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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.

I wasn't, like, this top model; I was quietly doing my work, and when I became an actress, people started doing research, and everybody found out. People dug out photos, and suddenly people became interested - but no one was...

Quotes by Olga Kurylenko

I decided to write a crime novel. That genre was at the height of its popularity in Poland, so I thought it might earn me a bit of cash to go on with my work on 'The Books of Jacob.'...

Quotes by Olga Tokarczuk

The English book world is relatively closed to translation, so only a small amount of foreign language work can come in.

Quotes by Olga Tokarczuk

No good work is ever done while the heart is hot and anxious and fretted.

Quotes by Olive Schreiner

People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up.

Quotes by Ogden Nash

If you don't want to work you have to work to earn enough money so that you won't have to work.

Quotes by Ogden Nash

My work always presents problems in our society. Those problems may be anything from injustice to freedom, and everything related to humanity.

Quotes by Okky Madasari

My weaknesses are my jumps. The reason is that although I land them in practice, when I actually compete or perform, I should let my body go and stabilize my mind better. Also, I need to work on not letting...

Quotes by Oksana Baiul

Pairs skating and singles are two different things. Although some skaters have achieved this successfully, it is a very difficult transition. You're looking at double work.

Quotes by Oksana Baiul

My mum brought me to my first job when I was 12. I started electrical work at her plant. She was an engineer, a technical expert, at one of the plants in the south, and in the summer she brought...

Quotes by Oleg Deripaska

There is nothing in my work that can be taken as blasphemy.

Quotes by Oleg Kulik

I don't want to work with a person just to have someone there.

Quotes by Oleksandr Usyk

I may sound a bit crazy, but I get really excited with all the enormous hard work that I put myself through every day.

Quotes by Oleksandr Usyk

England is a lucky country for me, and fortune comes only with hard work.

Quotes by Oleksandr Usyk

I wasn't trying to work out my own ancestry. I was trying to get people to feel slavery. I was trying to get across the kind of emotional and psychological stones that slavery threw at people.

Quotes by Octavia E. Butler

Third, for people who aren't doing it already, take classes - they're worthwhile. Workshops or classes - a workshop is where you do actually get feedback on your work, not just something where you go and sit for a day.

Quotes by Octavia E. Butler

Tolerance, like any aspect of peace, is forever a work in progress, never completed, and, if we're as intelligent as we like to think we are, never abandoned.

Quotes by Octavia E. Butler

As a black and as a woman, I didn't think that I would really want to live in any of the eras before this, because I would inevitably be worse off. I would have spent more time struggling just to...

Quotes by Octavia E. Butler

I just think that you have to believe in yourself and you have to work very hard. You can't ever think that you're the best thing since sliced bread because I promise you, there are going to be Viola Davises...

Quotes by Octavia Spencer

I don't have one role that I want to play. I guess... I want to be a producer. I want to be an activist. I want to be proactive in bringing about work for men, women, boys, girls, everybody who...

Quotes by Octavia Spencer

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.