Labour Quotes - Page 20

• Judge men less by the labels they wear than by their persistent labour for sure if slow progress.

  John Burns

  Men, Judging, Progress

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• It has become an article of the creed of modern morality that all labour is good in itself -- a convenient belief to those who live on the labour of others. But as to those on whom they live, I recommend them not to take it on trust, but to look into the matter a little deeper.

  William Morris

  Work, Littles, Matter

  William Morris (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of William Morris (Illustrated)”, p.6349, Delphi Classics

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• I have said as much as that the aim of art was to destroy the curse of labour by making work the pleasurable satisfaction of our impulse towards energy, and giving to that energy hope of producing something worth its exercise.

  William Morris

  Art, Exercise, Giving

  William Morris, May Morris (2012). “The Collected Works of William Morris: With Introductions by His Daughter May Morris”, p.91, Cambridge University Press

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• In youth alone, unhappy mortals live; But, ah! the mighty bliss is fugitive: Discolour'd sickness, anxious labour, come, And age, and death's inexorable doom.

  Virgil

  Age, Unhappy, Youth

  Virgil (1825). “The Works of Virgil, Translated Into English Verse by John Dryden”, p.84

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• Among civilized and thriving nations, on the contrary, though a great number of people do no labor at all, many of whom consume the produce of ten times, frequently of a hundred times more labour than the greater part of those who work; yet the produce of the whole labour of the society is so great, that all are often abundantly supplied, and a workman, even of the lowest and poorest order, if he is frugal and industrious, may enjoy a greater share of the necessaries and conveniencies of life than it is possible for any savage to acquire.

  Adam Smith

  Order, Numbers, People

  "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith, (Introduction and Plan of the Work, p. 2), 1776.

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• The liberal reward of labour, therefore, as it is the affect of increasing wealth, so it is the cause of increasing population. To complain of it, is to lament over the necessary effect and cause of the greatest public prosperity.

  Adam Smith

  Population, Complaining, Rewards

  Adam Smith (2010). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.85, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Thus the labour of a manufacture adds, generally, to the value of the materials which he works upon, that of his own maintenance, and of his masters profits. The labour of a menial servant, on the contrary, adds to the value of nothing.

  Adam Smith

  Add, Maintenance, Masters

  Adam Smith (2007). “The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: With an introduction by Jonathan B. Wight, University of Richmond”, p.311, Harriman House Limited

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• This great increase of the quantity of work which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another; and lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Numbers, People

  Adam Smith (2016). “The Wealth of Nations: the Great Master”, p.16, VM eBooks

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• The annual produce of the land and labour of any nation can be increased in its value by no other means, but by increasing either the number of its productive labourers, or the productive powers of those labourers who had before been employed.

  Adam Smith

  Mean, Land, Numbers

  Adam Smith (1864). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.141

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• Failure is less attributable to either insufficiency of means or impatience of labours than to a confused understanding of the thing actually to be done.

  John Ruskin

  Confused, Mean, Understanding

  John Ruskin (1849). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.1

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• I did not vote Labour because they've heard of Oasis and nobody is going to vote Tory because William Hague has got a baseball cap.

  Ben Elton

  Baseball, Oasis, Vote

  1998 In The Radio Times, 18 Apr.

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• The things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us the grace to labour for', as Sir Thomas More expressed it. The inner voice of prayer expresses itself naturally in action, just as the inner voice of my brain guides all my bodily actions.

  Philip Yancey

  Prayer, Voice, Giving

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• Where there is most labour there is not always most life.

  Havelock Ellis

  Work

  havelock ellis (1923). “the dance of life”

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• Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior ofcapital, and deserves muchthe higher consideration.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Independent Women, Dignity Of Work, Labor Day

  "Leadership Lessons of Abraham Lincoln: Apply the Principles of the Sixteenth President to Your Own Work and Life".

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• Many might go to heaven with half the labour they go to hell, if they would venture their industry the right way.

  Ben Jonson

  Heaven, Half, Venture

  Ben Jonson (1838). “The Works of Ben Jonson”, p.743

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• All socialism involves slavery. That which fundamentally distinguishes the slave is that he labours under coercion to satisfy anothers desires.

  Herbert Spencer

  Desire, Slavery, Coercion

  Herbert Spencer (2016). “The Man versus the State: Great Essays”, p.37, VM eBooks

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• Old men grasp more at life than babies, and leave it with a much worse grace than young people. It is because all their labours having been for this life, they perceive at last their trouble lost.

  Jean-Baptiste Rousseau

  Baby, Men, People

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• Sex and race, because they are easy and visible differences, have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labour on which this system still depends.

  Gloria Steinem

  Sex, Race, Differences

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• Vineyards and shining harvests, pastures, arbors,
  And all this our very utmost toil
  Can hardly care for, we wear down our strength
  Whether in oxen or in men, we dull
  The edges of our ploughshares, and in return
  Our fields turn mean and stingy, underfed,
  And so today the farmer shakes his head,
  More and more often sighing that his work,
  The labour of his hands, has come to naught.

  Lucretius

  Work, Mean, Men

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• Following the rise of the Labour Party it seemed reasonable, in 1927, to expect, or at least hope, that co-operation for the common good might gradually replace the competitiveness of capitalism.

  Dora Russell

  Party, Might, Common

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• Endeavour-with most diligent labour, O aspiring artist!-to master content. The form will rise to meet you.

  Multatuli

  Artist, Endeavour, Form

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• The labour Party has lost the last four elections. If they lose another, they get to keep the liberal party.

  Clive Anderson

  Party, Four, Lasts

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• For me, fiscal realism is not a betrayal of Labour values; it is the foundation by which we win the trust of the public.

  Douglas Alexander

  Betrayal, Winning, Foundation

  "Labour must do more to be credible on economy, says Douglas Alexander" by Patrick Wintour, www.theguardian.com. January 27, 2012.

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• Discussing the attempts of Augustus' generals to add to the extent of the Roman Empire early in his reign:
  The northern countries of Europe scarcely deserved the expense and labour of conquest. The forests and morasses of Germany were filled with a hardy race of barbarians, who despised life when it was separated from freedom; and though, on the first attack, they seemed to yield to the weight of the Roman power, they soon, by a signal act of despair, regained their independence, and reminded Augustus of the vicissitude of fortune.

  Edward Gibbon

  Country, Yield, Race

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• The 1973 Labour Conference will have before it the most radical programme the Party has prepared since 1945.

  Tony Benn

  Party, Radical, Conferences

  "More equality and more democracy". The Times (p. 16), October 1, 1973.

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