Labor Quotes - Page 22

• Sleep, thou repose of all things; sleep, thou gentlest of the deities; thou peace of the mind, from which care flies; who doest soothe the hearts of men wearied with the toils of the day, and refittest them for labor.

  Ovid

  Heart, Sleep, Men

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• An Italian philosopher said that "time was his estate"; an estate indeed which will produce nothing without cultivation, but will always abundantly repay the labors of industry, and generally satisfy the most extensive desires, if no part of it be suffered to lie in waste by negligence, to be overrun with noxious plants, or laid out for show rather than for use.

  Samuel Johnson

  Lying, Italian, Desire

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• Such are the vicissitudes of the world, through all its parts, that day and night, labor and rest, hurry and retirement, endear each other; such are the changes that keep the mind in action: we desire, we pursue, we obtain, we are satiated; we desire something else and begin a new pursuit.

  Samuel Johnson

  Change, Retirement, Night

  Samuel Johnson (1784). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes..”, p.35

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• Such is the constitution of Man that labor may be said to be its own re-ward.

  Samuel Johnson

  Exercise, Men, May

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• Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. He has a work, a Life-purpose... Get your happiness out of your work or you will never know what real happiness is... Even in the meanest sorts of Labour, the whole soul of a man is composed into a kind of real harmony the instant he sets himself to work!

  Thomas Carlyle

  Real, Blessed, Men

  "Past and Present". Book by Thomas Carlyle, April 1843.

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• All true work is sacred.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Sacred

  Thomas Carlyle (1862). “Past and Present: Chartism, and Sartor Resartus”, p.203

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• Labor is life: from the inmost heart of the worker rises his God-given force, the sacred celestial life-essence breathed into him by Almighty God!

  Thomas Carlyle

  Heart, Essence, Sacred

  Thomas Carlyle (1843). “Past and Present”, p.113

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• Labor, wide as the earth, has its summit in heaven.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Heaven, Earth, Summit

  Thomas Carlyle (1872). “Past and Present”, p.262

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• My own feeling is that the only possible reason for engaging in the hard labor of writing a novel, is that one is bothered by something one needs to understand, and can come to understand only through the characters in the imagined situation.

  May Sarton

  Writing, Character, Feelings

  May Sarton (2015). “Writings on Writing”, p.18, Open Road Media

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• Our souls may all be equal in the sight of the Lord, but our gumption and ingenuity ain't. So the results of man's labor will never be equal.

  Bess Streeter Aldrich

  Equality, Men, Sight

  Bess Streeter Aldrich (1939). “Song of Years”

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• Rebuffed, but always persevering; self-reproached, but ever regaining faith; undaunted, tenacious, the heart of man labors toward immeasurably distant goals.

  Helen Keller

  Heart, Men, Self

  Helen Keller (1967). “Helen Keller, her Socialist years: writings and speeches”

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• The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor.

  Helen Keller

  Country, Land, Bankers

  Helen Keller (1967). “Helen Keller, her Socialist years: writings and speeches”

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• The few who profit from the labor of the masses want to organize the workers into an army which will protect the interests of the capitalists.

  Helen Keller

  Army, Want, Profit

  Helen Keller (1967). “Helen Keller, her Socialist years: writings and speeches”

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• Instead of being satisfied to alleviate suffering, we shall labor hard and continually to prevent it.

  Helen Keller

  Suffering, Alleviate, Satisfied

  Helen Keller (2000). “To Love this Life: Quotations”, p.74, American Foundation for the Blind

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• Perhaps you say, Why are the wicked joyous? Why do they live in luxury? Why do they not toil with me? It is because they who have not put down their names to strive for the crown are not bound to undergo the labors of the contest. They who have not gone down into the race-course do not annoint themselves with oil nor get covered with dust. For those whom glory awaits trouble is at hand. The perfumed spectators are wont to look on, not to join in the struggle, nor to endure the sun, the heat, the dust, and the showers.

  Bill Vaughan

  Struggle, Race, Dust

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• What was said by the Latin poet of labor--that it conquers all things--is much more true when applied to impudence.

  Henry Fielding

  Latin, Conquer, Poet

  Henry Fielding, William Ernest Henley (1903). “The Complete Works of Henry Fielding, Esq: The history of the life of the late Mr.Jonathan Wild and A journey from this world to the next, &c”

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• The greatest part of mankind labor under one delirium or another; and Don Quixote differed from the rest, not in madness, but the species of it. The covetous, the prodigal, the superstitious, the libertine, and the coffee-house politician, are all Quixotes in their several ways.

  Henry Fielding

  Coffee, House, Way

  Henry Fielding (1824). “Works: With a Life of the Author”, p.297

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• From Memorial Day to Labor Day, you may wear white shoes. Not before and not after. As a command, the White Shoe Edict should be clear and simple enough. Do not violate it. In a society in which everything else has become relative, a matter of how it makes you feel, a question between you and your conscience, and an opportunity for you to be really you, this is an absolute.

  Judith Martin

  Memorial Day, Opportunity, Simple

  Judith Martin (1990). “Miss Manners' Guide for the Turn-of-the-Millennium”, p.149, Simon and Schuster

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• One should not be assigned one's identity in society by the job slot one happens to fill. If we truly believe in the dignity of labor, any task can be performed with equal pride because none can demean the basic dignity of a human being.

  Judith Martin

  Jobs, Work, Believe

  Judith Martin (1996). “Common courtesy: in which Miss Manners solves the problem that baffled Mr. Jefferson”

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• No labor is hard, no time is long, wherein the glory of eternity is the mark we level at.

  Francis Quarles

  Long, Levels, Glory

  Francis Quarles, Charles Edward De Coetlogon, Christopher Harvey (1778). “Emblems Divine and Moral: Together with Hieroglyphics of the Life of Man”, p.88

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• In all thy actions think God sees thee; and in all His actions labor to see Him; that will make thee fear Him; this will move thee to love Him; the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, and the knowledge of God is the perfection of love.

  Francis Quarles

  God, Moving, Thinking

  Francis Quarles (1844). “Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles”, p.100

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• If thou desire to purchase honor with thy wealth, consider first how that wealth became thine; if thy labor got it, let thy wisdom keep it; if oppression found it, let repentance restore it; if thy parent left it, let thy virtues deserve it; so shall thy honor be safer, better and cheaper.

  Francis Quarles

  Parent, Honor, Desire

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• The labor of thinking was so great to me, that having once come to a conclusion upon any subject, I would rather persist in it, right or wrong, than be at the trouble of going over the process again to revise and rectify my judgment.

  Maria Edgeworth

  Thinking, Judgment, Trouble

  Maria Edgeworth, Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1822). “Works”, p.33

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• I should rather labor as another's serf, in the home of a man without fortune, one whose livelihood was meager, than rule over all the departed dead.

  Homer

  Home, Men, Departed

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• Now you say, alas! Christianity is hard; I grant it; but gainful and happy. I contemn the difficulty when I respect the advantage. The greatest labors that have answerable requitals are less than the least that have no regard. Believe me, when I look to the reward, I would not have the work easier. It is a good Master whom we serve, who not only pays, but gives; not after the proportion of our earnings, but of His own mercy.

  Joseph Hall

  Believe, Giving, Looks

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