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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 I don't belong because of what I think and because of my opinions, then so be it. What can one do about it? One can't bend over backwards or pretend to be someone else just to belong. And in...

Quotes by Herta Muller

Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace.

Quotes by Hesiod

The modern work of art, as I have said, is a symbol.

Quotes by Herbert Read

The trouble with opportunity is that it always comes disguised as hard work.

Quotes by Herbert V. Prochnow

Take whatever happens and try to make it work.

Quotes by Herbie Hancock

I've always been interested in science. I used to take watches apart and clocks apart, and there's little screws, and a little this and that, and I found out if I dropped one of them, that thing ain't gonna work.

Quotes by Herbie Hancock

I had sat in one day in Central Park with Bonnie and Delaney, and Duane was playing with them, so I asked if he wanted to work on an album. You never had to say to him how to play...

Quotes by Herbie Mann

The reality is that what you find out is that your head is the medicine. If your head is not in the right place and you don't think positively, all the medicine technology in the world is not going to...

Quotes by Herbie Mann

To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.

Herman Melville

They talk of the dignity of work. The dignity is in leisure.

Herman Melville

I'm pretty selective. I generally edit the contact sheets and then do work prints. Because I have my own lab and printers, I can afford the luxury of going through the contact sheets for black-and-white, making up work prints, seeing...

Quotes by Herb Ritts

That's why I felt so at home when I went to Africa. It didn't matter that I was halfway around the world in a foreign country, because all those elements are universal. And I think that's one thing about my...

Quotes by Herb Ritts

When computers came along, I felt for the first time that I had the proper tools for the kind of theoretical work I wanted to do. So I moved over to that, and that got me into psychology.

Quotes by Herbert A. Simon

I am no supporter of factory labor for children, but I have never joined with those who clamored against proper work of children on farms outside their school hours.

Quotes by Herbert Hoover

The slow rhythm of the body, the insistent rhythm of the wit, were they becoming irreconcilable in modern civilisation? The sedentary life, frustration and irritability; work with the body, fatigue - and peace of mind.

Quotes by Henry Williamson

I do most of my work with kids. They are the very foundation of our future. We are so incredibly disrespectful to them in America in every way because they can't vote.

Quotes by Henry Winkler

There are a lot of good actors who work forever and never make one good thing.

Quotes by Henry Zebrowski

Evidently the merit depends on the result of the work.

Quotes by Henryk Sienkiewicz

I find that it's nice to work with somebody and spin off on someone else's feelings. You get a little jaded by yourself.

Quotes by Herb Alpert

I just get things done instead of talking about getting them done. I don't go out and party. I don't smoke, drink or do drugs and I'm not married, that leaves a lot of time for my work.

Quotes by Henry Rollins

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.