Quotes about working
page 12

Sharon Gannon photo
Patrick Stump photo

“I used to work in a record store. I'm kind of a record nerd.”

Patrick Stump (1984) American musician

TV.com

Salman Khan photo

“This place is hell. They herd you around like cattle; they order you around like dogs; they work you like horses; and they feed you like hogs.”

James Jones (1921–1977) American author

Letter after joining the Army (1939), quoted by Peggy Noonan in "From 'Eternity' to Here" in The Wall Street Journal (25 May 2006) http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110008422

Benjamin Disraeli photo
Jair Bolsonaro photo

“There is no doubt. I would launch a coup on the same day. [Congress] doesn't work and I'm sure that at least 90% of the population would applaud. Congress nowadays does nothing; it votes only for what the president wants. If he's who rules, who decides and who gloats above the Congress, then let the coup be launched, let it be a dictatorship.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

At the program Câmera Aberta at Band on 23 May 1999 about what he would do on the first day as president of Brazil. O dia que Bolsonaro quis matar FHC, sonegar impostos e declarar guerra civil http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/politica/republica/o-dia-que-bolsonaro-quis-matar-fhc-sonegar-impostos-e-declarar-guerra-civil-8mtm0u0so6pk88kqnqo0n1l69. Gazeta do Povo (10 October 2017).

Barack Obama photo
Stan Lee photo

“They are working on The Fantastic Four, The Silver Surfer, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, The Hulk— they're doing a sequel to Spider-Man, a sequel to X-Men, and probably a third sequel to Blade. They still haven't gotten around to Nick Fury, Agent of S. H. I. E. L. D.”

Stan Lee (1922–2018) American comic book writer

they have to do the Ghost Rider.
On characters he created in comic books which are being used as the basis of movies. Interview at the DareDevil movie premiere (February 2003).

Eric Hobsbawm photo
Jean Monnet photo

“Make men work together show them that beyond their differences and geographical boundaries there lies a common interest.”

Jean Monnet (1888–1979) French political economist regarded by many as a chief architect of European unity

Jean Monnet 1888-1979

Thomas Paine photo
Dattopant Thengadi photo
Arthur Miller photo
Cate Blanchett photo
Paul Krugman photo
Barack Obama photo
Barack Obama photo
Karl Marx photo
Bruce Fairchild Barton photo
Ian Smith photo
G. H. Hardy photo
Frank Stella photo
Justin Bieber photo

“there is time to play…and then there are times to work hard and get my fans an album.”

Justin Bieber (1994) Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor

Message to his fans via Twitter https://twitter.com/justinbieber/status/174003175009951746 26 February, 2012

Bertil Ohlin photo
Barack Obama photo
Ludwig Wittgenstein photo
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing photo

“Man, whence is he?
Too bad to be the work of a god, too good for the work of chance.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Der Mensch, wo ist er her?
Zu schlecht für einen Gott, zu gut fürs Ungefähr.
As quoted in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources (1899) by James Wood, p. 61
Variant: Man — who is he? Too bad to be the work of God; Too good for the work of chance!

Theodore Roosevelt photo
Bidhan Chandra Roy photo
Nick Herbert photo
Tarik Gunersel photo
Bill Whittle photo
Aldo Leopold photo
Matka Tereza photo

“I am so pleased with all the good work you are doing for world peace and for people in so many countries. May we continue to work together and to share together all for the glory of God and for the good of man.”

Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin

To Sri Chinmoy, as quoted in The Wings of Joy : Finding Your Path to Inner Peace (1997) by Sri Chinmoy
1990s

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues photo
Nicolas Sarkozy photo

“I understand that people might be poor if they don't have any work, but I don't accept that someone is poor if they've worked really hard.”

Nicolas Sarkozy (1955) 23rd President of the French Republic

Interview with Charlie Rose, televised 31 January 2007

Abraham Lincoln photo
Catherine of Genoa photo
Claude Monet photo
Barack Obama photo

“I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.”

