Great Throughts Treasury

"Poverty and slavery are… only two forms of – one might almost say two words for – the same thing, the essence of which is that a man’s energies are expended for the most part not on his own behalf but on that of others; the outcome being partly that he is overloaded with work, partly that his needs are very inadequately met." - Arthur Schopenhauer

"Man must know what is his real, chief, and foremost object in life - what it is that he most wants in order to be happy…he must find out what, on the whole, his vocation really is - the part he has to play, his general relation to the world. If he maps out important work for himself on great lines, a glance at this miniature plan of his life will more than anything else stimulate, rouse, ennoble, and urge him on to action and keep him from false paths." - Arthur Schopenhauer

"Happiness does not come from possessions, but from our appreciation of them. It does not come from our work, but from our attitude toward that work. It does not come from success, but from the spiritual growth we attain in achieving that success." - Author Unknown NULL

"The human race is faced with a cruel choice: Work or daytime television." - Author Unknown NULL

"To face the inevitable is to confront something sacred. As long as anything is uncertain, the roads are open in more than one direction, and right and wrong may have many aspects. But let the issue be determined, let the die be cast, and acceptance and adjustment become our immediate duty. Until God’s will be known, we may work and wrestle and pry to carry our point, to save the day, to win the prize, spurred only the more by the uncertainty; of the result. But let the result be known, however dark and disappointing, and we should view it in the light of God’s plan to make us His evident children, and ask what we are to learn, what next we are to do." - Author Unknown NULL

"Work is the only capital that never misses dividends." - Author Unknown NULL

"If you pursue happiness, it may elude you, but if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you." - Author Unknown NULL

"Take time to laugh, it is the music of the soul. Take time to think, it is the source of power. Take time to play, it is the source of perpetual youth. Take time to read, it is the fountain of wisdom. Take time to pray, it is the greatest power on earth. Take time to love and be loved, it is a God-given privilege. Take time to be friendly, it is the road to happiness. Take time to give, it is too short a day to be selfish. Take time to work, it is the price of success." - Author Unknown NULL

"The harder you work . . . the luckier you get." - Author Unknown NULL

"There is a past which is gone for ever; but there is a future which is still our own work." - Author Unknown NULL

"Work is love made visible. Keep working with love." - Author Unknown NULL

"Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence." - Author Unknown NULL

"Productive work is the central purpose of a rational man's life, the central value that integrates and determines the hierarchy of all his other values. Reason is the source, the precondition of his productive work - pride is the result." - Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum

"All work is an act of philosophy." - Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum

"Man - every man - is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others. He must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing other to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life." - Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum

"Unless we believe that God renews the work of creation every day, our prayers and obeying of the commandments grow old and accustomed, and tedious." - Baal Shem Tov, given name Yisroel ben Eliezer

"Work is the price that is paid for reputation." - Baltasar Gracián

"A great work always leaves us in a state of musing." - Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

"Love, children, and work are the great sources of fertilizing contact between the individual and the rest of the world." - Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell

"A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not endured with patient resignation." - Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell

"I believe four ingredients are necessary for happiness: health, warm personal relations, sufficient means to keep you from want, and successful work." - Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell

"Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness in the long run, and for most men this comes chiefly through their work." - Bertrand Russell, fully Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell

"What is work? and what is not work? are questions that perplex the wisest of men." - Bhagavad Gītā, simply known as Gita NULL

"To unite the heart with Brahman and then to act: that is the secret of non-attached work. In the calm of self-surrender, the seers renounce the fruits of their actions and so teach enlightenment." - Bhagavad Gītā, simply known as Gita NULL

"The primary cause of success in life is the ability to set and achieve goals. That’s why the people who do not have goals are doomed forever to work for those who do. You either work to achieve your own goals or you work to achieve someone else’s." - Brian Tracy

"Cessation of work is not accompanied by cessation of expenses." - Cato the Elder, Marcus Porius Cato, aka Censorius (the Censor), Sapiens (the Wise), Priscus (the Ancient) NULL

"Shall we speak of the inspiration of a poet or a priest, and not for the heart impelled by love and self-devotion to the lowliest work in the lowliest way of life?" - Charles Dickens, fully Charles John Huffam Dickens

"Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work body and soul." - Charles Buxton

"It is an easy and vulgar thing to please the mob, and not a very arduous task to astonish them; but essentially to benefit and to improve them is a work fraught with difficulty, and teeming with danger." - Charles Caleb Colton

"If a crooked stick is before you, you need not explain how crooked it is. Lay a straight one down by the side of it, and the work is well done. Preach the truth, and error will stand abashed in its presence." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"The world’s salvation commenced in God’s heart, and is contained in the throb of every human heart that carries in it the beat of the heavenly pulse. And when our work is finished, the value that we have been to the world will have to be estimated by the amount of love-deposit we have been able to leave in the treasury of the world’s life." - Charles Henry Parkhurst

"In a work of art the intellect asks questions; it does not answer them." - Christian Friedrich Hebbel

"In the final analysis, there is no other solution to a man's problems but the days honest work, the day's honest decisions, the day's generous utterance, and the day's good deed." - Clare Booth Luce

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL

"The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools." - Confucius, aka Kong Qiu, Zhongni, K'ung Fu-tzu or Kong Fuzi NULL

"Work is a man's most natural form of relaxation." - Dagobert Runes, fully Dabovert David Runes

"Work is man's most natural form of relaxation." - Dagobert Runes, fully Dabovert David Runes

"Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey

"Do you know that if you are courteous and pleasant all day during your work that you will go home at night less fatigued than if you gave way to irritation? Pleasantry, light laughs, relieve tension. It isn't work that makes you tired, it's your mental attitude. Try it." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey

"Do you remember the things you worried about a year ago? How did they work out? Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy on account of most of them? Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?" - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey

"Hate burns up more energy than anything else, more than hard work, illness or justifiable worry. So when hatred is entering our hearts, let us just put it out, make room for pleasant thoughts instead, save our precious God-given energy for something worthy of it." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey

"Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment." - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey

"Make no little plans: they have no magic to stir men’s blood… make big plans, aim high in hope and work." - Daniel Hudson Burnham

"What is more natural in a democratic age than that we should begin to measure the stature of a work of art - especially of a painting - by how widely and how well it is reproduced?" - Daniel Boorstin, fully Daniel Joseph Boorstin

"Amidst the calm and tranquillity of peace the human race accomplishes most freely and easily its’ given work… Whence it is manifest that universal peace is the best of those things that are ordained for our beatitude." - Dante, full name Durante degli Alighieri, aka Dante Alighieri NULL

"The notion that one opinion is as good as another will not work in any other area of human experience, why should it work in the area of faith?" - Elton Trueblood, fully David Elton Trueblood

"It is not the man who is beside himself, but he who is cool and collected, who is master of his countenance, of his voice, of his actions, of his gestures, of every part of his play, who can work upon others at his pleasure." - Denis Diderot

"To understand the world is wise than to condemn it. To study the world is better than to shun it. To use the world is nobler than to abuse it. To make the world better, lovelier, and happier, is the noblest work of man or woman... He who imagines he can do without the world deceives himself much; but he who fancies the world cannot do without him is still more mistaken." - François de La Rochefoucauld, François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, Francois A. F. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored." - Earl Nightingale

"We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile." - Earl Nightingale