Quotes about work
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“A work of art works because it is true, not because it is real.”

Source: Beatrice and Virgil

“When we only name the problem, when we state complaint without a constructive focus or resolution, we take hope away. In this way critique can become merely an expression of profound cynicism, which then works to sustain dominator culture.”

Bell Hooks (1952) American author, feminist, and social activist

Source: Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope

Hope, Way, Problem

“The shoddy work of despair, the pointless work of pride, equally betray Creation. They are wastes of life.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

Source: What Are People For?

Life, Despair

“Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying.”

Studs Terkel (1912–2008) American author, historian and broadcaster

Life, Search

“… talent means nothing, while experience, acquired in humility and with hard work, means everything.”

Patrick Süskind (1949) German writer and screenwriter

Source: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Back To Work, Wise

“I don’t want to fade away, I want to flame away - I want my death to be an attraction, a spectacle, a mystery. A work of art.”

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad

Source: A Visit from the Goon Squad

Death, Art

“Mind control won't work on those who are really hardheaded. You know… Creatures like you.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infamous

“Work. Like pain, I sensed that this was an experience I would want to avoid as often as possible.”

Joanne Harris book The Gospel of Loki

Source: The Gospel of Loki

Pain, Sense

“The obliterated place is equal parts destruction and creation. The obliterated place is pitch black and bright light. It is water and parched earth. It is mud and it is manna. The real work of deep grief is making a home there.”

Cheryl Strayed book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

Source: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

Home, Light, Water, Parting

“It took a lot of work to be perfect. If you didn’t want to break a sweat, there was no point in even bothering.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Perfection

“The purposeful destruction of information is the essence of intelligent work.”

Ray Kurzweil (1948) Author, scientist, inventor, and futurist

Source: The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence

Intelligence

“He would find a way to make it work, because he finally understood that sometimes you have to raise your expectations. And sometimes you need to make a claim on the world and the people you love to get what you most desire”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Wizard Heir

Love, People, World, Way

“Do not whine… Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.”

Joan Didion book Blue Nights

Source: Blue Nights

Time

“Ford!" he said, "there's an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script forthey've worked out.”

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

“Nothing like work for getting over a disappointment.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

Disappointment

“They more than do their work, they take pride in it. Like Cinna.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

“If it works out, it's the best thing in the world. If it doesn't work out, it's like having your heart torn out and chopped up into little pieces while you watch. It leaves a big hollow space that never really heals.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Narcissus in Chains

Source: Narcissus in Chains

World, Heart

“Just let go. Let go of how you thought your life should be, and embrace the life that is trying to work its way into your consciousness.”

Caroline Myss (1952) author from the United States

Life, Way

“The evening's the best part of the day. You've done your day's work. Now you can put your feet up and enjoy it.”

Kazuo Ishiguro The Remains of the Day

Source: The Remains of the Day

Parting

“Nobody works better under pressure. They just work faster.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

“I am my best work - a series of road maps, reports, recipes, doodles, and prayers from the front lines.”

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) writer and activist

“Pray as if all things depend on God, and work as if all things depend on you.”

Christina Dodd (1957) American writer

Source: Scent of Darkness

God, Dependency

“the work of salvation, in its full sense, is (1) about whole human beings, not merely souls; (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us.”

N.T. Wright (1948) Anglican bishop

God, Soul, Sense, Future

“Interests evolve into hobbies or volunteer work, which grow into passions. It takes time, more time than anyone imagines.”

Po Bronson (1964) American writer

Source: What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

Imagination, Passion, Time

“Any damage that's been done, you have to fix yourself because it needs fixing and there is nobody else to do the work. Blame may well be justified, but it's not going to move you forward in your life.”

Augusten Burroughs (1965) American writer

Source: This Is How: Surviving What You Think You Can't

Life

“It was one of those moments of perfect tiredness, of having conquered not only the work at hand, but the night who had blocked the way.”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

Way, Perfection, Night

“One of these days they'll be making a film where the whole human race gets wiped out in a nuclear war, but everything works out in the end.”