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

2008, Election victory speech (November 2008)

C.G. Jung photo
Barack Obama photo
John Chrysostom photo
Theodore Roosevelt photo
Ernest Hemingway photo

“But life is a cheap thing beside a man's work. The only thing is that you need it.”

Pt. 3: At Sea, Section 21
Islands in the Stream (1970)

Salman Khan photo
Antoine Lavoisier photo
Barack Obama photo

“How does America find its way in this new, global economy? What will our place in history be? Like so much of the American story, once again, we face a choice. Once again, there are those who believe that there isn’t much we can do about this as a nation. That the best idea is to give everyone one big refund on their government—divvy it up by individual portions, in the form of tax breaks, hand it out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health care, their own retirement plan, their own child care, their own education, and so on. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it—Social Darwinism—every man or woman for him or herself. It’s a tempting idea, because it doesn’t require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say that those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford—tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job—life isn’t fair. It let’s us say to the child who was born into poverty—pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes we will always be the winner in life’s lottery, that we’re the one who will be the next Donald Trump, or at least we won’t be the chump who Donald Trump says: “You’re fired!” But there is a problem. It won’t work. It ignores our history. It ignores the fact that it’s been government research and investment that made the railways possible and the internet possible. It’s been the creation of a massive middle class, through decent wages and benefits and public schools that allowed us all to prosper. Our economic dependence depended on individual initiative. It depended on a belief in the free market; but it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, the idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we’re all in it together and everybody’s got a shot at opportunity. That’s what’s produced our unrivaled political stability.”

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

Knox College Commencement Address (4 June 2005)
2005

Niels Bohr photo

“Of course not … but I am told it works even if you don't believe in it.”

Niels Bohr (1885–1962) Danish physicist

Reply to a visitor to his home in Tisvilde who asked him if he really believed a horseshoe above his door brought him luck, as quoted in Inward Bound : Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World (1986) by Abraham Pais, p. 210
In most published accounts of this anecdote such was Bohr's reply to his friend, but in one early account, in The Interaction Between Science and Philosophy (1974) by Samuel Sambursky, p. 357, Bohr was at a friend's house and asked "Do you really believe in this?" to which his friend replied "Oh, I don't believe in it. But I am told it works even if you don't believe in it."
Disputed
Variant: No, but I'm told it works even if you don't believe in it.

Gabriel Iglesias photo
Oscar Wilde photo
R. G. Collingwood photo
Socrates photo
Barack Obama photo
Theodore Roosevelt photo
Dio Chrysostom photo
Barack Obama photo

“Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'. We are going to press on. We have work to do.”

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

Remarks to the Congressional Black Caucus on the 2012 election (24 September 2011) http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/associated-press-transcription-obama-cbc-speech-racist-173438340.html
2011

Stephen Hawking photo

“I think that it's important for scientists to explain their work, particularly in cosmology. This now answers many questions once asked of religion.”

Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author

As quoted in "Return of the time lord" in The Guardian (27 September 2005)

Kurt Vonnegut photo
John Ruysbroeck photo

“Our work is the love of God. Our satisfaction lies in submission to the Divine Embrace”

John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) Flemish mystic

Quoted in Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness (1912) by Evelyn Underhill, p. 353

“Riches should come as the reward for hard work, preferably one's forebears.”

Steven Runciman (1903–2000) British historian

A Traveller's Alphabet (London: Thames and Hudson, 1991); quoted in The Times Literary Supplement, February 2, 2001.

Leonardo Da Vinci photo
Max Planck photo

“Farsighted theologians are now working to mine the eternal metal from the teachings of Jesus and to forge it for all time.”

