Quotes about work
page 95

Richard Cobden photo

“…the principles of political economy have elevated the working class above the place they ever filled before.”

Richard Cobden (1804–1865) English manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman

Speech at Rochdale (23 November 1864), quoted in John Bright and J. E. Thorold Rogers (eds.), Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Cobden, M.P. Volume II (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1908), p. 496.
1860s

Bill Bryson photo
Mukesh Ambani photo
John Steinbeck photo
Burkard Schliessmann photo

“To approach Bach, one has to realize that 100 years after Bach’s death, Bach and his music totally had been forgotten. Even while he was still alive, Bach himself believed in the polyphonic power and the resulting symmetric architectures of well-proportioned music. But this had been an artificial truth - even for him. Other composers, including his sons, already composed in another style, where they found other ideals and brought them to new solutions. The spirit of the time already had changed while Bach was still alive. A hundred years later, it was Mendelssohn who about 1850 discovered Bach anew with the performance of the St. Matthew Passion. Now a new renaissance began, and the world learned to know the greatness of Bach. To become acquainted with Bach, many transcriptions were done. But the endeavors in rediscovering Bach had been - stylistically - in a wrong direction. Among these were the orchestral transcriptions of Leopold Stokowski, and the organ interpretations of the multitalented Albert Schweitzer, who, one has to confess, had a decisive effect on the rediscovery of Bach. All performances had gone in the wrong direction: much too romantic, with a false knowledge of historic style, the wrong sound, the wrong rubato, and so on. The necessity of artists like Rosalyn Tureck and Glenn Gould - again 100 years later - has been understandable: The radicalism of Glenn Gould pointed out the real clarity and the internal explosions of the power-filled polyphony in the best way. This extreme style, called by many of his critics refrigerator interpretations, however really had been necessary to demonstrate the right strength to bring out the architecture in the right manner, which had been lost so much before. I’m convinced that the style Glenn Gould played has been the right answer. But there has been another giant: it was no less than Helmut Walcha who, also beginning in the 1950, started his legendary interpretations for the DG-Archive productions of the complete organ-work cycle on historic organs (Silbermann, Arp Schnitger). Also very classical in strength of speed and architectural proportions, he pointed out the polyphonic structures in an enlightened but moreover especially humanistic way, in a much more smooth and elegant way than Glenn Gould on the piano. Some years later it was Virgil Fox who acquainted the U. S. with tours of the complete Bach cycle, which certainly was effective in its own way, but much more modern than Walcha. The ranges of Bach interpretations had become wide, and there were the defenders of the historical style and those of the much more modern romantic style. Also the performances of the orchestral and cantata Bach had become extreme: on one side, for example, Karl Richter, who used a big and rich-toned orchestra; on the other side Helmut Rilling, whose Bach was much more historically oriented.”

Burkard Schliessmann classical pianist

Talkings on Bach

Vyasa photo

“The gods, the Rishis and the Siddhas become visible to him who is given to study, and they do take part in his work.”

Vyasa central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions

in p, 173.
Sources, The Yoga Darsana Of Patanjali With The Sankhya Pravacana Commentary Of Vyasa

Joseph Joubert photo
Susan B. Anthony photo
Isabelle Adjani photo
Ludwig Klages photo
Willie Nelson photo
Margaret Thatcher photo

“The only way to do the best you can is to work as hard as you can.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL5walAO3KI&feature=youtu.be&t=15m
Leader of the Opposition

John Ruskin photo

“Work first and then rest. Work first, and then gaze, but do not use golden ploughshares, nor bind ledgers in enamel.”

Source: The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849), Chapter IV: The Lamp of Beauty, section 19.

Priscilla Presley photo

“Yes. I came to Washington to lobby Senators and Congressmen to co-sponsor in support of the PAST Act and I'm hoping by making this public people will join me to help me get this bill passed. Links are available for them to contact their Congressman saying they support the PAST Act. That's all they have to do. You would think this is a no-brainer, that this would pass but there IS opposition. The law was passed in 1970 to stop soring but Horse Industry (HIOs) found loopholes and continued soring. USDA is charged with enforcement of the Horse Protection Act, but as the result of a 1976 amendment to the act, the USDA has for decades certified the horse industry organization to conduct the majority of inspections at horse shows. This self regulation scheme has failed miserably and has to be abolished. USDA inspectors are threatened by exhibitors at horse shows and must be frequently accompanied by security. If they had nothing to hide (like covering the scarred legs with paint or taking off other paraphernalia when USDA inspectors are around) why aren't they welcomed? That's why being their own inspectors is not working.”

Priscilla Presley (1945) actress and businesswoman from the United States and former wife of Elvis Presley

Priscilla Presley On The Cause She's So Passionate About And The First Time Elvis Took Her Breath Away http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pat-gallagher/priscilla-presley_b_4933783.html, 12 March, 2014.

