“Some days I run aground because the work is difficult. Other days I run aground because working is difficult. These are two different things, and knowing the difference between them is how I eke productivity out of some of the worst times.”— Howard Tayler, twitter.com
“What am I in the eyes of most people - a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person - somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then - even if that we were absolutely true, then I should like to show by my work what such an eccentr…”— Vincent Van Gogh, amazon.com
“What am I in the eyes of most people - a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person - somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then - even if that we were absolutely true, then I should like to show by my work what such an eccentr…”— Vincent Van Gogh, amazon.com
“What if who we are and what we do become one and the same? What if our work is so thoroughly autobiographical that we can't parse the product from the person? In this place, job descriptions and titles no longer make sense; we no longer go to work, we are the work.”— Elle Luna, amazon.com
“So: Share your salary info. with your coworkers. Your employers are not allowed to prevent you from talking about pay. I know it's uncomfortable, but honest discussion around compensation empowers workers, especially underrepresented ones. Demand fair pay for your work.”— Anil Dash, twitter.com
“If that job disappeared, the world might even be a slightly better place. But the worker can’t admit that. Hence the bullshit element. So it’s essentially pretending what you’re doing is worthwhile, but it’s not.”— David Graeber, vice.com
“Related to control is competence: our ability to do something and do it well. The brain’s ability to accurately assess our performance and abilities is a crucial cognitive function. It allows us to make valid decisions about what we should and shouldn’t do.”— Dean Burnett, thecut.com
“'Only if you say please' is a statement that’s really only okay for a parent to say to a child, in the process of teaching said child manners. It’s not okay to chastise other adults with it.”— Alison Green, askamanager.org
“33 years ago my parents dragged our family here from the war on their own two feet, it was a matter of survival. We came to this country with no money, and not being able to speak the language. My mother pregnant with my older brother, and then myself a year after, found a job, learned the language,…”— Monty Oum, montyoum.net
“People seem to find it hard to believe, but I'm a very serious person. It wasn't luck that I became a ballplayer. I never wanted to be anything else and I never considered anything else and I worked my tail off for it. To say that I don't have any worries or nerves is the opposite of the truth. I wo…”— Yogi Berra, amazon.com
“You have to pretend you're really enjoying yourself, all of the time, and generate all of this positive energy.”— Holly Darling, broadly.vice.com
“Don't work with family. Take it from me, it doesn't work, I don't care what anyone says.”— Gordon Ramsay, esquire.com
“I had to sacrifice a marriage because of the lure of the great job, the fabulous workplace. But, I don't regret it at all, because what I've done is something bigger and better than just one marriage....People who are happily married don't hate me for saying that. But for me, it's true. It's impossi…”— Martha Stewart, money.cnn.com
“I have wasted my life is a cry of triumph—I’m lying here in this hammock doing nothing and haha on you out there working your lives away.”— Patricia Hampl, theparisreview.org
“I’m mostly sad that I listened — and continue to listen — to the loudest voice inside my head, the one that constantly whispers, You can’t be both successful and happy. So choose happy. That voice means well, I like her, but recently I’ve wondered if she might be wrong.”— Alyssa Shelasky, lennyletter.com
“I know what it is to work now. To have a full day, to be tired in a good way.”— Julian Fellowes, Sybil Crawley, Jessica Brown Findlay, imdb.com
“Jack: Do you want to be alone for the rest of your life? Liz: No, I just wish I could start a relationship about 12 years in, when you really don’t have to try anymore and you can just sit around together and goof on TV shows, and then go to bed without anybody trying any funny business.”— John Riggi, Jack Donaghy, Alec Baldwin, imdb.com
“They depict in a willful form the very real distress of men who in the face of hard conditions of work and life search desperately for the right way.”— Helmut Richter, amazon.com
“I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of “work,” because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don’t always want to do.”— Andy Warhol, amazon.com