quotations about work
Are there many situations more sublimely tragic than the struggle of the soul with the demand to renounce a work which has been all the significance of its life--a significance which is to vanish as the waters which come and go where no man has need of them?
GEORGE ELIOT
Middlemarch
Since the Fall, man had accepted labor as a penance and for its power to work redemption. It was not a law of nature which forced man to work, but the effect of a curse.
MICHEL FOUCAULT
Madness & Civilization
Women who don't go OUT to work, of course, are dismissed as homemakers or housewives, with little thought spared for the huge quantum of work they do. Once a baby arrive they become known as stay-at-home mothers (SAHM), perceived to be cooler because "mothering" is a little more specific.
ANUPAMA KAPOOR
"A Woman's Work Is Never Done ... But It Should Be", Huffington Post, January 2, 2016
When it comes to women and work, the largest myth of all is that working is somehow optional. Like men, women work for personal fulfillment and a passion for their job. Also like men, women work to support themselves and their families, and always have.
MARIANNE COOPER
"We act as if work is optional for women. It's not.", The Washington Post, February 5, 2016
I think that this thing, my work, has made me, in a sense, what I am. The work possesses a consciousness which shapes that of the worker. The work flatters the worker. Only the strongest worker can do this work, the work says. You must be a fine fellow, that you can do this work. But disaffection is also possible. The worker grows careless. The worker pays slight regard to the work, he ignores the work, he flirts with other work, he is unfaithful to the work. The work is insulted. And perhaps it finds little ways of telling the worker... The work slips in the hands of the worker--a little cut on the finger. You understand? The work becomes slow, sulky, consumes more time, becomes more tiring. The gaiety that once existed between the worker and the work has evaporated. A fine situation! Don't you think?
DONALD BARTHELME
"The Genius"
I can't abide to see men throw away their tools i' that way, the minute the clock begins to strike, as if they took no pleasure i' their work, and was afraid o' doing a stroke too much.... I hate to see a man's arms drop down as if he was shot, before the clock's fairly struck, just as if he'd never a bit o' pride and delight in's work. The very grindstone 'ull go on turning a bit after you loose it.
GEORGE ELIOT
Adam Bede
Work is a surefire money-making scheme.
DAVE RAMSEY
daily tip, official Dave Ramsey website
Sweat never drowned no one.
KEN ALSTAD
Savvy Sayin's
I think collaborative work is becoming more and more common. I now work in a world where I'm dealing with colleagues from somewhere in the region of 80 or 90 countries and, quite often, we're using some form of connected technology so we can all work together.
MARGOT SLATTERY
"Data is absolutely essential to the future of work", Silicon Republic, March 23, 2017