Quotes about workplace

A collection of quotes on the topic of workplace, women, people, work.

Quotes about workplace

Nigel Cumberland photo

“Stress can be a killer and is far too prevalent in today’s workplaces. You may not die because of stress but stress can easily kill your energy levels, motivation, relationships, health and mindset.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

Source: Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Managing Teams in a Week (2013) https://books.google.ae/books?idqZjO9_ov74EC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIIDAB#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Secrets of Success at Work – 50 techniques to excel (2014) https://books.google.ae/books?id4S7vAgAAQBAJ&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIJjAC#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, p.107

Pope Francis photo

“If your workplace was somehow transplanted into the jungle and everyone was forced to survive at a very primitive level, it's safe to say that eventually your boss would rape you.”

Scott Dikkers (1965) American comic writer

Source: You Are Worthless: Depressing Nuggets of Wisdom Sure to Ruin Your Day

Mitch Albom photo
Nigel Cumberland photo

“The most successful people in the workplace are those who normally really like and ‘buy-into’ their employer’s mission and vision. In other words such people like what the company wishes to achieve and where it is heading. It is akin to being on a ship and liking what the ship is doing and liking where the ship is heading. Can you imagine being on a ship and not wishing to go where it is heading?”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

Page 62
Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Managing Teams in a Week (2013) https://books.google.ae/books?idqZjO9_ov74EC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIIDAB#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Secrets of Success at Work – 50 techniques to excel (2014) https://books.google.ae/books?id4S7vAgAAQBAJ&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIJjAC#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse

Camille Paglia photo
Judith Krug photo

“We know for a fact that the library is the main access point to the Internet outside of the home and workplace. Particularly for young people, information about AIDS, sexuality, suicide could mean the difference between life and death. This law keeps us from giving people access to the information they need.”

Judith Krug (1940–2009) librarian and freedom of speech proponent

"ACLU, ALA File Law Suit Against Child Internet Protection Act - American Civil Liberties Union, American Library Association Declare Law Unconstitutional - Brief Article" Electronic Education Report (March 28, 2001)

Warren Farrell photo

“Just as women needed the help of the law to enter the workplace in the 20th century, men will need the help of the law to love their children in the 21st century.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: Father and Child Reunion (2001), p. 122.

Warren Farrell photo
Wanda Orlikowski photo
Temple Grandin photo

“(About the workplace) Tyrants who get into power make life miserable for everyone.”

Temple Grandin (1947) USA-american doctor of animal science, author, and autism activist

page 31 of Developing Talents by Temple Grandin and Kate Duffy

Parker Palmer photo
Barbara Ehrenreich photo
Taslima Nasrin photo
Michael Bloomberg photo
Nigel Cumberland photo

“As I have coached hundreds of individuals in the workplace, I have discovered that we waste precious time by delaying and procrastinating. We might know that the work is very urgent and important but we still might find ourselves being slow to start the task.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

page 100
p.102
Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Managing Teams in a Week (2013) https://books.google.ae/books?idqZjO9_ov74EC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIIDAB#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Secrets of Success at Work – 50 techniques to excel (2014) https://books.google.ae/books?id4S7vAgAAQBAJ&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIJjAC#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse

Kate Bornstein photo
Anu Partanen photo
Alain de Botton photo
Kevin Rudd photo
Warren Farrell photo
David Graeber photo
Warren Farrell photo
Nigel Cumberland photo

“Do you ever consciously try to sense your gut feeling by asking yourself, ‘What do I feel about this person, situation or decision?’ Trusting your gut can help you in the workplace and beyond. The danger is when you let external noise drown out what it’s telling you, letting other people’s views and opinions take priority over your own.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, 100 Things Successful People Do: Little Exercises for Successful Living (2016) https://books.google.ae/books?idnu0lCwAAQBAJ&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIMjAE

Warren Farrell photo
Samuel Bowles photo
Jacinda Ardern photo

“…for other women, it is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace. That is unacceptable in 2017. It is the woman's decision about when they choose to have children.”

