Work and Profession

Results! Why man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.

The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit.

What we hope ever to do with ease we may learn first to do with diligence.

Self-knowledge is best learned, not by contemplation, but by action. Strive to do your duty and you will soon discover of what stuff you are made.

If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.

Whatever you have, you must either use or lose.

In the final analysis there is no solution to man’s progress but the day’s honest work, the day’s honest decisions, the day’s generous utterances and the day’s good deed.

A human being feels able and competent only so long as he is permitted to contribute as much as, or more, than he has contributed to him.

It is only through work and strife that either nation or individual moves on to greatness. The great man is always the man of mighty effort, and usually the man whom grinding need has trained to mighty effort.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

The three great essentials to achieving anything worthwhile are; first, hard work, second, stick-to-it-iveness, and third, common sense.

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Do not be desirous of having things done quickly. Do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.

Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.

The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.

It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.

If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.

People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up.

I studied the lives of great men and famous women, and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.

Do but take care to express yourself in a plain, easy Manner, in well-chosen, significant and decent Terms, and to give a harmonious and pleasing turn to your periods.

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes, which can be made, in a very narrow field.