Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

Labor, wide as the earth, has its summit in heaven.

Labor, you know, is prayer.

The student who secures his coveted leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure, defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure fruitful.

Idleness is a constant sin, and labor is a duty. Idleness is the devil's home for temptation and for unprofitable, distracting musings; while labor profit others and ourselves.

Surely man was not created to be an idle fellow; he was not set in this universal orchard to stand still as a tree.

Without labor nothing prospers.

I think the man who eats the bread of idleness is under a certain obligation to speak well of labor.

Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace.

Who will not suffer labor in this world, let him not be born.

When you are laboring for others let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself.

It is labor that keeps the strong man strong. And spiritual labor, toil and burden-bearing, is what will give strength to the church of Christ.

Honor lies in honest toil.

He who is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer

We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he should work, which proves that man was not born to rest.

I was a hard worker.

I'm a worker. I'm a grinder.

You really should respect other people's work because work is hard-won.

I figure I can be artistic, but I work like a blue-collar person, too, and I'm serious about that.

Tis no sin for a man to labor in his vocation.

Necessity is always the first stimulus to industry, and those who conduct it with prudence, perseverance and energy will rarely fail. Viewed in this light, the necessity of labor is not a chastisement, but a blessing,--the very root and spring of all that we call progress in individuals and civilization in nations.

Working hard is not always fun - that's why it is called work.

Every child should be taught that useful work is worship and that intelligent labor is the highest form of prayer.

Work first and then rest. Work first, and then gaze, but do not use golden ploughshares, nor bind ledgers in enamel.

Labor is no disgrace.

Labor is the only prayer that Nature answers: It is the only prayer that deserves an answer—good, honest, noble work.