art, as in many others, it is practice that makes perfect. This is one of the reasons why we should release our future engineers for practical work as early as possible; there are many drawbacks to staying too long at school.”

Henri Fayol (1841–1925) Developer of Fayolism

Source: Henri Fayol addressed his colleagues in the mineral industry, 1900, p. 909

Men, School, Art, Knowledge

“I'm the kinda girl who works for Paramount by day, and Fox all night”

Mae West (1893–1980) American actress and sex symbol

Sextette (1978)

Girl, Night

“I didn't say that the Jews are inferior. I didn't even maintain they are a race. I merely saw that the mixture of different cultures didn't work.”

Alfred Rosenberg (1893–1946) German architect and politician

January 12, 1946. Quoted in "Nuremberg Diary" - Page 120 - by G. M. Gilbert - History - 1995

“But Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be exposed.”

Saint Peter (-1–67 BC) apostle and first pope

2 Peter 3:10 http://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/2-peter/3/, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures Second Epistle of Peter

“The Police got great credit and praise in the papers for arresting the mother of 12 children one an infant on her breast and those two quiet hard working innocent men who would not know the difference a revolver and a saucepan handle and kept them six months awaiting trial and then convicted them on the evidence of the meanest article that ever the sun shone on it.”

Ned Kelly (1855–1880) Australian bushranger

Jerilderie Letter (1879)

Men, Children, Sun

“Belief and work, knowledge and action are one and the same thing.”

Paracelsus (1493–1541) Swiss physician and alchemist

Paracelsus - Doctor of our Time (1992)

Knowledge

“The greatest, strongest, mightiest plea for the church of God in the world is the existence of the Spirit of God in its midst, and the works of the Spirit of God are the true evidences of Christianity. They say miracles are withdrawn, but the Holy Spirit is the standing miracle of the church of God to-day.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 137.

God, World

“I never had any hesitation or regrets in this sense. My life has been enriched by excellent human relations, work and interests. I have never felt lonely.”

Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012) Italian neurologist

Of the fact that she never married; quoted in Associated Press obituary.

Life, Sense

“A manager of people needs to understand that all people are different. This is not ranking people. He needs to understand that the performance of anyone is governed largely by the system that he works in, the responsibility of management.”

W. Edwards Deming (1900–1993) American professor, author, and consultant

The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education (1993)

People, Understanding

“A good, skillful worker is one who does not consider the reward, but enjoys his work. If, for example, a skillful tailor knows that the clothing fits its owner at every point, it gives him pleasure, more than the money he receives.”

Baruch Ashlag (1907–1991) Polish rabbi

Selected Articles

Money, Pleasure, Clothes

“Bourgeois class domination is undoubtedly an historical necessity, but, so too, the rising of the working class against it.”

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary

The Junius Pamphlet http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1915/junius/index.htm (1915) Context: Bourgeois class domination is undoubtedly an historical necessity, but, so too, the rising of the working class against it. Capital is an historical necessity, but, so too, its grave digger, the socialist proletariat.

“The Holy Christian Church is the principal work of God”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

In The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, 2003, Jeffrey J. Meyers, Canon, Pr., , p. 285. http://books.google.com/books?id=6CSuYz4zj8wC&pg=PA285&dq=%22for+the+sake+of+which+all+things+were+made%22++luther&hl=en&ei=dcKXTeK3IZCw0QGkzJCBDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22for%20the%20sake%20of%20which%20all%20things%20were%20made%22%20%20luther&f=false Auslegung vieler schöner Sprüche aus göttlicher Schrift (Exposition of Many Beautiful Verses from Divine Scripture (selection) (1547)), http://books.google.com/books?id=WCToPQAACAAJ&dq=%22Auslegung+vieler+sch%C3%B6ner+Spr%C3%BCche+%22&hl=en&ei=XcOXTbrhFeyD0QGU_YSADA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA Dr. Martin Luther's Sämmtliche Werke, 1853, Frankfurt-on-the-Main, Erlangen, Heyder & Zimmer, vol. 52, p. 324. http://books.google.com/books?id=WsMOAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA324&dq=%22welches+willen+alles+geschaffen+ist,+darinnen+t%C3%A4glich%22&hl=en&ei=FMqXTcuLH8K60QGtgun3Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22welches%20willen%20alles%20geschaffen%20ist%2C%20darinnen%20t%C3%A4glich%22&f=false Context: The Holy Christian Church is the principal work of God, for the sake of which all things were made. In the Church, great wonders daily occur, such as the forgiveness of sins, triumph over death... the gift of righteousness and eternal life. (Commentary on Psalm 143:5)

God

“There are three ways that men get what they want; by planning, by working, and by praying.”