Tim O'Reilly photo

“Work on Stuff that Matters”

Tim O'Reilly (1954) Irish computer programmer
Kim Il-sung photo

“What is Juche [the subject] in our Party's ideological work? What are we doing? We are not engaged in any other country's revolution, but precisely in the Korean revolution. This, the Korean revolution, constitutes Juche in the ideological work of our Party. Therefore, all ideological work must be subordinated to the interests of the Korean revolution.”

Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Source: " On eliminating dogmatism and formalism and establishing Juche in ideological work http://www.marxists.org/archive/kim-il-sung/1955/12/28.htm" (28 December 1955)

Sarah Gadon photo
Akio Morita photo

“…without an organisation that can work together, sometimes over a very long period, it's difficult to see new projects to fruition.”

Akio Morita (1921–1999) Japanese businessman

Source: Made in Japan (1986), p. 170.

Bill Mollison photo
Clinton Edgar Woods photo
Aubrey Beardsley photo

“I have always done my sketches, as people would say, for the fun of it… I have worked to amuse myself, and if it has amused the public as well, so much the better for me.”

Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) English illustrator and author

In an interview with <i>The Idler</i> (1896), as quoted in Aubrey Beardsley : A Biography (1999) by Matthew Sturgis, p. 309

Herbert Marcuse photo

“Ascending modern rationalism, in its speculative as well as empirical form, shows a striking contrast between extreme critical radicalism in scientific and philosophic method on the one hand, and an uncritical quietism in the attitude toward established and functioning social institutions. Thus Descartes' ego cogitans was to leave the “great public bodies” untouched, and Hobbes held that “the present ought always to be preferred, maintained, and accounted best.” Kant agreed with Locke in justifying revolution if and when it has succeeded in organizing the whole and in preventing subversion. However, these accommodating concepts of Reason were always contradicted by the evident misery and injustice of the “great public bodies” and the effective, more or less conscious rebellion against them. Societal conditions existed which provoked and permitted real dissociation. from the established state of affairs; a private as well as political dimension was present in which dissociation could develop into effective opposition, testing its strength and the validity of its objectives. With the gradual closing of this dimension by the society, the self-limitation of thought assumes a larger significance. The interrelation between scientific-philosophical and societal processes, between theoretical and practical Reason, asserts itself "behind the back” of the scientists and philosophers. The society bars a whole type of oppositional operations and behavior; consequently, the concepts pertaining to them are rendered illusory or meaningless. Historical transcendence appears as metaphysical transcendence, not acceptable to science and scientific thought. The operational and behavioral point of view, practiced as a “habit of thought” at large, becomes the view of the established universe of discourse and action, needs and aspirations. The “cunning of Reason” works, as it so often did, in the interest of the powers that be. The insistence on operational and behavioral concepts turns against the efforts to free thought and behavior from the given reality and for the suppressed alternatives.”

Source: One-Dimensional Man (1964), pp. 15-16

Mark Kac photo
Courtney Love photo
Larry Flynt photo

“Majority rule will only work if you're considering individual rights. You can't have five wolves and one sheep vote on what they want to have for supper”

Larry Flynt (1942) American publisher

[Carol LLoyd, Flynt's revenge http://www.salon.com/news/1999/02/cov_23newsa.html, Salon, 1999-02-23]

“Idleness, indifference and irresponsibility are healthy responses to absurd work… If you want people motivated to do a good job, give them a good job to do.”

Frederick Herzberg (1923–2000) American psychologist

Frederick Herzberg in: Alfie Kohn (1999), Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, ... p. 205

Sandra Day O'Connor photo
Alexis De Tocqueville photo
Ambrose Bierce photo
Phil Ochs photo
Chris Carter photo
Bernard Harcourt photo
Porphyry (philosopher) photo

“The fleshless diet contributes to health and to a suitable endurance of hard work in philosophy.”

Porphyry (philosopher) (233–301) Neoplatonist philosopher

1, 2, 1
On Abstinence from Killing Animals

Vitruvius photo
Francis Picabia photo
Wilhelm Liebknecht photo
David Miscavige photo
Mark Manson photo

“I wanted the reward and not the struggle. I wanted the result and not the process. I was in love with not the fight but only the victory.
And life doesn’t work that way.”

