Famous quotes

Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

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“[...] we believe that it is urgent to introduce a statutory minimum wage into our labour market regulation system. Low-paid work was already a serious scourge before the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.”
Andrea Orlando (born 1969) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stenographic report of the Assembly Session No. 16 at the Italian Chamber of Deputies, 30 novembre 2022.
“My entrance to politics is for good governance, and I will continue to work for it to ensure that Nigeria becomes a great country of incorruptible men. This aim can no longer be realised within Labour Party as presently constituted.”
Kenneth Okonkwo (born 1968) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kenneth Okonkwo Resigns From Labour Party, Cites Leadership Crisis", Daily Post (11 February 2025)
“The work under our labour grows, Luxurious by restraint.”
John Milton (1608–1674) said by 1674 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.”
The Bible (active around 812) bartlett, Public domain source
“Much of my work has come from being lazy. I didn't like writing programs, and so, when I was working on the IBM 701 (an early computer), writing programs for computing missile trajectories, I started work on a programming system to make it easier to write programs.”
John Backus (1924–2007) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in the IBM employee magazine Think in 1979. Cited by his Associated Press obituary
“Things like a spreadsheet and graphics package mean that people can use their computer for working. Games mean that people can ENJOY their computer. If all you have is productivity apps, then Linux will be a fine OS for work, but who is going to really want it around in the home if all they can do on it is work.”
Michael Simms (software developer) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Linux Game Publishing: An Interview With Michael Simms" Linux Gazette (2005-06-03)
“It's not Republican, it's not Democrat. Honestly, it's not liberal, it's not conservative ... It's economics … If you tax people who work and you pay people who don't work, don't be surprised when you get a lot of people not working.”
Arthur Laffer (born 1940) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Economist Art Laffer On How to Fix California” Reason TV (April 10, 2012)
“I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of "work" because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don't always want to do. Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery. People are working every minute. The machinery is always going. Even when you sleep.”
Andy Warhol (1928–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Note that nobody reads every post in linux-kernel. In fact, nobody who expects to have time left over to actually do any real kernel work will read even half. Except Alan Cox, but he's actually not human, but about a thousand gnomes working in under-ground caves in Swansea. None of the individual gnomes read all the postings either, they just work together really well.”
Linus Torvalds (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: 林纳斯·托瓦兹 (zh)
“And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame; And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame, But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star, Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They Are!”
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) first seen 1896 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: L'Envoi, Stanza 3 (1896).
“Working seriously, improving your taste and perception and understanding, knowing what you are and where you came from, not only improves your work in the present, but gives you a chance of influencing the future and links you to the best work of the past. It gives you a place to take a solid stand.”
Bruce Sterling (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What would that be, a world without war? It would be the real world. Peace was the true life, the life of working and learning and bringing up children to work and learn. War, which devoured work, learning, and children, was the denial of reality.”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Betrayals", p. 1; first published in Blue Motel (1994)
“Everybody always wants to work with Christopher Walken. I think he's the most interesting actor working today. His choices are always dangerous, which makes for interesting work. You can watch him eat a bowl of cereal and you'd be riveted because he's just unpredictable.”
Christopher Walken (born 1943) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mars Callahan, interview in Bob Strauss (February 24, 2003) "Still racking them up - Christopher Walken, Oscar nominee and star of 'Poolhall Junkies,' has no intention of slowing his prolific career", The Whittier Daily…
“I want to reach the state of condensation of sensations which constitutes a picture. Perhaps I might be satisfied momentarily with a work finished at one sitting, but I would soon get bored looking at it; therefore, I prefer to continue working on it so that later I may recognize it as a work of my mind..”
Henri Matisse (1869–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We're all looking for a plan that will work. The current plan is not working, and 21,500 additional troops -- it's a snowball in July. It's not going to work.”
Arlen Specter (1930–2012) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a hearing on Congress's War Powers; reported in "Senate Republicans divided in dissent on Iraq", NBC News (January 30, 2007)/
“This is not an objective, historical or psychological evaluation of Danish experimental art and its historical roots, but an ideological and artistic, collective representation of our own work, thoughts, and ideas. It shows how we ourselves view our work and our way of working, and considers which of the many traditions that make up our foundation we feel connected to.”