Max Planck (1858–1947) German theoretical physicist

From Planck to Study (2 December 1913), (Autog. I/383, SPK); as quoted in The Dilemmas of an Upright Man : Max Planck As Spokesman for German Science (1986) by J. L. Heilbron, p. 67

Claude Monet photo
Yukteswar Giri photo
Paul Dirac photo

“My research work was based in pictures. I needed to visualise things and projective geometry was often most useful e. g. in figuring out how a particular quantity transforms under Lorentz transf[ormation]. When I came to publish the results I suppressed the projective geometry as the results could be expressed more concisely in analytic form.”

Paul Dirac (1902–1984) theoretical physicist

"Recollections of an Exciting Era," three lectures given at Varenna, 5 August 1972, quoted in Peter Galison, "The Suppressed Drawing: Paul Dirac's Hidden Geometry", Representations, No. 72 (Autumn, 2000)

Carol J. Adams photo
Ronnie Coleman photo

“You can't do this if you're not dedicated and determined, and have a strong faith. Because it's extremely hard, especially trying to work a job and do it.”

Ronnie Coleman (1964) American bodybuilder

John W. Flores (November 14, 1999) "Body of Work: Police officer pours heart, soul into building muscles", The Dallas Morning News, p. 1C.

Napoleon I of France photo

“Whatever shall we do in that remote spot? Well, we will write our memoirs. Work is the scythe of time.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

On board H.M.S. Bellerophon (August 1815)

Paul A. Samuelson photo

“I think Marshall was a great economist, but he was a potentially much greater economist than he actually was. It was not that he was lazy, but his health was not good, and he worked in miniature.”

Paul A. Samuelson (1915–2009) American economist

Kotaro Suzumura, An interview with Paul Samuelson: welfare economics,“old” and “new”, and social choice theory (2005)
New millennium

John of the Cross photo
Ronald H. Coase photo
Pope Gregory I photo
Barack Obama photo
Barack Obama photo

“Our immediate task, however, is the critical work of confronting the economic crisis. As I've said, we've passed through an era of profound irresponsibility; now we cannot afford half-measures, and we cannot go back to the kind of risk-taking that leads to bubbles that inevitably bust. So we have a choice. We can shape our future, or let events shape it for us. And if we want to succeed, we can't fall back on the stale debates and old divides that won't move us forward.”

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

Barack Obama: "The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the Untied Kingdom in London, England," April 1, 2009. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=85953&st=&st1=
2009

Paul Robeson photo
Pierre-Auguste Renoir photo

“.. to express himself well, the artist should be hidden... The trouble is that if an artist knows he has genius, he's done for. The only salvation is to work like a labourer, and not have delusions of grandeur.”

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) French painter and sculptor

Quoted in: Raymond Durgnat (1974) Jean Renoir: Raymond Durgnat, p. 370
undated quotes

Barack Obama photo
Johan Cruyff photo
Ferdinand Hodler photo

“The artist's mission is to give shape to what is eternal in nature, to reveal its inherent beauty; he sublimates the shapes of the human body. He shows an enlarged and simplified nature, liberated from all the details, which do not tell us anything. He shows us a work according to the size of his own experience, of his heart and his spirit.”

Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) Swiss artist

Quote from a speech of Ferdinand Hodler: 'The artist's mission' (held in Freibourg in 1897), first published in 1923 in Zurich; as cited by Paul Westheim in Confessions of Artists - Letters, Memoirs and Observations of Contemporary Artists, Propyläen Publishing House, Berlin, 1925

Nikola Tesla photo
Bertil Ohlin photo
Thomas à Kempis photo
John Henry Newman photo
Theodore Roosevelt photo

“All for each, and each for all, is a good motto; but only on condition that each works with might and main to so maintain himself as not to be a burden to others.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Foreword http://www.bartleby.com/55/100.html
1910s, Theodore Roosevelt — An Autobiography (1913)

Barack Obama photo

“Prosperity without freedom is just another form of poverty. Because there are aspirations that human beings share -- the liberty of knowing that your leader is accountable to you, and that you won’t be locked up for disagreeing with them; the opportunity to get an education and to be able to work with dignity; the freedom to practice your faith without fear or restriction. Those are universal values that must be observed everywhere.”