George S. Patton (1885–1945) United States Army general

As quoted in "The True Story of The Patton Prayer" by James H. O'Neill in Review of the News (6 October 1971) http://www.pattonhq.com/prayer.html Context: There are three ways that men get what they want; by planning, by working, and by praying. Any great military operation takes careful planning, or thinking. Then you must have well-trained troops to carry it out: that's working. But between the plan and the operation there is always an unknown. That unknown spells defeat or victory, success or failure. It is the reaction of the actors to the ordeal when it actually comes. Some people call that getting the breaks; I call it God. God has His part, or margin in everything, That's where prayer comes in.

Men, Way

“Profits are what you make when not working.”

Michael Parenti (1933) American academic

Source: Democracy for the Few (2010 [1974]), sixth edition, Chapter 2, p. 9

“Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.”

Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty

Lionel Giles translation
Source: The Art of War, Chapter VI · Weaknesses and Strengths

Nature, Water, Victory

“For since the fabric of the universe is most perfect, and is the work of a most wise Creator, nothing whatsoever takes place in the universe in which some relation of maximum and minimum does not appear.”

Leonhard Euler (1707–1783) Swiss mathematician

introduction to De Curvis Elasticis, Additamentum I to his Methodus Inveniendi Lineas Curvas Maximi Minimive Proprietate Gaudentes 1744; translated on pg10-11, "Leonhard Euler's Elastic Curves" https://www.dropbox.com/s/o09w82abgtftpfr/1933-oldfather.pdf, Oldfather et al 1933 Context: All the greatest mathematicians have long since recognized that the method presented in this book is not only extremely useful in analysis, but that it also contributes greatly to the solution of physical problems. For since the fabric of the universe is most perfect, and is the work of a most wise Creator, nothing whatsoever takes place in the universe in which some relation of maximum and minimum does not appear. Wherefore there is absolutely no doubt that every effect in the universe can be explained as satisfactorily from final causes, by the aid of the method of maxima and minima, as it can from the effective causes themselves. Now there exist on every hand such notable instances of this fact, that, in order to prove its truth, we have no need at all of a number of examples; nay rather one's task should be this, namely, in any field of Natural Science whatsoever to study that quantity which takes on a maximum or a minimum value, an occupation that seems to belong to philosophy rather than to mathematics. Since, therefore, two methods of studying effects in Nature lie open to us, one by means of effective causes, which is commonly called the direct method, the other by means of final causes, the mathematician uses each with equal success. Of course, when the effective causes are too obscure, but the final causes are more readily ascertained, the problem is commonly solved by the indirect method; on the contrary, however, the direct method is employed whenever it is possible to determine the effect from the effective causes. But one ought to make a special effort to see that both ways of approach to the solution of the problem be laid open; for thus not only is one solution greatly strengthened by the other, but, more than that, from the agreement between the two solutions we secure the very highest satisfaction.

Universe, Appearance, Perfection

“Can I jump over two or three guys like I used to? No. Am I as fast as I used to be? No, but I still have the fundamentals and smarts. That's what enables me to still be a dominant player. As a kid growing up, I never skipped steps. I always worked on fundamentals because I know athleticism is fleeting.”

Kobe Bryant (1978–2020) American basketball player

Guy

“Each moment of my life I was dreaming of how great I could be, and continued working hard. Each time I closed my eyes I could see me shining bright like a sun.”

Kobe Bryant (1978–2020) American basketball player

Sun, Life, Dreams, Time

“People who respect nothing dread fear. It is upon fear, therefore, that I have built up my organization. But understand me correctly, please. Those who work with me are afraid of nothing. Those who work for me are kept faithful, not so much because of their pay as because they know what might be done with them if they broke faith.”

Al Capone (1899–1947) American gangster

Fear, Faith, People, Understanding

“This is hard work:
1. Inspiring
2. Learning
3. Teaching
4. Trusting
5. Empowering
6. Sponsoring
7. Committing
8. Unselfishly giving
9. Loving
10. Nurturing”

Ralph Smart

Love, Making love, Learning

“Democracy is a state in which the sovereign people, guided by laws which are its own work, does for itself all that it can do properly, and through delegates all that it cannot do for itself.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

"On the Principles of Political Morality that Should Guide the National Convention in the Domestic Administration of the Republic" (5 February 1784/18 Ploviôse Year 2)

Democracy, People, Law

“I wish to never stop working on the things I love.”

Cometan

Book: Cometan, the Omnidoxy

Love, Making love

“What does anti-Semitism have to do with socialism? I would put the question this way: What does the Jew have to do with socialism? Socialism has to do with labor. When did one ever see him working instead of plundering, stealing and living from the sweat of others? As socialists we are opponents of the Jews because we see in the Hebrews the incarnation of capitalism.”

Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister

1930s, Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken (1932)

Way, Question

“The results of civilization were surprising: our lives became more secure but less free, and we worked a lot harder.”

Eduardo Galeano (1940–2015) Uruguayan writer

As quoted in Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone (2009), p. 17

“No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy - well, you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I'm President, I never will.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Democracy, Wisdom

“A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work.”

John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (1834–1913) British banker, Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath

“Life is a struggle, a competition. Who will be strong in this fight? The one who is smart, educated, works hard. Today, young people should feel the attention of our state, read a lot, increase their knowledge and continue to develop.”