Mark Manson (1984) American writer and blogger

Source: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (2016), Chapter 2, “Happiness Is a Problem” (p. 40)

Clement Attlee photo

“We are told that we have to accept the Treaty of Rome. I have read the Treaty of Rome pretty carefully, and it expresses an outlook entirely different from our own. It may be that I am insular, but I value our Parliamentary outlook, an outlook which has extended throughout the Commonwealth. That is not the same position that holds on the Continent of Europe. No one of these principal countries in the Common Market has been very successful in running Parliamentary institutions: Germany, hardly any experience; Italy, very little; France, a swing between a dictatorship and more or less anarchic Parliament, and not very successfully. As I read the Treaty of Rome, the whole position means that we shall enter a federation which is composed in an entirely different way. I do not say it is the wrong way. But it is not our way. In this set-up it is the official who really puts up all the proposals; the whole of the planning is done by officials. It seems to me that the Ministers come in at a later stage—and if there is anything like a Federal Parliament, at a later stage still. I do not think that that is the way this country has developed, or wishes to develop. I am all for working in with our Continental friends. I was one of those who worked to build up NATO; I have worked for European integration. But that is a very different thing from bringing us into a close association which, I may say, is not one for defence, or even just for foreign policy. The fact is that if the designs behind the Common Market are carried out, we are bound to be affected in every phase of our national life. There would be no national planning, except under the guidance of Continental planning—we shall not be able to deal with our own problems; we shall not be able to build up the country in the way we want to do, so far as I can see. I think we shall be subject to overall control and planning by others. That is my objection.”

Clement Attlee (1883–1967) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1962/nov/08/britain-and-the-common-market in the House of Lords on the British application to join the Common Market (8 November 1962).
1960s

Ilana Mercer photo

“The military is government. The military works like government; is financed like government, and sports many of the same inherent malignancies of government, chief of which is its liberalism. Like the government, the military is freighted with pathological political correctness.”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

“Assange is Us,” http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article_list_view.php?editid1=578 WorldNetDaily.com, December 10, 2010.
2010s, 2010

N. Gregory Mankiw photo
Abd al-Karim Qasim photo
Theodor Mommsen photo
F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead photo

“Judge: What do you suppose I am on the Bench for, Mr. Smith?
Smith: It is not for me, Your Honour, to attempt to fathom the inscrutable workings of Providence.”

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead (1872–1930) British politician

Quoted in F.E. : The Life of F. E. Smith First Earl of Birkenhead (1933) by Frederick Second Earl of Birkenhead, 1959 edition, Ch 9

Russell L. Ackoff photo
Bernie Sanders photo
Henry Moore photo
Max Beckmann photo

“I am working here [Amsterdam] on my last big triptych, which will be a tremendous story, and which gives me a more intense life and exhilaration. My God, life is worth living!”

Max Beckmann (1884–1950) German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor and writer

In a letter to Stephan Lackner, Amsterdam, 1939; as quoted in Max Beckmann, Stephan Lackner, Bonfini Press Corporation, Naefels, Switzerland, 1983, p. 5
1930s

“Work hard and you will make it; at the end, it's all about your design philosophy.”

Deepak Perwani (1973) Pakistani fashion designer

Perwani's message to amateur designers http://www.scribd.com/doc/2257395/Interview-with-Deepak-Perwani

John Angell James photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Sunil Dutt photo

“There should be no statues or a street named after me, no postal stamp with my face or any a organization after me. I like people to remember me by following my work”

Sunil Dutt (1929–2005) Hindi film actor

His last wish noted in "Bollywood: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow", pages=135-36

Elizabeth Barrett Browning photo
Will Cuppy photo

“I only know that all is lost, and that nothing can help me unless I inherit money, strike oil or go to work.”

Will Cuppy (1884–1949) American writer

Coffee, Please!
How to Be a Hermit (1929)

George W. Bush photo
Théodore Rousseau photo
John Updike photo
Frances Kellor photo
Ed Bradley photo
Harry Chapin photo
Jodi Benson photo
Robert Jordan photo
Carson Grant photo

“As actors, we need public relations to campaign for our next possible role, and any media promoting our work seems positive in nature; but whether in theater or on a film set, a bad unprofessional photograph at the wrong angle may not be as flattering to some actors, and may be considered a harmful exposure.”

Carson Grant (1950) American actor

Ernest Dempsey, "Camera Shy?", Digital Journal: Arts, Jan 10, 2011, p. 1
Pointing to the negative publicity factor with unsolicited photographs, article printed in Digital Journal 2011.

Enver Hoxha photo
James Callaghan photo

“David Rose (ITN reporter): Industrial relations and picketing. What about the TUC putting its house in order?
James Callaghan: The media's always trying to find what's wrong with something.. Let's try and make it work.
Rose: What if the unions can't control their own militants? So there are no circumstances where you would legislate?
Callaghan: I didn't say anything of that sort at all. I'm not going to take the interview any further. Look here. We've been having five minutes on industrial relations. You said you would do prices. I'm just not going to do this.. that programme is not to go. This interview with you is only doing industrial relations. I'm not doing the interview with you on that basis. I'm not going to do it. Don't argue with me. I'm not going to do it.”

