We spend one-third of our productive life working. Working is one of the most integral parts of life and living.
This article is a compilation of the best thoughts and advice on work and various aspects of working.
Whether you are starting a career, or you spent a few decades working, whether you are looking for a career change, or you are not sure what success means, you may find these inspirational quotes on work by famous authors and thinkers useful. I hope you enjoy and benefit from them as much as I do.
Purpose of Work
Always start with ‘Why?’ The most common answer is to earn a living. That is an important aspect, but I have realized that the question cannot be separated from the ‘meaning of life’ question.
Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.
Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
We should not ask, ‘what is the meaning of life?’ Each of us should be able to answer, ‘what is the meaning of my life?’ I believe work, like parenting, provide some answers to this philosophical question.
A beautiful thought below from Conrad.
I don’t like work–no man does–but I like what is in the work–the chance to find yourself. Your own reality–for yourself not for others–what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.
Buddha
I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life’.
Maya Angelou
The crowning fortune of a man is to be born to some pursuit which finds him employment and happiness, whether it be to make baskets, or broadswords, or canals, or statues, or songs.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Each man had only one genuine vocation – to find the way to himself….His task was to discover his own destiny – not an arbitrary one – and to live it out wholly and resolutely within himself. Everything else was only a would-be existence, an attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity and fear of one’s own inwardness.
Herman Hesse
You must love your work, and not be always looking over the edge of it, wanting your play to begin. And the other is, you must not be ashamed of your work, and think it would be more honorable to you to be doing something else. You must have a pride in your own work and in learning to do it well, and not be always saying, There’s this and there’s that—if I had this or that to do, I might make something of it. No matter what a man is—I wouldn’t give twopence for him’— here Caleb’s mouth looked bitter, and he snapped his fingers— ‘whether he was the prime minister or the rick-thatcher, if he didn’t do well what he undertook to do.
George Eliot, Middlemarch
We should always be open to challenge our ideas. Here’s a contrarian thought.
What is more serious than the loss of jobs is the loss of meaning. The work ethic in the industrial era has brainwashed us into thinking that work is the reason we exist. We need to rethink our priorities.
@kaifulee on Twitter
What to Work on?
‘What to work on?’ is a million-dollar question. Does it matter if one has a job or whether one runs a business? Read on for some thought-provoking words.
What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Every job from the heart is, ultimately, of equal value. The nurse injects the syringe; the writer slides the pen; the farmer plows the dirt; the comedian draws the laughter. Monetary income is the perfect deceiver of a man’s true worth.
Criss Jami, Killosophy
Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don’t think about what you want to be, but what you want to do.
Professor Richard Feynman
Work on something long enough and it will start telling you what it needs. At that point it becomes more like steering a ship rather than paddling for dear life.
@shl on Twitter
Why do they always teach us that it’s easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It’s the hardest thing in the world–to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want.
Ayn Rand
Who is willing to be satisfied with a job that expresses all his limitations? He will accept such work only as a ‘means of livelihood’ while he waits to discover his ‘true vocation’. The world is full of unsuccessful businessmen who still secretly believe they were meant to be artists or writers or actors in the movies.
Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
What if you were wrong? What if everything you ever believed was a lie? What if you missed your opportunity because you didn’t know your worth? What if you settled on familiar, but God was trying to give you something better? What if you decided not to go backwards, but forward? What if doing what you have never done before was the answer to everything that didn’t make sense? What if the answer wasn’t to be found in words, but in action? What if you found the courage to do what you really wanted to do and doing it changed your whole life?
Shannon L. Alder
I like @naval’s idea of “What’s that you do looks like hard work from the outside, but doesn’t feel like work to you?“
Work as hard as you can. Even though who you work with and what you work on are more important than how hard you work.
@naval on Twitter
The fishing is best where the fewest go and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone is aiming for base hits.
Timothy Ferriss, Author of 4-Hour Workweek
Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.
Simon Sinek
Often people attempt to live their lives backwards, they try to have more things or more money in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are then do what you need to do in order to have what you want.
Margaret Young
We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.
Alan Turing, Computing machinery and intelligence
The job is what you do when you are told what to do. The job is showing up at the factory, following instructions, meeting spec, and being managed.
Someone can always do your job a little better or faster or cheaper than you can. The job might be difficult, it might require skill, but it’s a job.
Your art is what you do when no one can tell you exactly how to do it. Your art is the act of taking personal responsibility, challenging the status quo, and changing people.
