Since death comes soon, and brief years fly,
Thy firmly chosen work pursue!
~ William Rounseville (W.R.) Alger, from The Poetry of the East (1856). Metrical Specimens ... Resolute Labor
You have to care. You can't do good work if you don't care. That's not necessarily a strength, but it gives you strength.
~ William Albert Allard, The Photographic Essay (American Photographer Master Series, 1989).
In Nashville, as in every other city, there's no substitute for hard work.
~ Bill Anderson, quoted in Criswell Freeman The Book of Country Music Wisdom (1994).
We can move mountains when we're united and enjoy life -- Without unity we are victims. Stay united.
~ Bill Bailey
It's better to make a couple thousand dollars in one day than to wait table six days a week.
~ William Baldwin
[W]ork in the field has nothing to do with dignity or with anything except patience, concentration, and eternal vigilance.
~ Charles William ("Will") Beebe, in The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 117 (1916). The Gates of the East
We are oppressed, in the fullest sense of the word; we have been deprived of everything; we have no property, no wealth, and our labour is of no use to us, since what it produces goes into the hands of others ...
~ William Benbow (arguing for a general strike, or "sacred month"), Grand National Holiday and Congress of the Productive Classes (January 1832).
I work, and the itching sweat is in my eyes,
But the sun is in my heart.
~ William Rose Benét, from Moons of Grandeur: A Book of Poems (1920). The Voyage
Sometimes she sees the powder on my clothing
And then it's such a nuisance to explain.
If she thought it was powder she'd go crazy
So, of course, I have to tell her it's cocaine.
~ Billy Bennett, in Almost a Gentleman (audio CD; 22 July 1997). My Mother Doesn't Know I'm On The Stage
Work is effort applied toward some end. The most satisfying work involves directing our efforts toward achieving ends that we ourselves endorse as worthy expressions of our talent and character.
~ William John Bennett, The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories (1993).
In every progressive society there will be changes in the demand for labour, qualitatively if not quantitatively; that is to say, there will be periods during which particular individuals can no longer be advantageously employed in their former occupations and may be unemployed till they find and fit themselves for fresh occupations.
~ William Henry (W.H.) Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society (1944).
Unemployment is like a headache or a high temperature -- unpleasant and exhausting but not carrying in itself any explanation of its cause.
~ William Henry (W.H.) Beveridge, Causes and Cures of Unemployment (1931). Chapter I
[Work] allowed me to put my energies some place and focus them some place and relieve myself for awhile of confronting the traumatic circumstances that were occurring in my life. So work has always been a friend to me.
~ Bill Bixby, PM Magazine (September 1983).
I sometimes try to be miserable that I may do more work, but find it is a foolish experiment.
~ William Blake, Letter to William Hayley (26 November 1800).
Tools were made, and born were hands,
Every farmer understands.
~ William Blake, from The Pickering Manuscript (c. 1803). Auguries of Innocence
[W]hen a work has unity, it is as much so in a part as in the whole.
~ William Blake, in The Life of William Blake, Vol. II (1863). Sibylline Leaves: On Homer's Poetry
No man can make good during working hours who does the wrong thing outside of working hours.
~ William J.H. Boetcker
We will never have real safety and security for wage earners unless we provide for safety and security for the wage payers and wage savers.
~ William J. H. Boetcker
You can employ men and hire hands to work for you, but you must win their hearts to have them work with you.
~ William J.H. Boetcker
The freemason setteth his pretyss first long tyme to learn to hewe stones and whan he can do that perfectly he admytteth him to be a freemason and choseth hym as a conynge man to be master of the Craft.
~ William Bonde, The Pilgrimage of Perfection (1526).
Make up your mind to turn out good Work whether you are sufficiently paid for it or not, and that, on the principle that whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.
~ William Booth, Letters to Salvationists on Religion for Every Day (1902). V: Why to Work Well
Each day I go to my studio full of joy; in the evening when obliged to stop because of darkness I can scarcely wait for the morning to come. ... My work is not only a pleasure, it has become a necessity. No matter how many other things I have in my life, if I cannot give myself to my dear painting I am miserable.
~ William Adolphe Bouguereau
It is the fact that in our lives, in all that we work at and strive for, it is of first importance to know as much as we can about what we are doing, to learn from the experience of others, and, not stopping at that, to find out more for ourselves, so that our work may be the best of which we are capable.
