Pride in Workmanship Quotes

When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.

When you do something, do it right the first time... When you're talking about hard-working, when you go out of your way to mop floors and strip them and do all those things, it's kind of like, 'Dang.'

If I look at it and feel there is someone who can do it better, I won't do it. Whether it's 'Party Down' or 'Piranha 3-D,' I'm going to bring something to it to make it special.

I come from a blue collar family, but my personal life isn't. I didn't get the gene that my grandfather had in spades. He was a local hero. Built the church that I went to. Built the house I grew up in. Steamfitter, pipefitter, electrician, mechanic and plumber. I wanted to do those things. But it just didn't come easy.

Do not talk about giftedness, inborn talents! One can assume great men of all kinds who were very little gifted. They acquired greatness, became “geniuses” (as we put it), through qualities the lack of which no one who knew what they were would boast of: they all possessed that seriousness of the efficient workman which first learns to construct the parts properly before it ventures to fashion a great whole; they allowed themselves time for it, because they took more pleasure in making the little, secondary things well than in the effect of a dazzling whole.

Whenever a chef cooks for his own ego rather than his guests, he/she set themselves up for ridicule and failure. In the end, it's the service industry. Our goal is to make our guests happy through our cooking.

I like building houses, working as a carpenter, painting. You work with your hands to the best of your ability, and at the end of the day, you go home with some satisfaction: 'I built that!'

I don't like doing substandard work... I can't sleep at night if I make a bad song.

Japanese people can feel some attachment in what they are making, whether it is a car or a TV or a computer.

I have a conscience about my work and try to turn out a good piece of craftsmanship.

I wouldn't put out anything that I didn't want to ride to.

Our father taught us such a work ethic that if there's something worth doing, it's worth doing well.

In my line of business, there's no better feeling than having a real nice work that you're really satisfied with.

I believe that people should take pride in what they do, even if it is scorned or misunderstood by the public at large.