Workmen Quotes

• The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence.

  Adam Smith

  Real, Hype, Discipline

  Adam Smith (2010). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.138, Cosimo, Inc.

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• By the work one knows the workman.

  Jean de La Fontaine

  Inspirational, Work, Army

  "The Fables of La Fontaine: Book I". Book by Jean de La Fontaine, 1668.

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• It is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture. That which I have insisted upon as the life of the whole, that spirit which is given only by the hand and eye of the workman, can never be recalled.

  John Ruskin

  Beautiful, Eye, Hands

  John Ruskin (2015). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.228, John Ruskin

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• Do not talk about giftedness, inborn talents! One can assume great men of all kinds who were very little gifted. They acquired greatness, became “geniuses” (as we put it), through qualities the lack of which no one who knew what they were would boast of: they all possessed that seriousness of the efficient workman which first learns to construct the parts properly before it ventures to fashion a great whole; they allowed themselves time for it, because they took more pleasure in making the little, secondary things well than in the effect of a dazzling whole.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Fashion, Greatness, Men

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• The man incapable of contemplation cannot be an artist, but only a skillful workman.

  Ananda Coomaraswamy

  Artist, Men, He Man

  Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, Rama P. Coomaraswamy (2004). “The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy”, p.133, World Wisdom, Inc

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• There are many skillful apprentices, but few master workmen.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Perfection, Masters, Workers

  Henry David Thoreau (1937). “The selected works of Thoreau”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

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• It would seem as if the rulers of our time sought only to use men in order to make things great; I wish that they would try a little more to make great men; that they would set less value on the work and more upon the workman; that they would never forget that a nation cannot long remain strong when every man belonging to it is individually weak; and that no form or combination of social polity has yet been devised to make an energetic people out of a community of pusillanimous and enfeebled citizens.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Strong, Men, Order

  Alexis De Tocqueville (2013). “Democracy in America -”, p.340, Read Books Ltd

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• The teacher's chief difficulty is poverty. He (or she) belongs to a badly paid profession. He cannot dress and live like a workman, but he is sometimes paid as little as an unskilled laborer.

  Gilbert Highet

  Teacher, Dresses, Littles

  GILBERT HIGHET (1950). “THE ART OF TEACHING”

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• A bad workman blames his tools.

  Daphne du Maurier

  Tools, Blame, Entrepreneurship

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• There's no workman, whatsoever he be, That may both work well and hastily.

  Geoffrey Chaucer

  Literature, May, Wells

  Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Merchant's Tale”

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• Hardly a competent workman can be found who does not devote a considerable amount of time to studying just how slowly he can work and still convince his employer that he is going at a good pace.

  Frederick Winslow Taylor

  Time, Work, Doe

  Frederick Winslow Taylor (1947). “Scientific Management, Comprising Shop Management: The Principles of Scientific Management [and] Testimony Before the Special House Committee”, New York, Harper

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• We must never undervalue any person. The workman loves not that his work should be despised in his presence. Now God is present everywhere, and every person is His work.

  Saint Francis de Sales

  Appreciation, Should, Persons

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• A poor leader will tell you how many people work for them. A great leader will tell you how many people they work for.

  Simon Sinek

  People, Leader, Great Leader

  Twitter post from Apr 12, 2012

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• Men are more important than tools. If you don't believe so, put a good tool into the hands of a poor workman.

  John Joseph Bernet

  Believe, Men, Hands

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• What is an artist but a workman who is determined that, whatever else happens, his work shall be excellent?

  William Morris

  Artist, Determined, Excellent

  William Morris, May Morris (2012). “The Collected Works of William Morris: With Introductions by His Daughter May Morris”, p.23, Cambridge University Press

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• The Forgotten Man is delving away in patient industry, supporting his family, paying his taxes, casting his vote, supporting the church and the school, reading his newspaper, and cheering for the politician of his admiration, but he is the only one for whom there is no provision in the great scramble and the big divide. Such is the Forgotten Man. He works, he votes, generally he prays — but he always pays — yes, above all, he pays.

  William Graham Sumner

  Life, Family, Prayer

  "The Forgotten Man and Other Essays".

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• I do not think that shoemaker a good workman that makes a great shoe for a little foot.

  Plutarch

  Thinking, Shoes, Feet

  Plutarch (1871). “Plutarch's Morals”, p.385

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• When workmen strive to do better than well, they do confound their skill in covetousness.

  William Shakespeare

  Skills, Excellence, Strive

  William Shakespeare (1790). “The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustr. of various commentators; to which are added An essay on the chronological order of his plays; an essay relative to Shakspeare and Jonson; a dissertation on the three parts of King Henry vi; an historical account of the English stage; and notes. By E. Malone. 10 vols. [in 11 pt.].”, p.529

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• If we dreamed the same thing every night, it would affect us much as the objects we see every day. And if a common workman were sure to dream every night for twelve hours that he was a king, I believe he would be almost as happy as a king who should dream every night for twelve hours on end that he was a common workman.

  Blaise Pascal

  Dream, Kings, Believe

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• A workman who wants to do his work well must first prepare his tools.

  Confucius

  Tools, Want, Firsts

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• No man saw the building of the New Jerusalem, the workmen crowded together, the unfinished walls and unpaved streets; no man heard the clink of trowel and pickaxe; it descended out of heaven from God.

  John Robert Seeley

  Wall, Men, Heaven

  Sir John Robert Seeley (1866). “Ecce Homo: A Survey of the Life and Work of Jesus Christ”, p.330

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• All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.

  Plato

  Plato, Men, Deceived Us

  Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (1967). “Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study”

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• When a workman knows the use of his tools, he can make a door as well as a window.

  George Eliot

  Doors, Experts, Tools

  George Eliot (1860). “The Mill on the Floss”, p.22

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• A bad workman quarrels with his tools.

  George Herbert

  Tools, Quarrels

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• In the long-run the workman may be as necessary to his master as his master is to him, but the necessity is not so immediate.

  Adam Smith

  Running, Long, May

  Adam Smith (1843). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations With a Life of the Author: Also a View of the Doctrine of Smith, Compared with that of the French Economists, with a Method of Facilitating the Study of His Works, from the French of M. Jariner”, p.28

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