Asger Jorn (1914–1973) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: from Jorn's 'Notebook', containing the draft for a book on Danish experimental art (1948)
“Jennifer was great. She is fantastic. Really easy to work with, no drama, really down-to-earth, such a funny girl. Nothing but good things to say about her. She really was great to work with. And it always makes it easier when you’re working with people that you like and you enjoy being around.”
Liam Hemsworth (born 1990) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Though the ancient world understood that work was a curse, modern industrial society spreads its gospel. The working class, Lafargue hopelessly hoped, must reject the work fetish.”
Russell Jacoby (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Over many years of work all over the world, I've learned that if we organize in the same way that the rest of life does, we develop the skills we need: we become resilient, adaptive, aware, and creative. We enjoy working together. And life's processes work everywhere, no matter the culture, group, or person, because these are basic dynamics shared by all living beings.”
Margaret Wheatley (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“…when I come to work here and every black person that comes to work here they go, 'Oh my God, it's heaven. Here we are. We're represented.' Where everybody's represented. LGBTQ's represented. Black, white, gay, straight, whatever. We're all represented, working hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm.”
Tyler Perry (born 1969) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On what he hopes for the Tyler Perry Studios in “Tyler Perry tells Gayle King: "I'm ignored in Hollywood" in CBS News (2019 Oct 7)
“I work mostly in the studio; as I mentioned several times, the leaves are burgeoning and change so rapidly that I have been unable to prepare a single sketch. I am making little watercolors and pastels, I think they will come out all right; in the studio I am preparing five or six canvases, I work on one after another, I am getting used to working that way.”
Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eragny, 15 May 1888, in a letter to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Panthe…
“Likewise, police officers on patrol in our nation’s cities often work in environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color. Something happens to people of good will working in that environment. After years of police work, officers often can’t help but be influenced by the cynicism they feel.”
James Comey (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Exactly what useful work did those stockbrokers do to gain their enormous wealth, other than to exploit the people who work in industry, to take their money away and to make no useful contribution to society? Does the hon. Gentleman think that the working people of London are so stupid as not to realise that stockbrokers are parasites?”
Jeremy Corbyn (born 1949) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Question in the House of Commons (12 July 1988).
“Unless you have retired or inherited a fortune, you need to work to fund your life. You owe it to yourself to ensure that your working day can be as positive and enjoyable as possible – so much fun that it does not feel like work anymore.”
Nigel Cumberland (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Work is a defining, all-consuming part of our lives. Now, more than ever, the speed at which the nature of work is changing is having an extraordinary impact on working lives everywhere.”
Lynda Gratton (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As long as there is a possibility of working I'm not going to retire because if I retire nothing will work any more, and it's hard enough as it is. I'm very conscious that I'm in the minority in that I love what I do. How big is the number of people who are running to work to do a job that they like? And how lucky to be employed at it – how incredibly lucky.”
Judi Dench (born 1934) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Judi Dench unable to read scripts due to degenerative eye condition" The Guardian (February 18, 2012)
“Big organizations do good work. So do small organizations working with specific communities. Often, they work together. Please support both for #Beirut”
Katherine Maher (born 1983) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter, (7 Aug 2020)
“Everyone was supposed to go to parliament to work with their heads. For some, working with their heads didn't work out, so they went on to employ their fists. As an expert in this matter I can say that they didn't manage to do it very well, either.”
Vitali Klitschko (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“definitely stretch more. That’s another thing. I started working out recently, where I would like actually work out for, like, anywhere between like thirty minutes to an hour like four days out of the week. And it’s helped TREMENDOUSLY...Get in a good amount of sleep. Y’know, people like to romanticize “work culture”
Steenz (born 1990) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There’s no getting there in terms of finding that balance. It’s always a practice and a process. And one thing will work for a while and then it won’t work anymore; you have to find another practice to keep you centered. I think the trickiest part is just coming back to a level of real relaxation and ease in between working.”
Andrew Garfield (born 1983) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Interview with Andrew Garfield" in Believer (5 April 2022)
“I want everybody within the university and beyond to be reaching for the stars.To work out what works for them, what they love and to have a career in that area, because if you work at what you love it's hardly working at all.”
Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have always believed that to be successful in life, you have to work hard. There is no short cut to it; you just have to work hard. I have been used to working hard since I was young. I am also very careful about how I behave because I don’t want people to say negative things about me. So, I try to behave well.”
