LABOR QUOTES V
quotations about labor
His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee's experience
Of clovers and of noon!
EMILY DICKINSON
"The Bee"
The sweet flesh of labor, blood, tears and sweat consumed across the distance of deserts and seas...
A. E. WILCOX
Ruth of Many Names & Other Loose-leaf Poems
All labor is coerced labor and hence a form of servitude.
STEVEN B. SMITH
"Lincoln's Enlightenment", Principle and Prudence in Western Political Thought
Labor rids us of three great evils--poverty, vice, and boredom.
VOLTAIRE
attributed, Day's Collacon
Labor is the only wealth of the poor, and the largest hands, those of the poor, hold the least, and have the least to hold; the poor are valuable for their thews and sinews; they have limbs to toil and shoulders to bear burdens, but the oppressor remembers not that they have hearts to feel, or mouths to be fed, or that there is a blood stronger than steam. The black iron is meted out to them, whilst the yellow gold gladdens the better sort.
ACTON
Acton; or, The Circle of Life: A Collection of Thoughts and Observations Designed to Delineate Life, Man, and the World
No labor is superior to the laborer.
PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON
What is Property?
Thou, O God, dost sell us all good things at the price of labour.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Thoughts on Art and Life
Labor is King; though the gold wears the crown,
Labor dethrones gold at will;
Labor, when willing, makes money go down,
Labor, though modest, rules still.
HENRY LARGE
"Labor is King", The Poetical Works of Henry Large
The gods give nothing really good and beautiful without labor.
XENOPHON
attributed, Day's Collacon
You desire to be learned, wealthy, and great, without labor; it is one of the follies still extant in the world.
G. P. MORRIS
attributed, Day's Collacon
The Lord had given them the day and the Lord had given them the strength. And the day and the strength had been dedicated to labor, and the labor was its reward. Who was the labor for? What would be its fruits? These were irrelevant and idle questions.
LEO TOLSTOY
Anna Karenina
Labor is both a transformation of nature, and a realization of human meanings in it. Labor is a happening or a doing in which the unity of man and nature is constituted in a certain way, on the basis of their mutual transformation: man objectifies himself in labor and the object is torn out of its original context, adapted and processed. Through labor, man is objectified and the object is humanized. In humanizing nature and in objectifying (realizing) meanings man forms a human world. Man lives in a world of his own artifacts and meanings.
KAREL KOSIK
Dialectics of the Concrete: A Study on Problems of Man and World
Before the reward there must be labor. You plant before you harvest. You sow in tears before you reap in joy.
RALPH RANSOM
"Steps on the Stairway"
No man or corporation has a right to employ any man without giving him the equivalent of his labor.
SABINE BARING-GOULD
The Origin and Development of Religious Belief: Christianity
There is a beautiful reciprocity between labor and wealth; if the latter is produced by the former, the former is invigorated and sustained by the latter.
TRISTAM BURGESS
attributed, The Modern Farmer: Or, Home in the Country
God has laid upon us many severe trials in this world, but He has created labour for us, and all is compensated. Thanks to labour, the bitterest tears are dried; a serious consoler, it always promises less than it bestows; a pleasure unparalleled, it is still the salt of other pleasures. Everything abandons you -- gaiety, wit, love -- labour alone is always present.
E. LEGOUVE
The Guernsey Magazine, Aug. 1877
Labor is what humans do, across time and across space. Labor is fundamental, crucial for satisfying our most basic needs. Labor thus provides a window for understanding all of human behavior, thought, and organization from the most macro-level of a global political economy to the most micro-level of the individual worker in a household. It is what we do and who we are.
E. PAUL DURRENBERGER & JUDITH MARTI
introduction, Labor in Cross-cultural Perspective
The labor unions are group efforts in the direction of democracy. Like the political efforts in the same direction, they become many times stultified and lead up blind alleys. But the effort creates power. While the economic gains are themselves important and are measures of strength, the significance of the labor union is its assertion of the manhood of labor.
HELEN MAROT
American Labor Unions
Whatever your work might be, bring all of yourself to it. When you are fully present, you may find that your labor is no longer a burden. Wood is chopped. Water is carried. Life happens.
TOM BARRETT
"Chop Wood, Carry Water", Interlude Retreat
[Labor is] the primal curse,
But softened into mercy, made the pledge
Of cheerful days and nights without a groan.
WILLIAM COWPER
The Task