# Quotes about work - Quotes: 26 - Authors: 15 - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work ## Quotes > To an active mind, indolence is more painful than labor ... The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > He had the kind of real deep tan that rich people spend ages trying to achieve with expensive holidays and bits of tinfoil, when really all you need to do to obtain one is work your arse off in the open air every day. [Terry Pratchett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett.md) · [Equal Rites](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/equal-rites.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/equal-rites/he-had-the.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > This - this - was my life's work. My past - humanity's future. Foundation. So beatiful. So alive. And nothing can...Dors! [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Forward the Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/forward-the-foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/forward-the-foundation/this-this-was.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md), [the future](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future.md) > The unwritten motto of United States Robot and Mechanical Men Corp. was well-known: “No employee makes the same mistake twice. He is fired the first time.” [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Robot](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-robot.md) · p. 65 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-robot/the-unwritten-motto.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md), [mistakes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes.md) > I've just had an amusing flashback. All these creatures going in the same direction - they look like the commuters who used to surge back and forth twice a day between home and office, before electronics made it unnecessary. p.29 [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [3001 The Final Odyssey](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/3001-the-final-odyssey.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/3001-the-final-odyssey/ive-just-had.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > Long ago, he had made that choice between work and life that can seldom be avoided at the highest levels of human endeavor ... Any fool could shuffle genes, and most did. But whether or not history gave him credit, few men could have achieved what he had done — and was about to do. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Fountains Of Paradise](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise.md) · p. 208 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/long-ago-he-had.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of "work" because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don't always want to do. Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery. People are working every minute. The machinery is always going. Even when you sleep. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol Topics: [life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life.md), [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > They, poor devils, were just machine-fodder, they were penned like cattle in housing-estates, the big Companies were gradually dominating their whole lives, regulating slavery, threatening to enlist all the nation’s workers, millions of hands to increase the wealth of a thousand idlers. Germinal Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > There lay certitude; there, in the daily round. All the rest hung on mere threads and trivial contingencies; you couldn't waste your time on it. The thing was to do your job as it should be done. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Plague](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague/there-lay-certitude.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > ...organizations like the church or General Motors promote a man up and up until he reaches a spot which he is obviously incapable of filling, and there they lay him to rest. [James A. Michener](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener.md) · [Poland](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/poland.md) · p. 587 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/poland/organizations-like-the.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > Our labour preserves us from three great evils -- weariness, vice, and want. [Voltaire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire.md) · [Candide](https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide/our-labour-preserves.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > Let us cultivate our garden. [Voltaire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire.md) · [Candide](https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide/let-us-cultivate.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > "Let us work without reasoning," said Martin; "it is the only way to make life endurable." [Voltaire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire.md) · [Candide](https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/voltaire/candide/let-us-work.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > Thus, while the refugee serfs only wished to be free to develop and assert those conditions of existence which were already there, and hence, in the end, only arrived at free labour, the proletarians, if they are to assert themselves as individuals, will have to abolish the very condition of their existence hitherto (which has, moreover, been that of all society up to the present), namely, labour. Thus they find themselves directly opposed to the form in which, hitherto, the individuals, of which society consists, have given themselves collective expression, that is, the State. In order, therefore, to assert themselves as individuals, they must overthrow the State. [Karl Marx](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx.md) · [The German Ideology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/the-german-ideology.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/the-german-ideology/thus-while-the.md) Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > For as soon as the distribution of labour comes into being, each man has a particular exclusive sphere of activity, which is forced upon him and from which he cannot escape. He is a hunter, a fisherman, a shepherd, or a critical critic and must remain so if he does not wish to lose his means of livelihood; while in communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, to fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have in mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic. [Karl Marx](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx.md) · [The German Ideology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/the-german-ideology.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/the-german-ideology/for-as-soon.md) Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do, and...Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.md) · p. 32 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/work-consists-of-whatever.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.md) · p. 32 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/if-he-had.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/tom-appeared-on-the.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > In Hiroshima, a bellman arrived at our room, literally, within one minute. He had obviously been sprinting, and he looked concerned. He checked the faucet, found it was, indeed, malfunctioning, and- now looking extremely- concerned- sprinted from the room. In no more than three minutes he was back with two more men, one of whom immediately went to work on the bathtub. The sole function of the other one, as far as we could tell, was to apologize to us on behalf of the hotel for having committed this monumentally embarrassing and totally unforgivable blunder. "We are very sorry," he kept saying, looking as though near tears. "Very sorry." "It's OK!" I kept saying. "Really!" But it did no good. The man was grieving. The bathtub was fixed in under ten minutes, after which all three men apologized extravagantly in various languages one last time, after which they left, after which I imagine the hotel's Vice President for Faucet Operations was taken outside and shot. No, just kidding. He probably took his own life. That's how seriously they take their jobs over there. [Dave Barry](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry.md) · [Dave Barry Does Japan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/dave-barry-does-japan.md) · p. 48 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/dave-barry-does-japan/in-hiroshima-a-bellman.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > All professions are conspiracies against the laity. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [The Doctor's Dilemma](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/the-doctors-dilemma.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/the-doctors-dilemma/all-professions-are.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > These are mere business relations, miss; there is no friendship in them, no particular interest, nothing like sentiment. I have passed from one to another, in the course of my business life, just as I pass from one of our customers to another in the course of my business day; in short, I have no feelings; I am a mere machine. To go on... [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [A Tale of Two Cities](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities/these-are-mere.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md), [relationships](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/relationships.md) > Feelings! I have no time for them, no chance of them. I pass my whole life, miss, in turning an immense pecuniary Mangle. [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [A Tale of Two Cities](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities/feelings-i-have.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > All through that summer the work of the farm went like clockwork. The animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced by themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a grudging master. With the worthless parasitical human beings gone, there was more for everyone to eat. [George Orwell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell.md) · [Animal Farm](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm/all-through-that.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > Boxer was the admiration of everybody. He had been a hard worker even in Jones's time, but now he seemed more like three horses than one; there were days when the entire work of the farm seemed to rest on his mighty shoulders. From morning to night he was pushing and pulling, always at the spot where the work was hardest. He had made an arrangement with one of the cockerels to call him in the mornings half an hour earlier than anyone else, and would put in some volunteer labour at whatever seemed to be most needed, before the regular day's work began. His answer to every problem, every setback, was "I will work harder!"—which he had adopted as his personal motto. [George Orwell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell.md) · [Animal Farm](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm/boxer-was-the.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md), [perseverance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/perseverance.md) > Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our labour tills the soil, our dung fertilises it, and yet there is not one of us that owns more than his bare skin. [George Orwell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell.md) · [Animal Farm](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm/man-is-the.md) Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings. [George Orwell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell.md) · [Animal Farm](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm/all-that-year.md) Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md)