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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.

Many of the greatest composers and musicians do their best work in extreme confinement but we are seeing it in other fields - uses of technology to link people together in networks to solve problems and almost certainly we'll get...

Quotes by Geoff Mulgan

As a civil servant in charge of the government's Strategy Unit, I brought in many people from outside government, including academia and science, to work in the unit, dissecting and solving complex problems from GM crops to alcohol, nuclear proliferation...

Quotes by Geoff Mulgan

Science is, rightly, searching for drugs to arrest ageing or to slow the advance of dementia. But the evidence suggests that many of the most powerful factors determining how you age come from what you do, and what you do...

Quotes by Geoff Mulgan

Spreading an idea is hard work.

Quotes by Geoff Mulgan

I don't look at things goin', 'Oh, is this gonna make me rich? Is this gonna make me a star? Am I gonna win awards?' If all that stuff happens, great. Who cares? I still have to wake up in...

Quotes by Geoff Stults

You have to be engaged, or else you're not going to want to show up and go to work.

Quotes by Geoff Stults

I always wanted to be an athlete. Then when I realized that I can't run very fast, jump very high, or catch anything, I thought, 'Maybe if this doesn't work out, I can be an actor.'

Quotes by Geoff Stults

How is it we could have a system where schools could remain lousy for 50 years and yet you do exactly the same thing this year that they did 50 years ago when it didn't work then, and no one...

Quotes by Geoffrey Canada

Convincing people to give your way a try will work if you neutralize - and sometimes you have to cauterize - the ones who really are against change. They're the kind of person who, if you tell them it's raining...

Quotes by Geoffrey Canada

The tendency in lots of large organizations is to try and find a comfortable place where you think you can get measured rewards for measured work.

Quotes by Geoffrey Canada

In two-parent households, women have increasingly entered the workplace, and in single-parent households, there is even more of a need for the adults to work. That means parents do not fully control their own schedule and have to scramble to...

Quotes by Geoffrey Canada

I was plunged into what was known as the debutante social whirl. This was one of the ways fathers justified their own hard work and sacrifices.

Quotes by Gene Tierney

I was fortunate enough to work under directors who were, most of them, brilliant, emotional men.

Quotes by Gene Tierney

We love doing commercial and TV show work.

Quotes by Gene Ween

Because I live and work in Washington, D.C., I have a ringside seat at the world capital of The Persuasive Arts, or, as I like to call it, The Opinions Racket.

Quotes by Gene Weingarten

I think, with TG, in our own ways, we have been committed to the idea of evolution on some level and change on some level - that human behaviour may not be changeable, but one has to try and be...

Quotes by Genesis P-Orridge

I would experiment with porridge - make porridge pancakes, fry porridge - and so friends started calling me 'Porridge.' But I got to feel that I was becoming a character, a work of fiction, in a sense.

Quotes by Genesis P-Orridge

All the great artists illustrate their approach to life in the work they make.

Quotes by Genesis P-Orridge

Things don't happen in a vacuum, and artists don't make work in a vacuum.

Quotes by Genesis P-Orridge

We all fall into biological and mental habits. It's an easy way for us to navigate day-to-day work and life, but it also doesn't do us any favours in terms of growing into wisdom, growing into a greater understanding of...

Quotes by Genesis P-Orridge

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.