Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. --Kahlil Gibran (in Work is Love Made Visible)

At every moment in every person’s life there is work to be done, always work to be done, some of it small, some of it Great. The Great Work, in a sense, always has to do with healing the world, changing the world, and, as a necessary predicate to that, understanding the world. You rise every morning aware that you are called to this work. You won’t live to see it finished. But if you can’t hear it calling, you aren’t listening hard enough. It’s always calling, sometimes in a big voice, sometimes in a quiet voice. --Tony Kushner (in The Great Work)

Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. --Vince Lombardi (in Clinton's Global Initiative)

Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power to work is a blessing, that love of work is success. --David O. McKay (in Lottery Vs. Work)

Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power to work is a blessing, that love of work is success. --David O. McKay (in Measuring Stick For Managers)

Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul the work of the soul, and good for either the work of the other. --Henry David Thoreau (in Learning from the Wisdom of the Body)

I can let my life pass me by Or I can get down and try Work it all out this lifetime Work it all out this time. --Maxwell (in Untitled)

The sculptor, Michelangelo, was once asked how it was that he could create such beautiful works. "It's very simple," he answered. "When I look at a block of marble, I see the sculpture inside it. All I have to do is remove what doesn't belong." The master says: "There is a work of art each of us was destined to create. That is the central point of our life, and -- no matter how we try to deceive ourselves -- we know how important it is to our happiness. Usually, that work of art is covered by years of fears, guilt and indecision. But, if we decide to remove those things that do not belong, if we have no doubt as to our capability, we are capable of going forward with the mission that is our destiny. That is the only way to live with honor." --Paulo Coelho (in Untitled)

To know that you are the timeless reality is all I care to see, and this is our only meeting place. Our journey is to awaken the greatest capacity, to ignite an understanding that combines life's highest ideals with pure practicality. My work is to support and fortify a deepening of spirit, to enhance a sense of trust in one's own authority, love, acceptance, and ultimately enlightenement. This work is ever changing, you are the one that defines it. It is you that call yourself and answer yourself in me. You may wonder why you don't answer yourself directly; the answer is the same: you do. We are one. --Shantimayi (in Untitled)

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life. --Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola (1994) (in Juggling Five Balls)

When you take a stand on something and work from there, you take different actions than you do when you believe that that something is inevitable and your effort is to try to make it "not so bad." When you know the certainty that things can be not just different but entirely resolved, you engage in the work in a more fundamental way. You don't wonder "if." You determine "how to." You look for root causes. You make different choices. --Lynne Twist from "The Soul of Money" (in Resolve)

Do not depend on the hope of results . . .you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. . . .you gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. . . In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything. --Thomas Merton (in Hopelessness)

There was a sense of structure and orderliness around the completion of responsibilities with my job; there was a sense of wide-eyed wonder, as well as a bit of uncertainty, about my "work." My job existed within the confines of a clearly defined space with precise boundaries; my "work" was living on the edge. --Ric Giardina (in Volunteerism Encouraged: a New Business Trend)

Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything. --Thomas Merton (in Motivation Maintenance)

When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul. --Rachel Naomi Remen (in Teenage Hero of Dhaka's Slums)

It does not seem to be true that work necessarily needs to be unpleasant. It may always have to be hard, or at least harder than doing nothing at all. But there is ample evidence that work can be enjoyable, and that indeed, it is often the most enjoyable part of life. --Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (in The 7 Keys To Joy at Work)

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen. --Leonardo Da Vinci (in No Vacation Nation)

I've learned that I get blocked when my subconscious mind is telling me that I've taken the work in a wrong direction, and that once I start listening to what my subconscious is trying to tell me, I can work out the problem and get moving again. --Walter Jon Williams (in Learn in your Dreams)

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. --Theodore Roosevelt (in The Art of Motivating Employees)

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. --Elbert Hubbard (in 5 Reasons Why Meditation Beats an iPhone)

An innovation is one of those things that society looks at and says, if we make this part of the way we live and work, it will change the way we live and work. --Dean Kamen (in Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years)

Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport. --Pope Francis (in Leisure: The Basis of Culture)

One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away.
--Stephen Hawking (in Reimagining the Cosmos)

Everyone has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. --Rumi (in How to Help Teens Find Their Purpose)

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. --Elbert Hubbard (in Taking an Empowered and Creative View Towards Technology)

The inner work can be so much harder than the outer work and so underrated. But its so necessary. --Eliza Ramos (in Eliza Ramos: Into the Real)