Jacinda Ardern (1980) Prime Minister of New Zealand

As quoted in "Jacinda Ardern: It is 'totally unacceptable' to ask women about baby plans" by Anna Bracewell-Worrall, Newshub (2 August 2017) http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/08/jacinda-ardern-it-is-totally-unacceptable-to-ask-women-about-baby-plans.html
2017

Nigel Cumberland photo

“Successful people in the workplace like to recognise and to congratulate those around them. Too often we forget to thank and to recognize when someone else has done a great job.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

Source: Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Managing Teams in a Week (2013) https://books.google.ae/books?idqZjO9_ov74EC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIIDAB#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Secrets of Success at Work – 50 techniques to excel (2014) https://books.google.ae/books?id4S7vAgAAQBAJ&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIJjAC#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, p.51

Warren Farrell photo
Warren Farrell photo
Fritz Todt photo
George Hendrik Breitner photo

“What wonderful weather it has been today, I had not been outside for so long and so I spent the entire day out of doors. Wonderful. Nature is always fresh and new and to stay fresh she is the only thing giving all that is necessary. Everything is rich. I mean, not only the outdoors, landscape or something like that, but simply everything, yes everything except your workplace, and not even excluding that. 'Le spectacle est dans le spectateur' (the spectacle is in the spectator).”

George Hendrik Breitner (1857–1923) Dutch painter and photographer

The Hague, 1881
version in original Dutch (citaat van Breitner's brief, in het Nederlands:) Wat heerlijk wêer is 't vandaag geweest, ik was in geen tijd buiten geweest, en ben vandaag de heelen dag buiten gebleven. Maar heerlijk. Frisch en nieuw is de natuur altijd, en om frisch te blijven is zij de eenige die 't noodige geeft, Alles even rijk. ik bedoel niet bepaald het buiten, landschap of zoo iets, maar eenvoudig, ja alles, behalve je werkplaats, en ook die niet uitgezonderd. 'Le spectacle est dans le spectateur.' (Den Haag, 1881)
Quote of Breitner, in his letter to his Maecenas A.P. van Stolk, 12 August 1881, (location: The RKD in The Hague); as quoted by Helewise Berger in Van Gogh and Breitner in The Hague, her Master essay in Dutch - Modern Art Faculty of Philosophy University, Utrecht; Febr. 2008]], (translation from the original Dutch, Anne Porcelijn) p. 4.
this quote of Breitner dates from the years he spent in The Hague; a year later he would regularly sketch in the streets of this city with Vincent van Gogh.
before 1890

Neil deGrasse Tyson photo
Warren Farrell photo
Warren Farrell photo
Kamal Haasan photo

“Glad my name came up. Thank audience, mentor, all who made my workplace enjoyable.”

Kamal Haasan (1954) Indian actor

On getting the Padma Bhushan Award, the third highest civilian award of India for his five decades in the film industry, in Glad my name came up', Kamal Hassan on Padma Bhushan (26 January 2014) http://zeenews.india.com/entertainment/celebrity/glad-my-name-came-up-kamal-hassan-on-padma-bhushan_149777.html

Warren Farrell photo
Warren Farrell photo
Cory Doctorow photo
Naomi Klein photo
David Morrison photo
Susan Cain photo
Mona Sahlin photo

“If two equally qualified persons apply for a job at a workplace with few immigrants, the one called Mohammed should get the job.”

Mona Sahlin (1957) Swedish politician

Mona Sahlin in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten, October 22, 2000.

Nigel Cumberland photo

“Life is too short to spend too long at work and also to waste your time while in the workplace.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

Source: Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Managing Teams in a Week (2013) https://books.google.ae/books?idqZjO9_ov74EC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIIDAB#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Secrets of Success at Work – 50 techniques to excel (2014) https://books.google.ae/books?id4S7vAgAAQBAJ&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIJjAC#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, p.36

Warren Farrell photo

“Sexual harassment in the workplace confuses rewards for performance with rewards for attractiveness and sexual availability.”

Source: The Myth of Male Power (1993), Part III: Government as substitute husband, p. 284-5.

Francis Escudero photo

“• Increase of P421.5 million for the Bureau of Customs for Workplace Modernization and various equipment to counter the perennial problem of smuggling;”

Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician

2014, Speech: Sponsorship Speech for the FY 2015 National Budget

Hillary Clinton photo
Warren Farrell photo

“Dads in the family are even more important than women in the workplace: The workplace benefits from women, but the family needs dads.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: Father and Child Reunion (2001), p. 114.

Warren Farrell photo
Kevin Rudd photo
Warren Farrell photo
Samantha Bee photo

“I'm sorry, remind me again, what is the point of encouraging little girls to dream big if any career puts them in the path of boob honkers? There's not a workplace on land or sea or even at the bottom of a big, deep hole in the ground where we're actually keeping women safe. Right now I'm actually picturing some guy saying, oh, what am I supposed to do, stop asking women out at work because it makes them uncomfortable? Yes.”