Haruki Murakami book A Wild Sheep Chase

Source: A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel (1982)
Context: I watched an old American submarine movie on television. The creaking plot had the captain and first officer constantly at each other’s throat. The submarine was a fossil, and one guy had claustrophobia. But all that didn’t stop everything from working out well in the end. It was an everything-works-out-in-the-end-so-maybe-war’s-not-so-bad-after-all sort of film. One of these days they’ll be making a film where the whole human race gets wiped out in a nuclear war, but everything works out in the end.

War

“At first, it was hard to sit down and read the things that people were saying. A lot of people would've worked their way up to this position and would've gotten a thick skin over a few years' time. For me, though, all this happened in a few months.”

Carrie Underwood (1983) American country music singer

People, Way, Time, Reading

“No: I am not tired. I have a curious constitution. I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely." ~ Sherlock Holmes”

Arthur Conan Doyle book The Sign of the Four

Source: The Sign of Four

Feeling

“I wish to confound all these people, to create a work of art of a supernatural realism and of a spiritualist naturalism. I wish to prove… that nothing is explained in the mysteries which surround us.”

Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907) French novelist and art critic

People, Art, Nature

“How can we expect people to put value on our work when we don't value ourselves enough to set and hold uncomfortable boundaries?”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: Rising Strong

People

“Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.”

William Goldman book Adventures in the Screen Trade

Source: Adventures in the Screen Trade

Education, Time, Personality

“… and yet isn't it always the inappropriate thing, the thing that doesn't quite work, that's oddly the dearest?”

Donna Tartt book The Goldfinch

Source: The Goldfinch

“When she orgasmed, she said his name. Twice. And didn’t it make him glad that even though he had no voice, his ears worked just fine. –JM”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Mine

“Well, while I'm here I'll do the work — and what's the work? To ease the pain of living. Everything else, drunken dumbshow.”

Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) American poet

Pain

“Much of what we called "depression" was really dissatisfaction, a result of setting a bar impossibly high or expecting treasures we weren't willing to work for.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: Have a Little Faith: a True Story

“And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.”

John Steinbeck book The Grapes of Wrath

Source: The Grapes of Wrath

History

“Working really hard is what successful people do…”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: Outliers: The Story of Success

People, Success

“Often, I get the feeling that the story is really happening somewhere and all I'm doing is trying to work out the best way to tell it.”

Garth Nix (1963) Australian fantasy writer

Way, Feeling

“It has taken me years of struggle, hard work, and research to learn to make one simple gesture, and I know enough about the art of writing to realize that it would take as many years of concentrated effort to write one simple, beautiful sentence.”

Isadora Duncan (1877–1927) American dancer and choreographer

Beauty, Art, Effort, Learning

“To work hard, to live hard, to die hard, and then go to hell after all would be too damn hard.”

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American writer and editor

Hell

“Police business is a hell of a problem. It’s a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there’s nothing in it to attract the highest type of men. So we have to work with what we get…”

Raymond Chandler book The Lady in the Lake

Source: The Lady in the Lake

Men, Hell, Business, Problem

“Sometimes, things don't work out the way we want them to.”

Nicholas Sparks A Bend in the Road

Source: A Bend in the Road

Way

“The water caught the Falselight glimmer like layers of shifting, translucent mirrors and formed split-second works of art in the air, but men cursed it anyway, because it made their heads wet.”

Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora

Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Men, Art, Water

“We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author

Art, Passion, Madness

“Being productive. Ugh. It's such a human concept. It implies you have limited time (LOL) and have to work hard to make something happen (double LOL).”

Rick Riordan book The Dark Prophecy

Source: The Dark Prophecy

Time

“There are only two forces at work in this world- black and white. Only people are grey.”

