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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.

If there is some art involved, I'd like it to be that it came through the cracks of daily work.

Quotes by Martin Mull

To be able to get up and be in my studio and work all day is a great joy.

Quotes by Martin Mull

The work is flowing from an inner knowing of how things really are.

Quotes by Martin Puryear

I realized it wasn't necessary to work in the traditional methods of carving and casting.

Quotes by Martin Puryear

Although idea and form are ultimately paramount in my work, so too are chance, accident, and rawness.

Quotes by Martin Puryear

The extreme sophistication of modern technology - wonderful though its benefits are - is, ironically, an impediment to engaging young people with basics: with learning how things work.

Quotes by Martin Rees

In 1959 the University recognized our work by appointing me to a new Chair of Radio Astronomy.

Quotes by Martin Ryle

Psychology is much bigger than just medicine, or fixing unhealthy things. It's about education, work, marriage - it's even about sports. What I want to do is see psychologists working to help people build strengths in all these domains.

Quotes by Martin Seligman

I believe psychology has done very well in working out how to understand and treat disease. But I think that is literally half-baked. If all you do is work to fix problems, to alleviate suffering, then by definition you are...

Quotes by Martin Seligman

Don't invade Iraq. Inspections work, war won't.

Quotes by Martin Sheen

Everything that has happened to me is of value to me. As painful as certain things are, and have been, and were, there's a use for those things in my life and in my work.

Quotes by Martin Landau

Bad guys don't think they're bad guys. Hitler probably thought he was a wonderful guy doing some wonderful and righteous work for Germany.

Quotes by Martin Landau

When I'm playing Big Momma, it's so much work that all I want to do, when I'm finished, is go back home and just relax and study my lines and get ready for the next day.

Quotes by Martin Lawrence

Their educations ended with high school - my father going to work as a clerk and then salesman in a company dealing in printing and stationary, and my mother working as a secretary and then bookkeeper in a firm of...

Quotes by Martin Lewis Perl

This was good training for research, because large parts of experimental work are sometimes boring or involve the use of skills in which one is not particularly gifted.

Quotes by Martin Lewis Perl

I learned quickly, as I tell my graduate students now, there are no answers in the back of the book when the equipment doesn't work or the measurements look strange.

Quotes by Martin Lewis Perl

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

Martin Luther King Jr.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I won't work on anyone's else's script. I won't write for anyone else. I write my own stuff and make that when the time is right.

Quotes by Martin McDonagh

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.