He that would eat the nut must crack the shell.

Every man is worth just so much as the things he busies himself with.

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

The three little sentences that will get you through life. Number 1: Cover for me. Number 2: Oh, good idea, Boss! Number 3: It was like that when I got here.

I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.

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

The most fitting occupation for a civilized man is to do nothing.

I hate the present modes of living and getting a living. Farming and shopkeeping and working at a trade or profession are all odious to me. I should relish getting my living in a simple, primitive fashion.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

A man is not idle, because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is an invisible labor.

Sick, irritated, and the prey to a thousand discomforts, I go on with my labor like a true workingman, who, with sleeves rolled up, in the sweat of his brow, beats away at his anvil, not caring whether it rains or blows, hails or thunders.

Toil is man’s allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief that’s more than either, the grief and sin of idleness.

In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it; they must not do too much of it; and they must have a sense of success in it.