Chris Heimerdinger (1963) American writer

Source: Gadiantons and the Silver Sword

People, World

“Unusual financial activity: none, unless you count the fact that someone in the family is way too into Civil War biographies. (Can this be a possible indication of Confederate insurgents still living and working in Virginia? Must research further.)”

Ally Carter I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Source: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

War, Family, Way

“I hold a little fundraiser every day. Its called going to work.”

Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor

“I’d been raised to be practical and keep my
emotions in check, but I loved cars. That was one of the few
legacies I’d picked up from my mom. She was a mechanic,
and some of my best childhood memories were of working
in the garage with her.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Love, Cars, Moms, Memory

“Everybody told me this 'girl on the piano' thing was never going to work.”

Tori Amos (1963) American singer

Girl

“It's no accident that the countries that have enjoyed an economic take off have been those that educated girls and then gave them the autonomy to move to the cities to find work”

Sheryl WuDunn book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Source: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Education, Girl, Country

“I'm talkin' about you. Stop pretending you're normal. You're insane. Make that work for you.”

Jennifer Crusie (1949) American writer

Source: Agnes and the Hitman

“Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

World, Understanding

“Loveless work, boring work, work valued only because others haven't got even that much, however loveless and boring--this is one of the harshest human miseries.”

Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) Polish writer

“Truly, everything in this world depended on time. Time ripened all. If you had time, you succeeded in working the human mud internally and turning it into spirit. Then you did not fear death. If you did not have time, you perished.”

Nikos Kazantzakis book The Last Temptation of Christ

Source: The Last Temptation of Christ

Death, World, Fear, Time

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. What I’ve learned to do when I sit down to work on a shitty first draft is to quiet the voices in my head.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Effort, Learning

“As far as I can tell, dumping soda on people is the equivalent of ‘Hi, it’s nice to meet you’ in this part of the world. Frankly, I think standard greetings work better, but what do I know?”

Nicholas Sparks book The Last Song

Source: The Last Song

People, World, Thinking, Parting

“Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

As quoted in The Money Adventure (1998) by Egbert Sukop, p. 128

People

“They yell at me because I can’t see what they see. Nobody can explain to me why my eyes work different than theirs. Nobody can make it stop.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

“It never seemed fair that just when you're old enough to do anything you want, you can't. You have to start working, so there's no time. And if there is time, you're not working, so there's no money.”

Terri Farley (1950) American writer

Source: Seven Tears Into the Sea

Money, Time

“You have done all the work in this business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit, pray what remains for you?"
"For me," said Sherlock Holmes, "there still remains the cocaine bottle.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book The Sign of the Four

Source: The Sign of Four

Business

“In other parts of the country people tried to stay together for the sake of the children. In New York they tried to work things out for the sake of the apartment.”

David Sedaris book Me Talk Pretty One Day

Source: Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000)

Children, People, Parting, Country

“The two things I enjoy the most about writing are the first page of a book and the last. What's in between is very hard work.”

Rachel Gibson (1961) American writer

Books

“But fear doesn't need doors and windows. It works from the inside.”

Andrew Clements Things Not Seen

Source: Things Not Seen

Fear

“Healthy striving is about striving for internal goals, and wanting to be our best selves. Perfectionism is not motivated internally. Perfectionism is about what people will think. And you do not see effective leaders in corporations sitting on an email for three hours to make sure it’s worded just perfectly. You don’t. They have work to get done.. You don’t see elite athletes letting themselves be discouraged by a bad workout or a single bad performance. It happens all the time. They’re accustomed to winning, they’re accustomed to losing. Once perfectionism becomes the goal, they’re out of the sport.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Washington Post, October 2012 http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/exhaustion-is-not-a-status-symbol/2012/10/02/19d27aa8-0cba-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_story_2.html <br class="br">Source: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

People, Motivation, Thinking, Sport

“They have money and position and Ann has none. It's amazing how often you can be right as long as you have those two things working in your favor.”

Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty

Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Money

“The biggest mistake we could ever make in our lives is to think we work for anybody but ourselves.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

Thinking

“Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.”

Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer

People, Knowledge, Future

“I suppose we must work on being gracious and grateful until we can do for ourselves. Someday the wheel of fate will put us in a position to be of use to them, and we will remember how much easier it is to give help than it is to accept it.”

Patricia Briggs book River Marked

Source: River Marked

Fate, Help

“Read, learn, work it up, go to the literature.

Information is control.”

Joan Didion The Year of Magical Thinking

Source: The Year of Magical Thinking

Literature, Learning, Reading

“Everybody loves to show up at the party once all the hard work is done.”

Rick Riordan book The Serpent's Shadow

Source: The Serpent's Shadow

Love

“If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work in the world has been done against seeming impossibilities.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

World

“Inspiration comes of working every day.”

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet

“I can do nothing for you but work on myself… you can do nothing for me but work on yourself!”

Ram Dass book Be Here Now

Source: Be Here Now

“Pray like it all depends on God, but work like it all depends on you.”

Dave Ramsey (1960) American financial advisor

God, Dependency

“He suddenly understood the message of so many spiritual teachers that the only revolution that can work is the inner transformation of every human being.”

Stanislav Grof (1931) Czech pychiatrist

Source: The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Human Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives

Teachers

“Ghosts don't haunt us. That's not how it works. They're present among us because we won't let go of them."

"I don't believe in ghosts," I said, faintly.

"Some people can't see the color red. That doesn't mean it isn't there," she replied.”

Sue Grafton (1940–2017) American writer

Source: M is for Malice

People, Color

“I read once that explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog," Mark said. "You find out how it works, but the frog dies in the process.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

Reading

“Success = 1 part work + 1 part play + 1 part keep your mouth shut”

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

Source: Ideas and Opinions

Success, Parting

“Life is short and truth works far and lives long: let us speak the truth.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Source: The World as Will and Representation, Vol 1

Wise, Life, Life, Truth

“My reasoning, if one can call it that, was inflamed by the scatter shot passions of youth and a literary diet overly rich in the works of Nietzshe, Kerouac, and John Menlove Edwards…”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

Youth, Passion

“It's called peaceful coexistence, Santangelo. You should try it and if it works we may sell the idea to the Israelis and Palestinians”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

Peace, Idea

“What is worth having is worth working for.”

Philip Pullman (1946) English author

“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied it intently. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Source: My Early Life: A Roving Commission (1930), Chapter 9 (Education At Bangalore).

Books, Study, Memory, Reading

“The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

As quoted in The New Speaker's Treasury of Wit and Wisdom (1958) edited by Herbert Victor Prochnow <br class="br">As quoted at page 212 in The Pocket Book of Quips and Quotes http://books.google.de/books?id=jcIWpJdFBkEC&pg=PA212&dq=The+world+is+full+of+willing+people,+some+willing+to+work,+the+rest+willing+to+let+them.&hl=de&sa=X&ei=R9LOUe3UL8mctAbO0oDQCg&ved=0CGwQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=The%20world%20is%20full%20of%20willing%20people%2C%20some%20willing%20to%20work%2C%20the%20rest%20willing%20to%20let%20them.&f=false (1996) by Rajendra Pillai, Copyright 1996 The Saint Paul Society Bombay, 2nd Print 1999 <br class="br">1950s

People, World

“… a genuine work of art, can never be false, nor can it be discredited through the lapse of time, for it does not present an opinion but the thing itself.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Art, Time, Falseness

“Wildness had never been a part of her life. Home, work, home, work. That's all her life had consisted of, really. She'd told Maddox that she'd been glad for her solitude, bu the truth was, there were times she'd been starved for touch. Any touch.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Darkest Night

Life, Truth, Home, Solitude