“In order that people be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it; they must not do too much of it; and they must have a sense of success in it.” – John Ruskin
“No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
“Every job from the heart is, ultimately, of equal value. The nurse injects the syringe; the writer slides the pen; the farmer plows the dirt; the comedian draws the laughter. Monetary income is the perfect deceiver of a man’s true worth.” ― Criss Jami
“Clearly the most unfortunate people are those who must do the same thing over and over again, every minute, or perhaps twenty to the minute. They deserve the shortest hours and the highest pay.” – John Kenneth Galbraith
“There is incredible value in being of service to others. I think if most of the people in therapy offices were dragged out to put their finger in a dike, or take up their place in a working line, they would be relieved of terrible burdens.” – Elizabeth Berg
“Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” ― J.M. Barrie
“You should not confuse your career with your life.” ― Dave Barry
“Every time a man expects, as he says, his money to work for him, he is expecting other people to work for him.” — Dorothy L. Sayers
“In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.” – Ivan Illich
“Most of us continue to work for wages in a highly unequal social system that denies us meaningful work and a decent return for our labor. That simple fact defines a set of common interests of immense democratic potential.” – Charles Bergquist
“Whenever people say, ‘We mustn’t be sentimental,’ you can take it they are about to do something cruel. And if they add, ‘We must be realistic,’ they mean they are going to make money from it.” – Brigid Brophy
“We think that we must be acquisitive—though we call it by a better-sounding word. We call it evolution, growth, development, progress, and we say it is essential.” – J. Krishnamurti
“Rather than earn money, it was Thoreau’s idea to reduce his wants so that he would not need to buy anything. As he went around town preaching this ingenious idea, the shopkeepers of Concord hoped he would drop dead.” – Richard Armour
“A civilization which tends to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a fortunate few, and to make of others mere human machines, must inevitably evolve anarchy and bring destruction.” – Henry George
“A society based on cash and self-interest is not a society at all, but a state of war.” – William Morris
“In the Soviet Union capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country capitalism triumphed over democracy.” – Fran Lebowitz
“What does a man need—really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in, and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all—in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, and preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.” – Sterling Hayden
“Don’t you know that if people could bottle the air they would? Don’t you know there would be an American Airbottling Association? And don’t you know that they would allow thousands and millions to die for want of breath if they could not pay for air?” – Robert Ingersoll
“The seven deadly sins are wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity, knowledge without character, politics without principle, commerce without morality, worship without sacrifice.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect you have enough, and when you have enough, you have self-respect.” – Gail Sheehy
“Simplicity doesn’t mean to live in misery and poverty. You have what you need, and you don’t have what you don’t need.” – Charan Singh
“He who clings to his work will create nothing that endures. If you want to accord with the Tao, just do your work, then let go.” – Tao Te Ching
“It’s always been and always will be the same in the world: the horse does the work, and the coachman is tipped.” – Anonymous
“Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential — as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.
“You’ll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you’re doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you’ll hear about them.
“To invent your own life’s meaning is not easy, but it’s still allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble.” ― Bill Watterson
“I’ve heard that hard work never killed anyone, but I say why take the chance?” ― Ronald Reagan
Photo credit: Scott Liddell
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