It is shameful and inhuman to treat men like chattels to make money by, or to regard them merely as so much muscle or physical power.

He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.

Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor.

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

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.

A man is not idle, because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is an invisible labor.

Every man is worth just so much as the things he busies himself with.

Hang work! I wish that all the year were holiday; I am sure that Indolence—indefeasible Indolence—is the true state of man.