Work quotes

People love quotes, and so do I. With an economy of words when the quotation is creative and well-presented, then an entire life lesson or a commentary on a subject matter is powerfully offered.

You have quotes that inspire, and you may also find quotes that provoke you to anger. The quotes I love are inspirational quotes that are relevant to my life, as well as to what I do. The quotes I dislike are those that bash, cuss, curse and use expletives that corrupt a good thought. Quotes, when used at the right time and in the right context, may make a speech extremely powerful and memorable. But, quotes that do not support the main lesson will leave the listener wondering as to what the speaker is trying to say and may even confuse and blur the message.

If you plan to give a speech, write an article, or simply want to enjoy the wisdom of quotes, then this is list for you. It is not extensive, but it would suffice for the limited space we have in today’s space.

Here they are, and I hope you enjoy them:

• “The average person puts only 25 percent of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50 percent of their capacity and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100 percent.” – Andrew Carnegie

• On employee bulletin board: “In case of fire, flee the building with the same reckless abandon that occurs each day at quitting time.”

• “He is most fatigued who knows not what to do.” – Nicolas Boileau

• “Did you ever notice that when you run into a man with real enthusiasm for hard work, he turns out to be your boss?” (anon.)

• “An excellent plumber is infinitely more valuable than an incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because it is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy; neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.” – John Garner, former US secretary of health, education and welfare

• A management consultant makes the following observation: “Be the first in the office every morning, be the last to leave every night, never take a day off, slave through the lunch hour, and the inevitable day will come when the boss will summon you to his office and say, ‘I’ve been watching your work very carefully, Jackson. Just what the devil are you up to, anyhow?”’

• “For a real quick energy boost, nothing beats having the boss walk in.” – Robert Orben, comedy writer

• “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” – Peter Drucker, management consultant

And then, here is my personal favorite. From an anonymous source I stumbled upon, this quote when I was starting out in my work career, fixing window displays of retail stores many ages ago. This quote has directed my life and has set the perspective of why I work, how I work, and what I am working on.

Here is the quote:

• “The biggest mistake you can make is to believe that you are working for someone else.” – (anon)

Perhaps, this is why I take my work seriously. Work enables me to instill discipline, mold my character, hold on to integrity, and most importantly, pursue the calling God has given me to do what I do. But, I need to work on myself first so that the work I do will carry value. I kid you not when I say quotes are powerful, and I hope you would say the same thing too.

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