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

Remarks by the President at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia November 10, 2010 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/10/remarks-president-university-indonesia-jakarta-indonesia
The line "Prosperity without freedom is just another form of poverty. Because there are aspirations that human beings share - the liberty of knowing that your leader is accountable to you - and that you won't get locked up for disagreeing with them" was according to the BBC's Guy Delauney in Jakarta a thinly-veiled swipe at China, in particular its treatment of political dissidents. See Obama hails Indonesia as example for world, BBC News Asia-Pacific, 10 November 2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11723650.
The line "Prosperity without freedom is just another form of poverty" was later repeated by Obama in his remarks to the Australian Parliament on November 17, 2011 http://usrsaustralia.state.gov/us-oz/2011/11/17/wh1.html where Obama stated: "As we grow our economies, we’ll also remember the link between growth and good governance -- the rule of law, transparent institutions, the equal administration of justice. Because history shows that, over the long run, democracy and economic growth go hand in hand. And prosperity without freedom is just another form of poverty."
2010

Robert Browning photo

“What's come to perfection perishes.
Things learned on earth we shall practise in heaven;
Works done least rapidly Art most cherishes.”

Robert Browning (1812–1889) English poet and playwright of the Victorian Era

Old Pictures in Florence, xvii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Saul Bellow photo

“If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

If women are to have the same duties as men, they must have the same nurture and education. — Plato, The Republic, Book V, trans. Benjamin Jowett, third edition, Oxford University Press, 1892 http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/HTML.php?recordID=0345#hd_lf131.3.head.017
Misattributed
Variant: So if we are going to use men and women for the same purposes, they must be taught the same things. The Republic, trans. Desmond Lee [Penguin Classics, 2003, ISBN 0-140-449140-0], p. 161
Variant: Then if we are to use the women for the same things as the men, we must teach them the same things. The Republic, trans. W. H. D. Rouse [Signet Classic, 1999, ISBN 0-451-52745-3], p. 249

Blaise Pascal photo
Edvard Munch photo

“I am at work on a girl. It is quite simple a girl getting up on the edge of her bed and pulling on her stockings. The bed is whitish, and in addition there are white sheets, a white nightdress, a bedside table with a white cover, white curtains and a blue wall.”

Edvard Munch (1863–1944) Norwegian painter and printmaker

as model for his painting 'Morning', 1884
Quote in Munch's letter to Olav Paulsen, September 1884; as cited in Edvard Much – behind the scream, w:Sue Prideaux; Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, p. 53
1880 - 1895

Barack Obama photo

“People ask me… "What do you still bring from Hawaii? How does it affect your character, how does it affect your politics?" I try to explain to them something about the Aloha Spirit. I try to explain to them this basic idea that we all have obligations to each other, that we're not alone, that if we see somebody who's in need we should help… that we look out for one another, that we deal with each other with courtesy and respect, and most importantly, that when you come from Hawaii, you start understanding that what's on the surface, what people look like — that doesn't determine who they are.
And that the power and strength of diversity, the ability of people from everywhere … whether they're black or white, whether they're Japanese-Americans or Korean-Americans or Filipino-Americans or whatever they are, they are just Americans, that all of us can work together and all of us can join together to create a better country.
And it's that spirit, that I'm absolutely convinced, is what America is looking for right now.
Because we've been divided for so long, we've been arguing for so long, a lot of times about things that aren't even worth arguing about, and ignoring the things that we should be doing to make the next generation have a better life — that I think people are hungry for a new politics, they're hungry for change, and that's why I decided to run for President of the United States.”

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

Speech in Keehi Lagoon Beach Park, Hawaii, (8 August 2008) http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=40384154
2008

Aurelius Augustinus photo
Barack Obama photo
Martin Luther photo
Theodore Roosevelt photo
Malcolm X photo