Shavkat Mirziyoyev (1957) President of Uzbekistan (2016-present)

"Shavkat Mirziyoyev: Every young man is as dear to me as to his parents" in UZ Daily https://www.uzdaily.uz/en/post/63421 (4 February 2021)

Strong, People, Education, Reading

“It has been complicated for the past four years (2017–2021) and it will continue to be complicated. But maybe it is also healthy having to work with people who don't agree with you on everything.”

Katrín Jakobsdóttir (1976) 28th Prime Minister of Iceland

Source: Katrín Jakobsdóttir (2021) cited in: " Iceland's left-right coalition takes office for second term https://www.dw.com/en/icelands-left-right-coalition-takes-office-for-second-term/a-59962630" in DW, December 2021.

Past, People

“Your strength doesn't come from
winning and luxury.
It comes from
struggles and hardship. Everything that
you go through prepares you for the
next level.
You will be stronger than before!
Don't wish for it.
Work for it.”

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

“Such was his desire that when he mentioned that El Lazarillo was the work of an anonymous author, all he could imagine was how much he would now wish to become that absolute ANON.”

José Baroja book Un hijo de perra y otros cuentos

Imagination

“I don't believe anyone ever suspects how completely unsure I am of my work and myself and what tortures of self-doubting the doubt of others has always given me.”

Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) American playwright

“That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

"Don't Let Colonel Blimp Ruin the Home Guard" article for the Evening Standard, 8 January 1941
Context: Even as it stands, the Home Guard could only exist in a country where men feel themselves free. The totalitarian states can do great things, but there is one thing they cannot do: they cannot give the factory-worker a rifle and tell him to take it home and keep it in his bedroom. THAT RIFLE HANGING ON THE WALL OF THE WORKING-CLASS FLAT OR LABOURER'S COTTAGE, IS THE SYMBOL OF DEMOCRACY. IT IS OUR JOB TO SEE THAT IT STAYS THERE.

Democracy

“I married him against all evidence. I married him believing that marriage doesn't work, that love dies, that passion fades, and in so doing I became the kind of romantic only a cynic is truly capable of being.”

Nora Ephron book Heartburn

Source: Heartburn

Love, Marriage, Passion

“The kind of work that should be the main part of life is the kind of work you would want to do if you weren't being paid for it. It's work that comes out of your own internal needs, interests and concerns.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Life, Parting

“We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now.”

George Orwell book 1984

Source: 1984

“We must get beyond passions, like a great work of art. In such miraculous harmony. We should learn to love each other so much to live outside of time… detached.”

Federico Fellini (1920–1993) Italian filmmaker

Source: La Dolce Vita: Federico Fellini's Masterpiece

Love, Art, Learning, Passion

“Love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive.”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Men

Source: Little Men

Love, Flowers, Autumn, Winter

“Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

Moving On, Despair

“Poverty frees them from normal standards of behaviour, just as money frees people from work”

George Orwell book Down and Out in Paris and London

Source: Down and out in Paris and London (1933), Ch. 1
Source: Down and Out in Paris and London
Context: The Paris slums are a gathering-place for eccentric people — people who have fallen into solitary, half-mad grooves of life and given up trying to be normal or decent. Poverty frees them from normal standards of behaviour, just as money frees people from work. Some of the lodgers in our hotel lived lives that were curious beyond words.

Money, People

“His answer to every problem, every setback was “I will work harder!” —which he had adopted as his personal motto.”

George Orwell book Animal Farm

Source: Animal Farm

Problem, Personality

“Perhaps only when human effort had done it's best and failed, would God's power alone be free to work.”

Corrie ten Boom book The Hiding Place

Source: The Hiding Place

God, Effort

“The Universe is worked and guided from within outwards.”

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891) occult writer

Universe

“All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism - it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.”

Conan O'Brien (1963) American television show host and comedian

Final words, January 22, 2010 TV Guide news http://www.tvguide.com/News/Conans-Words-Tonight-1014105.aspx The Tonight Show Context: Before we end this rodeo, a few things need to be said. There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can't say about NBC. To set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at Saturday Night Live, the Late Night show, and my brief run here on The Tonight Show, I have worked with NBC for over twenty years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we're going to go our separate ways. But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible. Walking away from The Tonight Show is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love doing it, and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium. But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I've had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-Eleven parking lot, we'll find a way to make it fun. And finally, I have to say something to our fans. The massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming. The rallies, the signs, all the goofy, outrageous creativity on the Internet, and the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain to be in our audience, made a sad situation joyous and inspirational. To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism - it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. As proof, let’s make an amazing thing happen right now. Here to close out our show, are a few good friends, led by Mr. Will Ferrell…

Life, Hate

“I have a lot of work to do today;
I need to slaughter memory,
Turn my living soul to stone
Then teach myself to live again.”

Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet

Source: The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova

Soul, Memory

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Quotes about work
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