~ Sir William Henry Bragg, from The World of Sound; Six Lectures Delivered before a Juvenile Auditory at the Royal Institution, Christmas, 1919 (1920). Lecture VI. Sound in War
D.A.T.A. stands for desires, abilities, temperament and assets ... desires [may] include solving problems, performing intellectually challenging work in an independent setting and making things run well ... abilities [are] the transferable skills ... to solve people's problems. These may include writing, budgeting and using different software programs ... temperament [may refer to] what situations [make you] most productive and satisfied ... assets are the life experiences, education and training that set [one] apart from everyone else.
~ William Bridges, in The Los Angeles Times (30 April 2000).
The Six Laws of Work
~ William Frederick (W.F.) Book
A man's labour is not only his capital but his life. When it passes it returns never more. To utilise it, to prevent its wasteful squandering, to enable the poor man to bank it up for use hereafter, this surely is one of the most urgent tasks before civilisation.
~ William Booth, In Darkest England and the Way Out (October 1890). Part I. -- The Darkness. Chapter IV. The Out-of-Works
Of all heart-breaking toil the hunt for work is surely the worst.
~ William Booth, In Darkest England and the Way Out (October 1890). Part I. -- The Darkness. Chapter IV. The Out-of-Works
The profession of a prostitute is the only career in which the maximum income is paid to the newest apprentice.
~ William Booth, In Darkest England and the Way Out (October 1890). Part I. -- The Darkness. Chapter VI. The Vicious
It's been two years since we filmed the three Rings films. It was like stepping back in time when I first walked on set. ... Playing Pippin again was just like saying hello to an old friend.
~ Billy Boyd, The Daily Record (26 August 2002). I feared the Killer Orcs!: Lord of the Rings star's death scare!
To play one of the main characters in it, it's not like the kind of thing you don't do. Oh, I'd rather not play Pippin in "Lord of the Rings" ... in fact, I'm trying to think - what else would you rather do, you know? I can't actually think of another job that I'd rather do.
~ Billy Boyd.
A part of my job is to bring the news from elsewhere to here and to take back some news from here. ... You can't change the world singing songs, believe me, but you can offer people an alternative perspective, even on their own situations. So that's what I'm trying to do.
~ Billy Bragg, CNN TV (17 December 2002). The political music of Billy Bragg
I would never want to be an actor, because they spend most of their time just hanging around. It's like being a cop at court.
~ William J. Bratton, The Associated Press (18 January 2003). LAPD chief plays tough politician in Sundance Film Festival entry
You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorn. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
~ William Jennings Bryan, Speech at the National Democratic Convention, Chicago IL (8 July 1896).
We all leave unfinished work; we cannot complete it; those who come after us take it up and conform it to their will.
~ William Jennings Bryan, Address at the Constitutional Convention of Illinois, House of Representatives, Springfield IL (24 March 1920).
There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old age.
~ Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America (1989).
The more complicated and powerful the job, the more rudimentary the preparation for it.
~ William F. Buckley, Jr., in National Review (23 April 1963).
My favorite role was in The Wizard of Oz, directed by the great Victor Fleming, in which I played Glinda, the Good Fairy.
~ Billie Burke (Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke), With a Feather on My Nose (1949).
To survive there, you need the ambition of a Latin-American revolutionary, the ego of a grand opera tenor, and the physical stamina of a cow pony.
~ Billie Burke (Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke), quoted in Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion (1984).
There is no reason why marriage should necessarily compel an actress to forego her career. An actress who has the gift of swaying the emotions of an audience, of compelling tribute of tears, or of moving the public to joyous merriment, cannot always be satisfied to set aside her whole career, in the work that she loves, simply because she is married.
~ Billie Burke (Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke), in Theatre Magazine (1917). Do Players Seldom Marry?
I don't make myself work. It's just the thing I want to do. To be completely alone in a room, to know that there'll be no interruptions and I've got eight hours is exactly what I want -- yeah, just paradise.
~ William S. Burroughs, Interview in The Paris Review, Issue 35 (Fall 1965). The Art of Fiction No. 36
And each, somewhere in the stormy sky,
Has a glittering star, be it low or high!
~ William McKendree ("Will") Carleton, from Poems (1871). The Laboring Men
I am just a laboring man, sir -- work for food and rags and sleep,
And I hardly know the meaning of the life I slave to keep.
~ William McKendree ("Will") Carleton, from City Ballads (1885). Want. That Swamp of Death
If you don't like it, stop doing it. Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.