So often, we leave the selfless side of ourselves for nights and weekends, for our charity work. It is our duty to inject that into our day-to-day business, into the work that we do, to improve corporations, to improve civil society, and to improve government. --Leila Janah (in Growing Your Own Garden: Emotional Resilience for Entrepreneurs)

It's creating a difference, being part of something, and doing work we're proud of. This is the song of significance. This is what motivates people to do the work that can't be automated, mechanized or outsourced. And this is the song that humans yearn to sing together. --Seth Godin (in Seth Godin: The Song of Significance)

So long as the inner work is strong, the outer work will never be puny. --Meister Eckhart (in Pico Iyer on the Wisdom of Travelers )

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work.” --Thomas Edison (in Untitled)

Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each one of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. --Robert F. Kennedy (in Untitled)

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. --Michael Jordan (in Untitled)

Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes. --Henry J. Kaiser (in Untitled)

This is the true joy in life, being recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of nature instead of a feverish clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for it’s own sake; Life is no brief candle to me, it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got to hold up for a moment. I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. --George Bernard Shaw (in A Splendid Torch)

Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work. --Ralph Marston (in Four Tips To Prevent Burnout)

The first time I entered into a redwood forest, I dropped to my knees and began crying because the spirit of the forest just gripped me. The knowledge, the spirituality, the power that has no words, that power that makes your hair stand on end, see? the power that gives you goosebumps even to remember. When I entered what I call the majestic cathedral of the redwoods, the spirituality of the holiest of holy temples which are these forests, dropped me to my knees because trying to rationalize what happens in these forests intelligently doesn’t work. The intelligent side of rationalizing these forests is talking about what the destruction’s doing to them. --Julia Butterfly Hill (in Untitled)

I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love. --Gandhi's Prayer For Peace (in Untitled)

Every year, I get frustrated. I get tired. I get sore, and I say 'This is my last year.' But then I go, and I get up at 5 in the morning and work until midnight ... on my feet all the time. And then when I finally sit down, I realize I could do this another year. --Gerald Tamayo, volunteer doctor in Philippines (in Doctors Going the Extra Mile)

It's amazing, addictive. The first view of the Earth is magical. It is a very overpowering realization that the Earth is so small. It affected me. I could not get over the notion that in such a small planet, with such a small ribbon of life, so much goes on. It is as if the whole place is sacred. You get the feeling that I need to work extraordinarily hard along with other human beings to respect that. --Kalpana Chawla (in Untitled)

We people of the world need to find ways to get to know one another - for then we will recognize that our likenesses are so much grater than our differences, however great our differences may seem. Every cell, every human being, is of equal importance and has work to do in this world. --Peace Pilgrim (in Untitled)

Choose a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life. --Confucius (in Untitled)

One has to work in the world; naturally, carry on your worldly affairs, but understand that that which has come about by itself - that is, this body, mind and consciousness - has appeared in spite of the fact that nobody has asked for it. The life force and the mind are operating, but the mind will tempt you to believe that it is "you". Therefore, understand always that you are the timeless, spaceless witness. And even if the mind tells you that you are the one who is acting, don't believe the mind. Always keep your identity separate from that which is doing the working, thinking and talking. That which has happened - that is, the apparatus which is functioning - has come upon your original essence, but you are not that apparatus. --Nisargadatta Maharaj (in Untitled)

All my work is meant to say, "You may encounter defeats, but you must not be defeated." --Maya Angelou (in Ultimate Garbage Bag)

The mind seeks to nail life down and get it to stop moving and changing. When this doesn't work, the mind begins to seek the changeless, the eternal, something that doesn't move. But the mind of thought is itself an expression of life's movement and so must always be in movement itself. --Adyashanti (in Untitled)

When our eyes see our hands doing the work of our hearts, the circle of creation is completed inside us, the doors of our souls fly open and love steps forth to heal everything in sight. --Michael Bridge (in Creatives at Work)

The "seven social sins": Knowledge without character, Science without humanity, Wealth without work, Commerce without morality, Politics without principles, Pleasure without conscience, Worship without self-sacrifice. --Gandhi (in Seven Social Sins)

I am only a child, yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this would be. In school you teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? You grownups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words. --Severn Cullis-Suzuki (in I am Only a Child)

Don't check your values at the door when you go to work. --Laura Scher (in Modern-Day Robin Hood)

Those who do monumental work don't need monuments. --Baba Amte (in Mother of Thirteen)

In every community there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it. --Marianne Williamson (in Neighborhood Day)