Quotes
Quotes about Labor
The process of evolution may be described as differentiation of structure and integration of function. The more differentiated and specialized the parts, the more elaborate co-ordination is needed to create a well-balanced whole. The ultimate criterion of the value of a functional whole is the degree of its internal harmony or integratedness, whether the "functional whole" is a biological species or a civilization or an individual. A whole is defined by the pattern of relations between its parts, not by the sum of its parts; and a civilization is not defined by the sum of its science, technology, art and social organization, but by the total pattern which they form, and the degree of harmonious integration in that pattern.
People do not cooperate under the division of labor because they love or should love one another. They cooperate because this best serves their own interests. Neither love nor charity nor any other sympathetic sentiments but rightly understood selfishness is what originally impelled man to adjust himself to the requirements of society, to respect the rights and freedoms of his fellow men and to substitute peaceful collaboration for enmity and conflict.
The presence of a body of well-instructed men, who have not to labor for their daily bread, is important to a degree which cannot be overestimated; as all high intellectual work is carried on by them, and on such work material progress of all kinds mainly depends, not to mention other and higher advantages.
Men, even when alone, lighten their labors by song, however rude it may be. [Lat., Etiam singulorum fatigatio quamlibet se rudi modulatione solatur.]
It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.
Me therefore studious of laborious ease.
We bodged again, as I have been a swan With bootless labor swim against the tide And spend her strength with overmatching waves.
A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and an invisible labor.
Learning without thought is labor lost.
May all your labors be in vein.
Let no one till his death be called unhappy. Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done.
It is but a truism that labor is most productive where its wages are largest. Poorly paid labor is inefficient labor, the world over.
Give the laborer his wages before his perspiration be dry.
The little sister of the Poor . . . . The Poor, and their concerns, she has Monopolized, because of which It falls to me to labor as A Little Brother of the Rich.
A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.
My fond affection thou hast seen, Then judge of my regret To think more happy thou hadst been If we had never met! And has that thought been shared by thee? Ah, no! that smiling cheek Proves more unchanging love for me Than labor'd words could speak.
To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
I have had my labor for my travail; ill-thought-on of her, and ill-thought-on of you; gone between and between, but small thanks for my labor.
Do not waste bricks. (Waste your labor.) [Lat., Ne laterum laves.]
The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures. [Fr., Le fruit du travail est le plus doux des plaisirs.]
The day is short, the labor long, the workers are idle, and reward is great, and the Master is urgent.
