If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper that did his job well.

The best augury of a man’s success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world.

Plough deep while sluggards sleep.

You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.

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

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

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

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.