James Callaghan (1912–2005) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; 1976-1979

Interview (2 May 1979), quoted in Michael Pilsworth, "Balanced Broadcasting", in David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1979 (Macmillan, 1980), pp. 207-208.
Callaghan objects to the line of questioning of ITN's David Rose in an interview recorded on 2 May 1979. He was eventually persuaded to return and recorded a new interview, but owing to an agreement with NBC TV that they should have access to all material recorded by ITN, it was shown in the USA and then reported in the Daily Telegraph.
Prime Minister

Indra Nooyi photo
Alan García photo
Patrick Modiano photo
Jane Roberts photo
John Hicks photo
Archibald Cox photo
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston photo

“It is quite clear that if by sudden attack by an Enemy landed in strength our Dock-yards were to be destroyed our Maritime Power would for more than half a century be paralysed, and our Colonies, our commerce, and the Subsistence of a large Part of our Population would be at the Mercy of our Enemy, who would be sure to shew us no Mercy—we should be reduced to the Rank of a third Rate Power if no worse happened to us. That such a Landing is in the present State of Things possible must be manifest. No Naval Force of ours can effectually prevent it. … One night is enough for the Passage to our Coast, and Twenty Thousand men might be landed at any Point before our Fleet knew that the Enemy was out of Harbour. There could be no security against the simultaneous Landing of 20,000 for Portsmouth 20,000 for Plymouth and 20,000 for Ireland our Troops would necessarily be scattered about the United Kingdom, and with Portsmouth and Plymouth as they now are those Two dock yards and all they contain would be entered and burnt before Twenty Thousand Men could be brought together to defend either of them. … if these defensive works are necessary, it is manifest that they ought to be made with the least possible delay; to spread their Completion over 20 or 30 years would be Folly unless we could come to an agreement with a chivalrous Antagonist, not to molest us till we could inform him we were quite ready to repel his attack—we are told that these works might, if money were forthcoming be finished possibly in three at latest in four years. Long enough this to be kept in a State of imperfect Defence.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) British politician

Letter to Gladstone (15 December 1859), quoted in Philip Guedalla (ed.), Gladstone and Palmerston, being the Correspondence of Lord Palmerston with Mr. Gladstone 1851-1865 (London: Victor Gollancz, 1928), pp. 115-117.
1850s

Seymour Papert photo
Ben Croshaw photo
James Hudson Taylor photo
Jacoba van Heemskerck photo

“I work a lot and I think a lot. I really want to try to paint on glass.. Please will you ask him [mr. architect Taut ] if there are any transparent colors, which one can use to paint on the glass directly... I want to dispose of a new technique in which the artist can paint on the glass directly instead of canvas. When one wants to reach colors spiritually-bright, then a time will come that oil-paint and canvas are no longer suitable... So, if you have time, please ask Mr. Taut if he understands my view and maybe he knows the ways how I can follow my direction.”

Jacoba van Heemskerck (1876–1923) Dutch painter

translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018
(original version, written by Jacoba in German:)Ich arbeite sehr viel und denke sehr viel. Ich möchte so gern versuchen, auf Glas zu mahlen. .. ..bitte fragen sie ihn dann [Herr Taut] ob es transparante Farbe gibt, womit man gleich auf Glas malen kann. .. ..ich möchte eine neue Technik haben, dass der Künstler so direkt das Glas verwenden kann statt Leinwand. Wenn man die Farben leuchtend geistlich haben will, dann wird es eine Zeit kommen, dass Oelfarben und Leinwand sich dafür nicht mehr eignen.. ..So wenn Sie Zeit haben, fragen Sie dann Herrn Taut ob er meine Idee versteht und vielieich den Weg kennt, den ik gehen müsse.
in a letter to Herwarth Walden, 11 Nov. 1914; as cited by Arend H. Huussen Jr. in Jacoba van Heemskerck, kunstenares van het Expressionisme, Haags Gemeentemuseum The Hague, 1982, p. 19
It was not until April 1918 that Jacoba wrote Walden she had decided to submit a series of designs for stained glass windows for the upcoming 'Sturm' exhibition - in April 1919 she sent him ten stained-glass windows, 'Nrs. 12-26'
1910's

Neil Peart photo

“Danger plus survival equals fun.
--From A Work in Progress”

Neil Peart (1952–2020) Canadian-American drummer , lyricist, and author

Rush Lyrics

Ian Bremmer photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo
Billy Joel photo
Gerhard Richter photo

“Why do you steal, you rascal? Why don't you look for some honest work?"
"Because, sir, I am hungry. Any work that will permit me to feed myself is honest enough for me.”

Nguyễn Công Hoan (1903–1977)

Dead End (or Impasse, 1938), as quoted in Understanding Vietnam by Neil L. Jamieson (University of California Press, 1995), p. 159

Jerome K. Jerome photo