I call the process of doing your art ‘the work.’ It’s possible to have a job and do the work, too. In fact, that’s how you become a linchpin.
The job is not the work.
Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
Love this one from Martin Luther King Jr.
No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Actions Speak Louder than Words
Irrespective of what you do, it is much better to be action-oriented.
Begin somewhere. You cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.
Liz Smith
Done is better than perfect.
Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Fortune does favor the bold and you’ll never know what you’re capable of if you don’t try.
Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
If you’re waiting until you feel talented enough to make it, you’ll never make it.
Criss Jami, Healology
All happiness depends on courage and work.
Honoré de Balzac
We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas A. Edison
Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.
William James
A person who has not done one half his day’s work by ten o’clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it.
Madeleine L’Engle, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother
God sells us all things at the price of labor.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Go and get your things,’ he said. ‘Dreams mean work.’
Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.
Anne Frank
Anne Frank’s diary, written while hiding from the Nazis in an Amsterdam warehouse, has become famous throughout the world. It always amazes me this teenager penned so many brilliant under the most horrible situations.
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
Émile Zola
If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.
Michelangelo
Important advise from John Wooden, an American basketball player and head coach.
Don’t mistake activity with achievement.
John Wooden
A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.
Mahatma Gandhi
Career Success Quotes
What does it take to be successful?
I determine to render more and better service, each day, than I am being paid to render. Those that reach the top are the ones who are not content with doing only what is required of them.
Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World
Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.
Gordon B. Hinckley
It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.
Henry Ford
There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all equals as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that’s that. I am not talented. I am obsessed.
Conor McGregor, Notorious
In the present day corporate world, it is utmost important to build a personal brand for yourself and anyone who knows the basics of brand-building would know that it is impossible without proper self promotion!
Abhishek Ratna, No Parking. No Halt. Success Non Stop!
Be so good they can’t ignore you.
Steve Martin
Failure Quotes
There are occasional failures and setbacks that all of us face — some thoughts and advice on what they mean.
As much as I would really like to have saved myself heartache, embarrassment or gossip, I also know that my biggest mistakes have turned into my best lessons. And sometimes my greatest career triumphs. If my life had been turbulence-free, maybe my music would be beige, maybe the stadiums wouldn’t be full and the mantle would be a little more empty.
Taylor Swift
When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.
Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich
After all, people may really have in them some vocation which is not quite plain to themselves, may they not? They may seem idle and weak because they are growing. We should be very patient with each other, I think.
George Eliot, Middlemarch
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.
Jimmy Johnson
Getting fired is not shameful. It just means you need to find a better fit.
John Tarnoff, Boomer Reinvention: How to Create Your Dream Career Over 50
Make excellent mistakes.
Too many people spend their time avoiding mistakes. They’re so concerned about being wrong, about messing up, that they never try anything — which means they never do anything. Their focus is avoiding failure. But that’s actually a crummy way to achieve success. The most successful people spectacular mistakes — huge, honking screwups! why? They’re trying to do something big, but each time they make a mistake, they get a little better and move a little closer to excellence.
Making mistakes seems risky. It is/ But it’s more risky not to.
I’m not talking about random, stupid, thoughtless blunders, though. I’m talking about good mistakes.Mistakes come from having high aspirations, from trying to do something nobody else has done.
Daniel H. Pink, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need
Quotes about Change
Nothing remains constant for ever and we all need to adapt to a changing world.
“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings,”
says Kakuzō Okakura in his book The Book of Tea.
Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win.
Max McKeown
We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.
Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead n
I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.
Georg C. Lichtenberg
Thoughts from a few leaders.
The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change.
Bill Clinton
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
John F. Kennedy
Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
Mahatam Gandhi
Work Ethic Quotes
Work ethic is a belief that hard work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. It is a set of values centered on importance of work and manifested by determination or desire to work hard – Wikipedia
The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.
Barack Obama
Whatever you do, do it with purpose. Being focused is not something to be ashamed of. It is something to be proud of. When you know what are you are doing and have a clear vision of where you are going, you will not need to chase opportunities. Opportunities will seek you. Happiness will chase you. And, instead of being a choice, you will be the one choosing.
Najwa Zebian, Mind Platter
Persistence. Perfection. Patience. Power. Prioritize your passion. It keeps you sane.
Criss Jami, Killosophy
Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.
Gustave Flaubert
Without ambition one starts nothing.
Without work one finishes nothing.
The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Theodore Roosevelt
Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning.
Malcolm Gladwell
If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.