Samantha Bee (1969) Canadian comedic actress and author

Full Frontal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDfpGdk3HgQ, February 22, 2016; as quoted in "Samantha Bee On 'Full Frontal,' Feminism And The Freedom Of Her 40s" https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=473371862, NPR, April 7, 2016

Jane Espenson photo
Warren Farrell photo
Warren Farrell photo
Jane Espenson photo
Ellen Willis photo

“The centerpiece of the cultural counterrevolution is the snowballing campaign for a "drug-free workplace" — a euphemism for "drug-free workforce," since urine testing also picks up for off-duty indulgence.”

Ellen Willis (1941–2006) writer, activist

"Hell No, I Won't Go: End the War on Drugs," The Village Voice (19 September 1989)
Context: The centerpiece of the cultural counterrevolution is the snowballing campaign for a "drug-free workplace" — a euphemism for "drug-free workforce," since urine testing also picks up for off-duty indulgence. The purpose of this '80s version of the loyalty oath is less to deter drug use than to make people undergo a humiliating ritual of subordination: "When I say pee, you pee." The idea is to reinforce the principle that one must forfeit one's dignity and privacy to earn a living, and bring back the good old days when employers had the unquestioned right to demand that their workers' appearance and behavior, on or off the job, meet management's standards.

Nigel Cumberland photo

“Being a person that others can trust is one of the most sought after qualities in the workplace today.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

So many leaders and their staff have shown in the recent global financial crisis a lack of trust and integrity amongst themselves and with their clients and other stakeholders.
Source: Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?id=p24GkAsgjGEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, Managing Teams in a Week (2013) https://books.google.ae/books?id=qZjO9_ov74EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, Secrets of Success at Work – 50 techniques to excel (2014) https://books.google.ae/books?id=4S7vAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIJjAC#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, p.19

Bob Black photo

“And so it is, although it is nothing but a description of the modern workplace.”

The Abolition of Work (1985)
Context: Work makes a mockery of freedom. The official line is that we all have rights and live in a democracy. Other unfortunates who aren't free like we are have to live in police states. These victims obey orders or-else, no matter how arbitrary. The authorities keep them under regular surveillance. State bureaucrats control even the smaller details of everyday life. The officials who push them around are answerable only to the higher-ups, public or private. Either way, dissent and disobedience are punished. Informers report regularly to the authorities. All this is supposed to be a very bad thing.
And so it is, although it is nothing but a description of the modern workplace. The liberals and conservatives and libertarians who lament totalitarianism are phonies and hypocrites. There is more freedom in any moderately de-Stalinized dictatorship than there is in the ordinary American workplace. You find the same sort of hierarchy and discipline in an office or factory as you do in a prison or a monastery. In fact, as Foucault and others have shown, prisons and factories came in at about the same time, and their operators consciously borrowed from each other's control techniques. A worker is a part-time slave. The boss says when to show up, when to leave, and what to do in the meantime. He tells you how much work to do and how fast. He is free to carry his control to humiliating extremes, regulating, if he feels like it, the clothes you wear or how often you go to the bathroom. With a few exceptions he can fire you for any reason, or no reason. He has you spied on by snitches and supervisors; he amasses a dossier on every employee. Talking back is called "insubordination," just as if a worker is a naughty child, and it not only gets you fired, it disqualifies you for unemployment compensation.

“Core ideology provides the glue that holds an organization together as it grows, decentralizes, diversifies, expands globally, and develops workplace diversity.”

Jerry I. Porras (1938) American writer

Source: "Building your company's vision," 1996, p. 66
Context: Core ideology provides the glue that holds an organization together as it grows, decentralizes, diversifies, expands globally, and develops workplace diversity. Think of it as analogous to the principles of Judaism that held the Jewish people together for centuries without a homeland, even as they spread throughout the Diaspora. Or think of the truths held to be self-evident in the Declaration of Independence, or the enduring ideals and principles of the scientific community that bond scientists from every nationality together in the common purpose of advancing human knowledge. Any effective vision must embody the core ideology of the organization, which in turn consists of two distinct parts: core values, a system of guiding principles and tenets; and core purpose, the organization’s most fundamental reason for existence.

