Logo - Feel The Words

Work Quotes

Quotes on the meaning of work.

Several quotes here describe work as a solitary process, one that takes real effort to protect from distraction, while others connect a person's politics directly to the character of their work. Related reading includes Growth Quotes.

If there's an enduring theme in my work, it's probably the effects of class on American life.

Quotes by Richard Russo

My work, in a certain way, got started in 1996 when I did an exhibition of thirteen paintings that were solely based on fashion imagery.

Quotes by Richard Phillips

For me, graffiti and the complexities with which it is either absorbed or expelled from what is going on, is a really good comparison to the way I see my work being similarly expelled or absorbed into different types of...

Quotes by Richard Phillips

Being in that other world of media, TV, Hollywood, it's not a real world. For me going back to work, it was a pleasure to get back to the world I knew. That's the real world. That's normal for me.

Quotes by Richard Phillips

I used to work for 12 or 14 hours at a time but the digital age has made such happy immersions almost impossible.

Quotes by Richard Powers

What we can do should never by itself determine what we choose to do, yet this is the way technology tends to work.

Quotes by Richard Powers

I have offices all over the place and I avoid work everywhere. I don't like to write - I like to be finished.

Quotes by Richard Price

Sometimes when I walk into a gallery and I see someone's work, I think to myself, 'Gee, I wish I had done that.'

Quotes by Richard Prince

I was kicked out of school because of my attitude. I was not assimilating. So I went to work, taking any jobs I could get.

Quotes by Richard Pryor

The black groups that boycott certain films would do better to get the money together to make the films they want to see, or stay in church and leave us to our work.

Quotes by Richard Pryor

You work your butt off and somebody says you can't have your record played because it offends them. Tyrants are made of such stuff.

Quotes by Richard Pryor

I couldn't sell water in a desert. I have no business acumen. I can tell you why you have no business acumen, and I can tell you why your project may or may not work, but I have no ability...

Quotes by Richard Quest

If you feel like it's going to work, do it. If it doesn't, get out as quick as you can.

Quotes by Richard Rawlings

I kinda thrive on the chaos which is my life. I have a good time when I can, but work is what I enjoy the most.

Quotes by Richard Rawlings

There is a vast world of work out there in this country, where at least 111 million people are employed in this country alone - many of whom are bored out of their minds. All day long.

Quotes by Richard Nelson Bolles

I have always argued that change becomes stressful and overwhelming only when you've lost any sense of the constancy of your life. You need firm ground to stand on. From there, you can deal with that change.

Quotes by Richard Nelson Bolles

You can't take a coal miner making $95,000 a year, the only work in these parts where you can support a family without having to hold down three jobs at once... and tell them, 'You can make minimum wage,' or,...

Quotes by Richard Ojeda

There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play' with them!

Quotes by Richard P. Feynman

The original reason to start the project, which was that the Germans were a danger, started me off on a process of action, which was to try to develop this first system at Princeton and then at Los Alamos, to...

Quotes by Richard P. Feynman

It's the way I study - to understand something by trying to work it out or, in other words, to understand something by creating it. Not creating it one hundred percent, of course; but taking a hint as to which...

Quotes by Richard P. Feynman

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of quotes are on the "Work" page?
These lean toward the thoughtful side of work — the idea that "intellectual work is essentially a lonely process," the belief that one's politics and "the character of his particular work are inseparable," and an image of people unwinding after work all over the world talking about life's bigger questions.
Is there a spiritual angle to any of these?
While these particular quotes are secular, if you're looking for a spiritual perspective on work, see Prayers for that theme.
Do these quotes connect work to personal identity?
Yes, one of the strongest lines here argues that your politics and "the character of his particular work are inseparable" — the idea that what you do reflects who you are. If that resonates, Growth quotes explore a similar idea of work shaping the person.
Is there anything here about effort or persistence?
These specific quotes focus more on the nature and meaning of work than on effort itself, but Effort quotes cover that ground directly.
What about setting goals through work?
For that angle, Goal quotes is the better fit — the "Work" page here is more about the character and process of working itself.

There's also a lighter side - people unwinding after work to talk through life's bigger questions over drinks. See Effort Quotes and Goal Quotes for more on getting things done.