Nike Akande (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To me, it's work that is kind of invisible; it's a weird kind of work to have because you're not working”
Angel Olsen (born 1987) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/06/06/angel-olsen-sees-your-pain
“thumb|Rachel Kyte at Spotlight Health Aspen Ideas Festival 2015For some time, I have felt a growing pull between the work I love of leading Fletcher and working with all of you and the opportunities to contribute to the vital and increasingly urgent work I feel compelled to be part of about our collective future,”
Rachel Kyte (born 2000) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rachel Kyte steps down as dean of the Fletcher School The Tufts Daily (June 22, 2023)
“It's not like the old way was working, and now we're suddenly loafing," she joked. "Instead, I think we're now putting work in the right place in our lives and getting the right social connections and support so we can do better work.”
Heather McGowan wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I like working out a lot, especially during winter training. I also like to work with weights, which we tennis players don't do very much. Instead I struggle a bit with aerobic work and running, but it's very important: endurance is very important.”
Lorenzo Musetti (born 2002) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I got to where I am now … some by working hard and loving the work, and a lot from getting to work on mission‑driven enterprises that inspire devotion and passion in the people who serve them.”
Meredith Kopit Levien (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The core business line of Aitoz is manufacturing workwear. The workwear business line is further divided into 4 different segments, which are personnel work, office work, school uniform, and working wear. Among those, Aitoz is specialized in every workwear segment except the school uniform. However, in Japan, Aitoz is the only workwear manufacturer that is capable of covering most of the segments.”
Takayuki Ito (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Community work brings together people from diverse backgrounds, working towards a common goal. The youth have the power and potential to promote unity through community work. Start involving your neighbours and take responsibility .”
Jolly Mutesi (born 1996) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/134346/Entertainment/miss-rwanda-takes-umuganda-to-the-hague ( The New Times , October 10, 2016)
“Keep working hard. You can’t just be talented and not put the work in. You need to put the work in every single day – even during the holidays or any period that you might have off. Of course, recovery is key.”
Zanele Vimbela (born 1989) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“During my time in college I was introduced to installation art and sculpture work, and I clicked with it right away. I really loved working with large sculptural pieces but it also gets hard to find space to store and make work like that, which is what lead me to soft sculpture & textiles.”
Hayley Barker (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My philosophy is to work hard, hard, and hard and learn while working. Writing is like mathematics, if you do it every day, you master the skill and become better. To upcoming novelists, I say: never give up, and never be in a hurry to publish your work.”
Obinna Udenwe wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Being Olympic champion means I have to work even harder. It takes a true champion to stay on top. I accomplished my goal last year, to become Olympic champion. But now is where the hard work starts. And now I’m working harder than ever before. You become the Olympic champion at the Olympic Games, and while I’m going into the new year as the Olympic champion, it’s a new year.”
LaShawn Merritt (born 1986) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Domestication involved the initiation of production, vastly increased divisions of labor, and the completed foundations of social stratification. This amounted to an epochal mutation both in the character of human existence and its development, clouding the latter with ever more violence and work.”
John Zerzan (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By putting the means of production into the hands of the masses but withholding from those same masses any ownership over the product of their work, Web 2.0 provides an incredibly efficient mechanism to harvest the economic value of the free labor provided by the very, very many and concentrate it into the hands of the very, very few.”
Nicholas G. Carr (born 1959) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Web 2.0lier than thou," Rough Type, October 23, 2006.
“In a world where technology and capital are highly transferable, there is a real risk that comparative advantage comes to be defined as whose labor force will work for the lowest wage.”
Robert Kuttner (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We believe it is imperative that farm laborers, among the most abused and neglected of all American workers, be included at last among those who benefit from the Fair Labor Standards Act. We want coverage extended to include those millions in retail trades, laundries, hospitals and nursing homes, restaurants, hotels, small logging operations and cotton gins who still work for starvation wages.”
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement on minimum wage legislation (18 March 1966)], as quoted in Now Is the Time. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Labor in the South: The Case for a Coalition (January 1986)
“The division of labor, which has brought such perfection in mechanical industries, is altogether fatal when applied to productions of the mind. All work of the mind is superior in proportion as the mind that produces it is universal.”
Napoleon (1769–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No man can be a good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living, and hours of labor short enough so after his day's work is done he will have time and energy to bear his share in the management of the community, to help in carrying the general load.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women should have free access to every field of labor which they care to enter, and when their work is as valuable as that of a man it should be paid as highly.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source