31 verified quotes from 22 writers, c. AD 180 to 1923.
Quotes 1 to 16 of 31, page 1 of 2.
Attitudes to work in these books range from Franklin’s strict rules for using every hour to Jerome K. Jerome’s narrator, who likes work so much he can sit and look at it for hours. In between, Stevenson warns that extreme busyness is a symptom of deficient vitality, and Gibran calls work love made visible.
Thoreau appears twice: once on the quiet desperation of most working lives, once telling readers that castles in the air are exactly where they should be, as long as they put foundations under them. Each line was matched word for word in the public-domain edition we link.
What “verified” means, and what we leave out: How we verify.
In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present,—I am rising to the work of a human being.
Our note: Book V, the emperor talking himself out of bed.
Verified in the full text of Meditations on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #15877 · Collected in The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
…whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together
Our note: The opinion of the King of Brobdingnag, the land of giants.
Verified in the full text of Gulliver's Travels on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #829
Painted the same decade: The Triumph of Marius, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1729
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill
Our note: The prince encourages a man who wants to build a flying machine.
Verified in the full text of The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #652
Painted the same decade: Modern Rome, Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1757
Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
Our note: Franklin's note on "Industry," one of his thirteen virtues.
Verified in the full text of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #148
Painted the same decade: Sebastián Martínez y Pérez (1747–1800), Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes), 1792
Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
Our note: Franklin's note on "Order," one of his thirteen virtues.
Verified in the full text of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #148
Painted the same decade: The Sackville Children, John Hoppner, 1796
Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labour and to wait.
Our note: The closing verse of the same poem.
Verified in the full text of A Psalm of Life on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #78406 · Collected in The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Painted the same decade: Parochialstrasse in Berlin, Eduard Gaertner, 1831
Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose.
Our note: The end of the poem's last verse, on the blacksmith's honest day of labour.
Verified in the full text of The Village Blacksmith on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #78406 · Collected in The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. The way of life is wonderful; it is by abandonment.
Our note: The closing lines of the essay "Circles."
Verified in the full text of Circles on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2944 · Collected in Essays, First Series
Painted the same decade: The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Delacroix, 1846
Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business.
Our note: Marley's ghost answers Scrooge's praise of his business sense.
Verified in the full text of A Christmas Carol on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #46
Painted the same decade: Study of a Female Nude, Henri Lehmann, 1840
My advice is, never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time. Collar him!
Our note: Mr. Micawber's advice to young David.
Verified in the full text of David Copperfield on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #766
Painted the same decade: The Artist's Sitting Room in Ritterstrasse, Adolph Menzel, 1851
I try all things; I achieve what I can
Our note: Ishmael, admitting the limits of his attempt to describe the whale.
Verified in the full text of Moby-Dick on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2701
Painted the same decade: Madame Frederic Breyer (Fanny Hélène Van Bruyssel, 1830–1894), Gustave Courbet, 1858
To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.
Our note: Ishmael, in the chapter on the size of whales, defending his huge subject.
Verified in the full text of Moby-Dick on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #2701
Painted the same decade: Madame Frederic Breyer (Fanny Hélène Van Bruyssel, 1830–1894), Gustave Courbet, 1858
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
Our note: From the opening chapter, "Economy," where Thoreau questions how most people spend their working lives.
Verified in the full text of Walden on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #205
Painted the same decade: The Artist's Sitting Room in Ritterstrasse, Adolph Menzel, 1851
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Our note: A line from the conclusion of Walden about turning dreams into plans.
Verified in the full text of Walden on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #205
Painted the same decade: The Artist's Sitting Room in Ritterstrasse, Adolph Menzel, 1851
The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual
Our note: From the first chapter of the Victorian bestseller.
Verified in the full text of Self-Help on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #935
Painted the same decade: Madame Frederic Breyer (Fanny Hélène Van Bruyssel, 1830–1894), Gustave Courbet, 1858
Nature's not a temple, but a workshop, and man's the workman in it.
Our note: The young nihilist Bazarov on how to look at the natural world.
Verified in the full text of Fathers and Children on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #30723
Painted the same decade: Oedipus and the Sphinx, Gustave Moreau, 1864
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