Simon Sinek
Persistence trumps talent.
What’s the most powerful force in the universe? Compound interest. It builds on itself. Over time, a small amount of money becomes a large amount of money. Persistence is similar. A little bit improves performance, which encourages greater persistence which improves persistence even more. And on and on it goes.
Lack of persistence works the same way — only in the opposite direction.
Of course talent is important, but the world is lit erred with talented people who didn’t persist, who didn’t put in the hours, who gave up too early, who thought they could ride on talent alone. Meanwhile, people who might have less talent pass them by.That’s why intrinsic motivation is so important. Doing things not the get an external reward like money or a promotion, but because you simple like doing it. The more intrinsic motivation you have , the more likely you are to persist. The more you persist, the more likely you are to succeed.
Daniel H. Pink, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need
Work Life Balance Quotes
Let’s start with advice Toni Morrison, Noble Prize for Literature 1993, received from her father.
1. Whatever the work is, do it well—not for the boss but for yourself.
2. You make the job; it doesn’t make you.
3. Your real life is with us, your family.
4. You are not the work you do; you are the person you are.
Toni Morrison, The Work You Do, the Person You Are
The New Yorker 2017
There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.
Alain de Botton
I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life’.
Maya Angelou
Test the most basic assumptions of the work-life equation. How do your decisions change if retirement isn’t an option? What if you could use a mini-retirement to sample your deferred-life plan reward before working 40 years for it? Is it really necessary to work like a slave to live like a millionaire?
Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week
Only those who decline to scramble up the career ladder are interesting as human beings. Nothing is more boring than a man with a career.
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time.
Coco Chanel
A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor — such is my idea of happiness.
Leo Tolstoy, Family Happiness
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.
Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness
Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.
Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now
After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.
Kenneth Grahame (Wind in the Willows), The Wind in the Willows
The home is the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose, and that is to support the ultimate career.
C.S. Lewis
A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.
Marilyn Monroe
Women at Work Quotes
Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn’t love you anymore.
Lady Gaga
If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.
Plato, The Republic
The most successful people are ahead of others by a decade or two. Greek philosophers were ahead of everyone by a few millennia.
Boss Quotes
Everyone has a boss. Even those who are the boss.
In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way.
Tina Fey, Bossypants
The difference between a boss and a leader is that a boss will order you around to fulfill his plan, but a leader will inspire you into his vision. Leaders will tie their vision with your own so well that every action you take will feel like you are working toward your own goal. They will show you that your vision and their vision are really one in the same. Then, you’re not working FOR them. You’re working with them—on something you both believe in.
Emily Maroutian, Thirty
Funny Work Quotes
Time to lighten up this discussion a bit.
I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.
Jerome K. Jerome
Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.
Charles J. Sykes
I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.
Charles Lamb
The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity.
George Carlin
I’ve heard that hard work never killed anyone, but I say why take the chance?
Ronald Reagan
We need to remember what’s important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn’t matter, but work is third.
Leslie Knope
Poems about Work
The heights by great men reached and kept
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Good Poems for Hard Times
were not attained in sudden flight
but, they while their companions slept,
were toiling upwards in the night.
It is easy to work when the soul is at play—
Emily Dickinson
But when the soul is in pain—
The hearing him put his playthings up
Makes work difficult—then—
On no work of words now for three lean months in the
Dylan Thomas
bloody
Belly of the rich year and the big purse of my body
I bitterly take to task my poverty and craft:
To take to give is all, return what is hungrily given
Puffing the pounds of manna up through the dew to heaven,
The lovely gift of the gab bangs back on a blind shaft.
To lift to leave from treasures of man is pleasing death
That will rake at last all currencies of the marked breath
And count the taken, forsaken mysteries in a bad dark.
To surrender now is to pay the expensive ogre twice.
Ancient woods of my blood, dash down to the nut of the seas
If I take to burn or return this world which is each man’s
work.
Let’s wrap up with this famous poem ‘Digging‘ by Seamus Heaney, Nobel Prize for Literature 1995.
Between my finger and my thumb
Seamus Heaney, Digging
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
Under my window, a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked,
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man could handle a spade.
Just like his old man.
My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.
The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.
If you like it, bookmark the page and visit again after some time. When I re-read anything, I find more meaning or understand aspects I did not recognize in the first reading. I also intend to keep adding more to this page as I find more insightful thoughts on this important aspect of life.
Read More Like This
Recent Articles
Nice Article
Thanks Kaustubh 🙂