Logo - Feel The Words

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.

Instead of asking 'How much damage will the work in question bring about?' why not ask 'How much good? How much joy?'

Quotes by Henry Miller

The worst sin that can be committed against the artist is to take him at his word, to see in his work a fulfillment instead of an horizon.

Quotes by Henry Miller

It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tension needed for his work.

Quotes by Henry Moore

In Giacometti's work, the armature has once again become the life-line of the sculpture, and also, he's brought back to sculpture a nervous sensitivity which the 'pure carving' side of sculpture can lose sight of altogether.

Quotes by Henry Moore

Turner - whether on canvas or paper - can create almost measurable distances of space and air - air that you can draw, in which you can work out what the section through it would be. The space he creates...

Quotes by Henry Moore

I always told people in the private sector, 'You can be the smartest person in the world, you can have the very best ideas, but if you can't sell them and you can't get other people to work with you,...

Quotes by Henry Paulson

Every global concern - economic, environmental or security-related - can be addressed more effectively when the U.S. and China work together.

Quotes by Henry Paulson

When our markets work, people throughout our economy benefit - Americans seeking to buy a car or buy a home, families borrowing to pay for college, innovators borrowing on the strength of a good idea for a new product or...

Quotes by Henry Paulson

I've never been antiregulation. I've always believed that raw, unregulated capitalism doesn't work.

Quotes by Henry Paulson

I have always been fascinated by the way things work and how they came to take the form that they did. Writing about these things satisfies my curiosity about the made world while at the same time giving me an...

Quotes by Henry Petroski

Too much redesign has to do more with fad and fashion than with fitness and function. It is change for the sake of change. Such redesign is not only unnecessary, it is all too often also retrogressive, leading to things...

Quotes by Henry Petroski

In an ideal world, I'd love to work on something that is on par with 'Lost' or better than 'Lost.'

Quotes by Henry Ian Cusick

When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.

Quotes by Henry J. Kaiser

Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.

Quotes by Henry J. Kaiser

Trouble is only an opportunity in work clothes.

Quotes by Henry J. Kaiser

We work in the dark - we do what we can - we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.

Quotes by Henry James

I love the ability to work with very good managers, and to provide the right incentives for them, and truly become a partner with that management, and make that management take a long view.

Quotes by Henry Kravis

Like other Americans, U.S. journalists have often neglected the study of history; they have much remedial work to do in trying to understand who did what to whom, why and when - and who did it first.

Quotes by Henry Grunwald

My eyes don't work, at least not fully, because they are blocked by disease. The scene around me appears through a kind of curtain, a haze.

Quotes by Henry Grunwald

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau

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.