Labor Quotes

• Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

  Confucius

  Education, Wise, Clever

  Confucius (2014). “Confucian Analects”, p.9, Simon and Schuster

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• Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Life, Thank You

  Albert Einstein (2010). “Ideas And Opinions”, p.8, Broadway Books

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• The miracle of the seed and the soil is not available by affirmation; it is only available by labor.

  Jim Rohn

  Work, Miracle, Labor Day

  FaceBook post by Jim Rohn from May 10, 2017

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• Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.

  Grace Abbott

  Children, Labor Day, Together

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• All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Uplifting, Work, Teaching

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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• Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Party, Law, Political

  Letter to Edgar Newton Eisenhower, teachingamericanhistory.org. November 08, 1954.

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• The labor movement was the principal force that transforme­d misery and despair into hope and progress.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Progress, Despair, Movement

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Michael K. Honey (2011). “All Labor Has Dignity”, p.101, Beacon Press

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• A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.

  Grover Cleveland

  Inspirational Life, Lying, Patriotic

  Grover Cleveland (1909). “Addresses, State Papers and Letters”

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• I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

  John D. Rockefeller

  Inspirational, Believe, Opportunity

  John D. Rockefeller (2015). “John D. Rockefeller on Making Money: Advice and Words of Wisdom on Building and Sharing Wealth”, p.32, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Work, Independent, Labor Day

  Annual Message to Congress, 3 Dec. 1861

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• Without labor nothing prospers.

  Sophocles

  Motivational, Work, Hard Work

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• There is no substitute for hard work.

  Thomas A. Edison

  Motivational, Perseverance, Morning

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• All that harms labor is treason to America.

  Abraham Lincoln

  America, Presidential, Unions

  Martin D. Tullai, Abraham Lincoln (1998). “Speaking of Abraham Lincoln”

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• In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining…. We demand this fraud be stopped.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Fighting, Rights, Labor Laws

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• Labor is the source of all wealth and all culture.

  Ferdinand Lassalle

  Culture, Wealth, Source

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• The labor movement means just this: It is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth.

  Wendell Phillips

  Mean, Labour Movement, People

  Wendell Phillips (1891). “Speeches, Lectures, and Letters: Second series”

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• The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor.

  A. Philip Randolph

  Uplifting, Labour Movement, Essence

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• A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.

  Elbert Hubbard

  Funny, Smile, Men

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• A basic assumption shapes most Americans’ mindset about labor: the belief that the death of unions isn’t my problem because I’m not in a union. That assumption is wrong. Even if you aren’t a member, your pay is influenced by the strength or weakness of organized labor. The presence of unions sets off a wage race to the top. Their absence sets off a race to the bottom.

  Eric Liu

  Race, Shapes, Organized Labor

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• There is no labor a person does that is undignified; if they do it right.

  Bill Cosby

  Work, Labor Day, Quality

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• Labor wants pride and joy in doing good work, a sense of making or doing something beautiful or useful - to be treated with dignity and respect as brother and sister.

  Thorstein Veblen

  Inspirational, Beautiful, Respect

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• 

  The end of labor is to gain leisure.

  Aristotle

  Philosophy, Work, Tunnels

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• We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Life, Motivational, Respect

  Speech at St. Louis, 22 Mar. 1964, in St Louis Post-Dispatch 23 Mar. 1964

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• Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.

  Karl Marx

  Ghouls, Division Of Labor, Vampire

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• Every advance in this half-century-Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another-came with the support and leadership of American Labor.

  Jimmy Carter

  Rights, Support, Presidential

  United States. President (1977-1981 : Carter), Jimmy Carter (1980). “Jimmy Carter”

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