Nigel Cumberland photo

“If little kids could play more, you´d have better engineers, better managers and more inspiration in the workplace”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

As quoted on page 56 in "Under Pressure" by Carl Honoré (2008) https://books.google.ae/books/about/Under_Pressure.html?id=l7Yq9rKivMgC&redir_esc=y and also quoted in the Vancouver Sun newspaper on April 28th 2008 http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=60b255fc-910e-4dc1-ae6d-50961b0e7a2c and in a 2013 academic paper entitled Hard Skills Will Qualify You, with Soft Skills You’ll Rank the First by Eva Trumpesova Rudolfova, Lenka Zouhar Ludvikova of Masaryk University, Czech Republic https://is.muni.cz/repo/1169958/ECE2013_0305.pdf. Also quoted in many other sources including in Spanish.
Miscellaneous Quotes in the Press (2002-Present)
Context: If little kids could play more, you´d have better engineers, better managers and more inspiration in the workplace. If you deny a toddler the chance to play and then put him in a preschool where he is always competing and being measured, you get fear and that leads to an unwillingness to take risks. You end up with boring adults.

Clement Attlee photo
Leanne Wood photo

“Leaving the EU would risk our hard-won gains including rights at the workplace, access for businesses to the single market and would diminish our contribution to global challenges such as climate change and conflict resolution.”

Leanne Wood (1971) Welsh Plaid Cymru politician

Osborne: Brexit will put 20,000 Welsh jobs at risk https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36357889 BBC News (23 May 2016)
2016

Nigel Cumberland photo

“As I have coached hundreds of individuals in the workplace, I have discovered that we waste precious time by delaying and procrastinating.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

We might know that the work is very urgent and important but we still might find ourselves being slow to start the task.
page 100
Source: Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?id=p24GkAsgjGEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, Managing Teams in a Week (2013) https://books.google.ae/books?id=qZjO9_ov74EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, Secrets of Success at Work – 50 techniques to excel (2014) https://books.google.ae/books?id=4S7vAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIJjAC#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, p.102

Raewyn Connell photo
Richard D. Wolff photo
Richard D. Wolff photo
Richard D. Wolff photo
Bhanu Choudhrie photo

“As business leaders, we should resist the temptation to believe that learning stops after a bachelor's degree, an MBA, or a few years in the workplace. We need only be humble enough to accept the wisdom we are offered.”

"Expanding Your Mind, Growing Your Business" https://www.exed.hbs.edu/testimonials/owner-president-management-bhanu-choudhrie, Harvard Business School (2019)

Prevale photo

“Meritocracy is a concept that should exist in every workplace. Unfortunately, sometimes the inability of an executive reaches the point that it does not consider such an essential value for the development and the future of an entire generation of talents.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: ​(it) La meritocrazia è un concetto che dovrebbe esistere in ogni luogo di lavoro. Purtroppo, a volte l'incapacità di un dirigente arriva a tal punto da non considerare un valore così essenziale per lo sviluppo ed il futuro di un'intera generazione di talenti.
Source: prevale.net

Zhiar Ali photo

“Every workplace should be legally forced to be inclusive to LGBT people in job opportunities.”

Zhiar Ali (1999) Kurdish human rights activist and artist

Discussing the issue of LGBT+ individuals not getting jobs due to their sexuality.
Source: [هاوڕەگەزخوازیی لە كوردستان؛ حەزێكی سروشتیی بێ پشت و پەنا, http://www.peregraf.com/ku/report/2186/هاوڕەگەزخوازیی-لە-كوردستان؛-حەزێكی-سروشتیی-بێ-پشت-و-پەنا, پەرەگراف, May 10, 2021, ku]

Thokozani Khuphe photo
Loke Siew Fook photo

“I will take the various public transportation to my workplace when the situation allows. If you see me, just say hi.”

Loke Siew Fook (1976) Malaysian politician

Source: Loke Siew Fook (2018) cited in " Anthony Loke pledges to take public transport to work whenever possible https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/10/06/anthony-loke-vows-to-take-public-transport-to-work/" on The Star Online, 6 October 2018

Jay Samit photo

“Company mentoring programs are also a key tool in promoting diversity at the workplace.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

John McDonnell photo

“We can't say to people 'Labour wants you to share in the running of your workplace, your community and your environment, but we don't trust you to have the final say over Brexit.'”

John McDonnell (1951) British politician (born 1951)

Source: Labour Party conference: McDonnell promises 32-hour working week https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49798357 BBC News (23 September 2019)