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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 work hard, and I'm very separate from what my parents do.

Quotes by Mabel

I moved from Stockholm to London, and I didn't want to work with my parents or have them help me in any way, I think just to prove to myself that I have my own talent.

Quotes by Mabel

I'm going to try to do music for the rest of my life, but that's just trying. Maybe it's not going to work out. Who knows?

Quotes by Mac DeMarco

I think you don't do work for controversy alone, and whenever you do new work which people don't understand and they say it is done to create controversy.

Quotes by M. F. Husain

I kept on trying to use so many media and ideas in my work because our horizon is so vast and Indian culture is so rich that I think what we are today, culturally, we have a unique position and...

Quotes by M. F. Husain

Hard work makes easy reading or, at least, easier reading.

Quotes by M. H. Abrams

Secular thinkers have no more been able to work free of the centuries-old Judeo-Christian culture than Christian theologians were able to work free of their inheritance of classical and pagan thought. The process... has not been the deletion and replacement...

Quotes by M. H. Abrams

Social media buzz can lead to huge successes when people spread the word about something they love and want to share. But authors creating their own buzz? Making their own noise? It's hard to make a lot of noise on...

Quotes by M. J. Rose

Smart authors, faced with storms, chose to create umbrellas. That's why a diverse group of authors banded together to create The Fiction Writer's Co-op, which will work to find innovative ways to promote each other's work and cheer each other...

Quotes by M. J. Rose

Thriller novelists get asked - berated, sometimes - about whether their work glorifies bad behavior, even, exploits human tragedy for entertainment.

Quotes by M. J. Rose

It seems like, yeah, of course - I always think my work is important, or I wouldn't risk my life for it.

Quotes by Lynsey Addario

I wanted to continue doing my work, but I had to figure out how. And so what I have basically come up with is that I still go to Afghanistan and Iraq and South Sudan and many of these places...

Quotes by Lynsey Addario

I've always wanted to do a photo book, but I've never done one because I've never felt ready; I just didn't feel my work was good enough.

Quotes by Lynsey Addario

As a woman, I have tried to take advantage of the extra access I have in the Muslim world: with Muslim women, for example. Many people underestimate women in that part of the world because, typically, they don't work.

Quotes by Lynsey Addario

Sometimes you work with people, and you just don't want to even be in their space, but you do it because it's your job, you know.

Quotes by Lyriq Bent

Unlike the majority of the writers of his age, La Rochefoucauld was an aristocrat; and this fact gives a peculiar tone to his work.

Quotes by Lytton Strachey

Children may be born angels, but with all the temptations out there in the world, it takes work to try to keep them that way.

Quotes by LZ Granderson

Instead of this fruitless debate about having it all, men and women should focus on what make us happy. Instead of comparing our lives with people we don't know who are making sacrifices we don't see, we should try to...

Quotes by LZ Granderson

My work is a game, a very serious game.

Quotes by M. C. Escher

My work more than didn't fit in. It crossed willy-nilly the boundaries that people had spent their lives building up. It hits some 30 subfields of biology, even geology.

Quotes by Lynn Margulis

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.