Labor Day: 23 Quotes on the Value of Work
Ah, Labor Day. Although its roots go back to the inception of the Labor Movement and the first unions back in the late 1800’s, man has always known that every effort demands hard work. Funny though that sometimes we’re so close to our work – so caught up in it – that we can’t immediately see it’s greatness or the magnitude of its impact.
Luckily for us the powers that be declared a national holiday for us. While some are too young to remember the history and pagentry that used to be associated with Labor Day, over the years it’s come to mark the end of summer, the time the kids go back to school, family picnics, and of course, the inevitable sales (some people do still need to work).
So, here’s to work and its true value, through the quotes of the best and brightest among us, past and present, and across all endeavors:
- “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” – Harry Golden
- “Labor Day is a glorious holiday because your child will be going back to school the next day. It would have been called Independence Day, but that name was already taken.” – Bill Dodds
- “He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.” – St. Francis of Assisi
- “My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.” – Indira Gandhi
- “Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “One machine can do the work of 50 ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “There is no labor a person does that is undignified; if they do it right.” – Bill Cosby
- “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson
- “A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “Men are made stronger on the realization that the helping hand they need is at the end of their own right arm.” – Sidney J. Phillips
- “There is no substitute for hard work.” – Thomas Edison
- “I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.” – John D. Rockefeller
- “Work isn’t to make money; you work to justify life.” – Marc Chagall
- “Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.” – Anatole France
- “Sometimes it’s important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it’s essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.” – Douglas Pagels
- “The man who rolls up his shirt sleeves is rarely in danger of losing his shirt.” – Anonymous
- “If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend.” – Doug Larson
- “I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.” – Ray Bradbury
- “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius
- “The one thing that matters is the effort.” – Antoine de-Sainte-Exupery
- “The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but it improves its chances.” – B.J. Gupta
- “Rules like ‘don’t wear white after Labor Day’ or “shoes matching the handbag” are antiquated. Modern women should feel free to experiment.” – Stacy London
Happy Labor Day my friends. And in regard to wearing white , that goes for drinking it too. A toast to us all!