Archive

Quotes

God sells us all things at the price of labor.

—Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500

Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for what we will.

—Slogan of the National Labor Union of the United States, 1866

In order that people may 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, 1850

A human being must have occupation, if he or she is not to become a nuisance to the world.

—Dorothy L. Sayers, 1947

The most fitting occupation for a civilized man is to do nothing.

—Théophile Gautier, c. 1835

Toil is man’s allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that’s more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.

—Herman Melville, 1849

I am a friend of the workingman, and I would rather be his friend than be one.

—Clarence Darrow, 1932

Labor is no disgrace.

—Hesiod, c. 700 BC
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