Work Ethic Quotes

“Find out what you're good at...and then get even better. That's the key.”
― A.J. Pearce, Dear Mrs. Bird

“A well-built physique is a status symbol. It reflects you worked hard for it, no money can buy it. You cannot inherit it. You cannot steal it. You cannot borrow it. You cannot hold on to it without constant work. It shows dedication. It shows discipline. It shows self-respect. It shows dignity. It shows patience, work ethic, passion. That is why it's attractive to me.”
― Pauline Nordin

“Suddenly' miracles are made of quiet moments of faithfulness.”
― Andrena Sawyer

“It takes many years to become an overnight success.”
― Frank Sonnenberg, Soul Food: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

“I laid out my five expectations that first day [as FBI Director] and many times thereafter:

I expected [FBI employees] would find joy in their work. They were part of an organization devoted to doing good, protecting the weak, rescuing the taken, and catching criminals. That was work with moral content. Doing it should be a source of great joy.

I expected they would treat all people with respect and dignity, without regard to position or station in life.

I expected they would protect the institution's reservoir of trust and credibility that makes possible all their work.

I expected they would work hard, because they owe that to the taxpayer.

I expected they would fight for balance in their lives.

I emphasized that last one because I worried many people in the FBI worked too hard, driven by the mission, and absorbed too much stress from what they saw. I talked about what I had learned from a year of watching [a previous mentor]. I expected them to fight to keep a life, to fight for the balance of other interests, other activities, other people, outside of work. I explained that judgment was essential to the sound exercise of power. Because they would have great power to do good or, if they abused that power, to do harm, I needed sound judgment, which is the ability to orbit a problem and see it well, including through the eyes of people very different from you. I told them that although I wasn't sure where it came from, I knew the ability to exercise judgment was protected by getting away from the work and refreshing yourself. That physical distance made perspective possible when they returned to work.

And then I got personal. "There are people in your lives called 'loved ones' because you are supposed to love them." In our work, I warned, there is a disease called "get-back-itis." That is, you may tell yourself, "I am trying to protect a country, so I will get back to" my spouse, my kids, my parents, my siblings, my friends. "There is no getting back," I said. "In this line of work, you will learn that bad things happen to good people. You will turn to get back and they will be gone. I order you to love somebody. It's the right thing to do, and it's also good for you.”
― James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership

“I don't mind being a team player. I'm just tired of being the soccer ball.”
― Quentin R. Bufogle, Horse Latitudes

“Most people do not deserve everything they need.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Make no mistake, no one has ever become great by mistake.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Many "suddenly" miracles are made of quiet moments of faithfulness.”
― Andrena Sawyer

“The certainty that life cannot be long, and the probability that it will be much shorter than nature allows, ought to awaken every man to the active prosecution of whatever he is desirous to perform. It is true, that no diligence can ascertain success; death may intercept the swiftest career; but he who is cut off in the execution of an honest undertaking has at least the honour of falling in his rank, and has fought the battle, though he missed the victory.”
― Samuel Johnson, Selected Essays

“No one is indispensable; but a dependable person is never expendable.”
― Kayambila Mpulamasaka

“આ જિંદગીમાં ખુશીથી જીવવાનો એક જ રસ્તો છે. ગમતું કામ કરવું. એવું કામ કરવું જેમાં મારો કંઈક અર્થ હોય, ખુશી મળતી હોય અને કામનો નશો હોય, ઝનૂન હોય. એવું કામ કરવું જે કરીને શરીર ભલે થાકે, પરંતુ મનમાં ઉત્સાહ જ હોય. જેમાં રૂપિયા ભલે ઓછા મળે પરંતુ હું ખુશ હોઉં.”
― Jitesh Donga, નોર્થ પોલ [North Pole]

“A genius is produced not by a woman’s womb but by a man’s efforts.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Why, some of the work that I have by me now has been in my possession for years and years, and there isn't a finger-mark on it.”
― Jerome K Jerome, Three Men in a Boat: Not to Mention the Dog

“Hard work is even more pleasing in the rich, whereas laziness is even more disgusting in the poor.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“A good effort is not necessarily our best. And our best effort is not necessarily good.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Nur stümperhafte, oberflächliche Arbeit darf er sich nicht leisten. Das wäre ein Frevel an dem geheimen Wissensgut der geistigen Menschheit.”
― Gregor A. Gregorius, Die magische Erweckung der Chakra

“Multitasking is overrated - I'd rather do one thing well than many things badly. Quality supersedes quantity every time.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Values beat experience when experience doesn't work hard.”
― Doug Radkey, Bar Hacks: Developing The Fundamentals for an Epic Bar

“If assumptions weren't challenged, innovation would cease.”
― Todd Henry, The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice

“Expecting Perfection is only when you do with Satisfaction.”
― Praveen Kumar E

“Never underestimate a plan plus discipline.”
― Freequill

“Talent is given to us by our nature. Greatness, by our efforts.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Remember also that fun does not come before work. I know people who like to rest or play more than they work, sometimes even before they have worked. Most of them are either always broke or dumb or both.”
― Saidi Mdala, Know What Matters

“You might well remember that nothing can bring you success but yourself.”
― Napoleon Hill

“Hard work isn’t a punishment; it’s a gift.”
― Frank Sonnenberg, Soul Food: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

“Every day, my daddy told me the same thing. 'Once a task is just begun, never leave it till it's done. Be the labour great or small, do it well or not at all.”
― Quincy Jones

“unless you want to go to jail, you're not working hard enough”
― Dmitry Dyatlov

“Any dictatorship takes a psychological toll on its subjects. If you are treated as an
untrustworthy person-a potential slacker, drug addict, or thief-you may begin to feel less trust worthy yourself. If you are constantly reminded of your lowly position in the social hierarchy, whether by individual managers or by a plethora of impersonal rules, you begin to accept that unfortunate status. To draw for a moment from an entirely different corner of my life, that part of me still attached to the biological sciences, there is ample
evidence that animals-rats and monkeys, for example-that are forced into a subordinate status within their social systems adapt their brain chemistry accordingly, becoming "depressed" in humanlike ways. Their behavior is anxious and withdrawn; the level of serotonin (the neurotransmitter boosted by some antidepressants) declines in their brains.
And-what is especially relevant here-they avoid fighting even in self-defense.

Humans are, of course, vastly more complicated; even in situations of extreme
subordination, we can pump up our self-esteem with thoughts of our families, our
religion, our hopes for the future. But as much as any other social animal, and more so than many, we depend for our self-image on the humans immediately around us-to the point of altering our perceptions of the world so as to fit in with theirs. My guess is that the indignities imposed on so many low-wage workers - the drug tests, the constant surveillance, being "reamed out" by managers - are part of what keeps wages low. If you're made to feel unworthy enough, you may come to think that what you're paid is what you are actually worth.
It is hard to imagine any other function for workplace authoritarianism. Managers may
truly believe that, without their unremitting efforts, all work would quickly grind to a
halt. That is not my impression. While I encountered some cynics and plenty of people who had learned to budget their energy, I never met an actual slacker or, for that matter, a drug addict or thief. On the contrary, I was amazed and sometimes saddened by the pride people took in jobs that rewarded them so meagerly, either in wages or in recognition.

Often, in fact, these people experienced management as an obstacle to getting the job done as it should be done.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

“Somebody said that dirt is matter in the wrong place. The same definition applies to nine-tenths of those called lazy. They are people gone astray in a direction that does not answer to their temperament nor to their capacities.”
― Peter Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread