I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.
—Jerome K. Jerome, 1889
Archive
Quotes
The most fitting occupation for a civilized man is to do nothing.
—Théophile Gautier, c. 1835Plough deep while sluggards sleep.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1758Labor is no disgrace.
—Hesiod, c. 700 BCSick, irritated, and the prey to a thousand discomforts, I go on with my labor like a true workingman, who, with sleeves rolled up, in the sweat of his brow, beats away at his anvil, not caring whether it rains or blows, hails or thunders.
—Gustave Flaubert, 1845He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCMan is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.
—Anatole France, 1881God sells us all things at the price of labor.
—Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500