Quotes about work page 3
“Dream beautiful dreams and then work to make those dreams come true.”
Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
“One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-British philosopher
As quoted in "A View from the Asylum" in Philosophical Investigations from the Sanctity of the Press (2004), by Henry Dribble, p. 87
Attributed from posthumous publications
“Work as if everything depended upon work and pray as if everything depended upon prayer.”
William Booth (1829–1912) British Methodist preacher
“The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well.”
William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian pathologist, physician, educator, bibliophile, historian, author, cofounder of Johns Hopkins Hospi…
As quoted in Lifetime Speaker's Encyclopedia (1962) by Jacob Morton Braude, p. 575.
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”
Newt Gingrich (1943) Professor, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
“I perceive God everywhere in His works. I sense Him in me; I see Him all around me.”
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) Genevan philosopher
“Works of art make rules but rules do not make works of art.”
Claude Debussy (1862–1918) French composer
As quoted in Companion to Contemporary Musical Thought (1992) by John Paynter, p. 590
Unsourced variant: Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
Source: 1920s, "Picasso Speaks" (1923), p. 315.
“Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work…”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Oscar Wilde book The Happy Prince and Other Tales
" The Remarkable Rocket http://www.online-literature.com/wilde/179/". <br class="br">The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) <br class="br">Variant: Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi
Source: Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
“If you don't want to work you have to work to earn enough money so that you won't have to work.”
Ogden Nash (1902–1971) American poet
"More About People"
Many Long Years Ago (1945)
Source: Hard Lines
“Keep your friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent”
Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power
Source: The 48 Laws of Power
Viktor E. Frankl (1905–1997) Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor
Source: Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning
“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”
Jerome K. Jerome book Three Men in a Boat
Variant: I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.
Source: Three Men in a Boat (1889), Ch. 15.
Context: It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.
“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”
Emile Zola (1840–1902) French writer (1840-1902)
As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul : Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang , p. 55.
“God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does.”
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
“God sometimes does His work with gentle drizzle, not storms.”
John Newton (1725–1807) Anglican clergyman and hymn-writer
Source: Amazing Grace
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) French philosopher
Truth, Power, Self : An Interview with Michel Foucault (25 October 1982)
Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) French painter and sculptor
Quote from The Writings of Marcel Duchamp (Marchand du Sel) e.d. Michel Sanouille and Elmer Peterson, New York 1973, pp. 139-140
posthumous
Context: The spectator experiences the phenomenon of transmutation; through the change from inert matter into a work of art, an actual transubstantiation has taken place... All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work into contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.
“Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.”
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
Variant translation: Laziness may appear attractive but work gives satisfaction.
6 July 1944
The Diary of a Young Girl (1942 - 1944)
Variant: Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.
Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution
Source: Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism: Full Text of 1916 Edition
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
“It takes two people to make a lie work: the person who tells it, and the one who believes it.”
Jodi Picoult (1966) Author
Source: Vanishing Acts
“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.”
Bruce Lee book Tao of Jeet Kune Do
As quoted in Bruce Lee : Fighting Spirit (1994) by Bruce Thomas (1994), p. 44
Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do
“Instead of committing suicide, people go to work.”
Thomas Bernhard book Correction
Source: Correction
“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
“Music is my mother and my father; it is my work and my rest… my blood… my compass… my love…”
Jeff Buckley (1966–1997) American singer, guitarist and songwriter
Louise L. Hay book You Can Heal Your Life
Variant: You have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn't worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.
Source: You Can Heal Your Life
Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
“All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn to draw?”
Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter
Existencilism (2002)
Source: Wall and Piece
“I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, He can work through anyone.”
Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order
“My mind rebels at stagnation, give me problems, give me work!”
Arthur Conan Doyle book The Sign of the Four
Source: The Sign of Four
Nikola Tesla book My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla
My Inventions (1919)
Source: My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla
Context: The moment one constructs a device to carry into practice a crude idea, he finds himself unavoidably engrossed with the details of the apparatus. As he goes on improving and reconstructing, his force of concentration diminishes and he loses sight of the great underlying principle.… I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance.
“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
La inspiración existe, pero tiene que encontrarte trabajando.
Attributed from posthumous publications
Source: Tomás R. Villasante (1994), Las ciudades hablan: identidades y movimientos sociales en seis metrópolis latinoamericanas. p. 264.
“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
Carlos Castaneda book Journey to Ixtlan
Variant: We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same
Source: Journey to Ixtlan
“You do good work for a long-enough time, I believed, and you'd get noticed.”
Yanni (1954) Greek pianist, keyboardist, composer, and music producer
Yanni in Words. Miramax Books. Co-author David Rensin
John Wayne Gacy (1942–1994) American serial killer and torturer
Biography - John Wayne Gacy: Monster in Disguise. A & E Home Video, 2000. Watched March 1, 2010.
“The criterion of truth is that it works even if nobody is prepared to acknowledge it.”
Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) austrian economist
Source: The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science (1962), Chapter 5: On Some Popular Errors Concerning the Scope and Method of Economics, § 9 : The Belief in the Omnipotence of Thought
Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) German social scientist, author, political theorist, and philosopher
(1847)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian writer
Open letter to the Fourth Soviet Writers’ Congress (16 May 1967) “The Struggle Intensifies,” Solzhenitsyn: A Documentary Record, ed. Leopold Labedz (1970).
Frederick Herzberg (1923–2000) American psychologist
Source: The motivation to work, 1959, p. 32
Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher
Socrates, p. 145
Eupalinos ou l'architecte (1921)
Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet
As quoted in Marry Your Muse : Making a Lasting Commitment to Your Creativity (1997) by Jan Phillips, p. 75
Amos Oz (1939–2018) Israeli writer, novelist, journalist and intellectual
"The Great Disruption", In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, 17 Jun 1999, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00545kh
Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) French painter
In a letter to his son, Lucien; as quoted in: Brother Thomas (O.S.B.), Rosemary Williams (1999) Creation Out of Clay: The Ceramic Art and Writings of Brother Thomas. p. 45
undated quotes
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Source: The Freedom of a Christian (1520), pp. 74-75
Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) German philosopher and founder of the Order of Illuminati
Philosophy degree (1783), in: The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrinces of the Illuminati, ed. by Josef Wäges and Reinhard Markner, Lewis Masonic 2015, p. 364.
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) Russian composer, pianist, and conductor
Eric Blom (ed.) Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edn. (London: Macmillan, 1954) vol. 7, p. 27.
Criticism
Michelle Phillips (1944) Singer, actress
On raising her daughter, Chynna Philips, The Huffington Post (August 25, 2016)
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Source: The Freedom of a Christian (1520), p. 75
Tom Morello (1964) American guitarist and singer-songwriter
http://www.musicfanclubs.org/rage/articles/guitaryear.htm
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Austrian Romantic composer
Spoken in Prague, 1787, to conductor Kucharz, who led the rehearsals for Don Giovanni, from Mozart: The Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words by Friedrich Kerst, trans. Henry Edward Krehbiel (1906).
Ian Smith (1919–2007) Prime Minister of Rhodesia
Nigel Rees, "Sayings of the Century", Unwin paperbacks, 1984, p. 247.
Radio broadcast, March 20, 1976.
Peter Godwin, Comment in the Guardian(UK) Newspaper http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/nov/25/comment.zimbabwe.
Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (1881–1959) British politician
Speech as Viceroy of India (1926), quoted in Birkenhead, Halifax (Hamish Hamilton, 1965), pp. 223-234
Viceroy of India
“The talent works, the genius creates.”
Robert Schumann (1810–1856) German composer, aesthete and influential music critic
Attributed to Schumann in: The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 112, 1913, p. 811
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
“ A New Storm Against Imperialism https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-9/mswv9_80.htm” (1968)
Franz Kline (1910–1962) American painter
1950's, Conversations With Artists, 1957
James H. Cone (1938–2018) American theologian
Source: Black Theology and Black Power (1969), pp. 39-41
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
"Charles Dickens" (1939)
Charles Dickens (1939)
Amos Oz (1939–2018) Israeli writer, novelist, journalist and intellectual
From a PBS interview with Amos Oz. The entire interview http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june02/oz_1-23.html