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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.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt had to find a way to help the American people. In 1933, he created a relief program known as the New Deal. Two years later, he expanded the New Deal by adding the Works Progress Administration,...

Quotes by Kathi Appelt

There was no way we'd ever get spoiled. Daddy made sure to instill in us a work ethic.

Quotes by Kathie Lee Gifford

I never consciously choose what I'm going to work on next; I don't have an agenda beyond that attraction. Fortunately, my wonderful agent, Christopher Schelling, knows how I think and points me toward things I might like, which is how...

Quotes by Kathe Koja

My writing process hasn't changed - it's is the same whether I'm working on a Y.A. novel or, as now, a new novel for adults. A lot of reading, a lot of research if the subject warrants it, a lot...

Quotes by Kathe Koja

No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes.

Quotes by Kathe Kollwitz

Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them...

Quotes by Katherine Anne Porter

There's some way in which we would prefer not to see very clearly the immense gifts and intelligence of some of the people who live in our most abject conditions. Maybe there are some things at work in deciding who...

Quotes by Katherine Boo

People naturally long for a bit of the wealth that is whorling all around them, and if the work and education available to them won't get them closer to the comforts that they see others enjoying, the temptation to take...

Quotes by Katherine Boo

What I think happens, and that you have to acknowledge though, is that a director uses a book as a launching pad for his own work and that's always very flattering.

Quotes by Katherine Dunn

Most professional fighters, male and female, hold day jobs, but the women's game attracts a wide social spectrum: hash slingers, teachers, police officers, landscapers, stuntwomen. Many are wives and mothers. Their husbands or boyfriends work their corners, or hide in...

Quotes by Katherine Dunn

The metaphor of the subterranean is at work in a lot of Northwest writers and artists. Zooming in closer and closer and closer, then below, to the worms and the centipede.

Quotes by Katherine Dunn

We came to Portland because there was a good alternative public school. Friends who lived there told me about it, and my son loved it. I left his dad and went to work slinging hash in a breakfast diner and...

Quotes by Katherine Dunn

I was very lucky with 'Soap' and 'Who's the Boss,' which was great fun, and then went on 'Coach' and 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' I've been truly blessed, and the work has all been fun and a joy.

Quotes by Katherine Helmond

If you love somebody, you love them. My parents had a 25-year age gap between them and my mum was the breadwinner, my dad the house husband. I'm a strong believer that a good relationship can work, whatever the situation.

Quotes by Katherine Jenkins

Go see 'Hidden Figures,' and take a young person! It will give a more positive outlook on what is possible if you work hard, do your best, and are prepared.

Quotes by Katherine Johnson

When I left 'Coronation Street,' I wondered if I could ever be lucky enough to work with such a unanimously wonderful company of good people - and I've just come to that good bunch again.

Quotes by Katherine Kelly

If I had a penny for every time I've been asked if I'm going to work in America.

Quotes by Katherine Kelly

I've got a green card, so I can work there any time, but I hate reading about actors going to America, because it's not like that anymore.

Quotes by Katherine Kelly

I know lots of people who work in the U.S. but don't live there.

Quotes by Katherine Kelly

I've already been married six times in my career as an actress - twice as Becky - so I think a wedding of my own might feel too much like work!

Quotes by Katherine Kelly

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.