~ "Johnny" William Carson
A good workman can't be a cheap workman; he can't be stingy about wasting material, and he cannot compromise.
~ Willa Sibert Cather, published in The Borzoi 1920 (1920). On the Art of Fiction (written in 1920).
I have to work hard to do my worst, let alone my best.
~ Willa Sibert Cather, The Song of the Lark (1915). Part VI. Kronborg. Chapter IX
Every human being has a work to carry on within, duties to perform abroad, influence to exert, which are peculiarly his, and which no conscience but his own can teach.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), in The Christian Examiner (1829). Remarks on the Character and Writings of Fenelon
Happily in this community we all are bred and born to work; and this honorable mark, set on us all, should bind together the various portions of the community.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), Address Introductory to the Franklin Lectures, Boston MA (September 1838). On Self-Culture
How wearisome is the task imposed by another, and wrongfully imposed!
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), Slavery (1835). Chapter IV. The Evils Of Slavery
It is the man who determines the dignity of the occupation, not the occupation which measures the dignity of the man.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), Address Introductory to the Franklin Lectures, Boston MA (September 1838). On Self-Culture
Labor is discovered to be the grand conqueror, enriching and building up nations more surely than the proudest battles.
~ William Ellery Channing, Lecture on War (1838).
Now the man, who, in working, no matter in what way, strives perpetually to fulfil his obligations thoroughly, to do his whole work faithfully, to be honest not because honesty is the best policy, but for the sake of justice, and that he may render to every man his due, such a laborer is continually building up in himself one of the greatest principles of morality and religion.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), Address Introductory to the Franklin Lectures, Boston MA (September 1838). On Self-Culture
A full belly to the labourer is, in my opinion, the foundation of public morals and the only source of real public peace.
~ William Cobbett, in the Political Register (13 August 1822). Mr. Brougham's Beer Bill
I think my work has to do with a sense that we are attempting, all the time, to create a logical, rational path through the day. To the left and right there are an amazing set of distractions that we usually can't afford to follow. But the poet is willing to stop anywhere. ... And it's that willingness to slow down and examine the mysterious bits of fluff in our lives that is the poet's interest.
~ Billy Collins, in The New York Times (19 December 1999). On Literary Bridge, Poet Hits a Roadblock
I am not the boss of my house. I don't know how I lost it. I don't know where I lost it. I don't think I ever had it. But I've seen the boss's job ... and I don't want it.
~ Bill Cosby, from Bill Cosby: Himself (1983 film, at the Hamilton Place Theatre in Hamilton, Ontario).
There's no labor a man can do that's undignified -- if he does it right.
~ Bill Cosby, The Bill Cosby Show (1969).
Bus'ness is labour, and man's weakness such,
Pleasure is labour too, and tires as much.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Hope
I was bred to the law, a profession to which I was never much inclined, and in which I engaged, rather because I was desirous to gratify a most indulgent father, than because I had any hope of success in it myself.
~ William Cowper, in The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper (1842). The Life of William Cowper
Stop, while ye may; suspend your mad career!
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Table Talk (written in 1781)
When will it come, that golden time,
When every heart must sing?
The power to choose the work we love
Makes every man a king.
~ William Henry (W.H.) Davies, from The Loneliest Mountain, and Other Poems (1939). That Golden Time
If you want to get a position, you need a reputation; if you want to keep it, you need a character.
~ William Hersey Davis
Any manager can do well in an expanding market.
~ W. Edwards Deming
Anyone that enjoys his work is a pleasure to work with.
~ W. Edwards Deming, The New Economics For Industry, Government & Education (1993).
The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work.
~ W. Edwards Deming
The emphasis should be on why we do a job.
~ W. Edwards Deming
The idea of a merit rating is alluring. The sound of the words captivates the imagination: pay for what you get; get what you pay for; motivate people to do their best, for their own good. ... The effect is exactly the opposite of what the words promise.
~ W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis (1986).
The worker is not the problem. The problem is at the top! Management!
~ W. Edwards Deming
We are living in prison, under the tyranny of the prevailing style of interaction between people, between teams, between divisions.
~ W. Edwards Deming, The New Economics For Industry, Government & Education, 2nd ed. (1993). Chapter 6: Management of People
We should work on our process, not the outcome of our processes.
~ W. Edwards Deming
The right to work, I had assumed, was the most precious liberty that man possesses. Man has indeed as much right to work as he has to live, to be free, to own property.
~ William Orville Douglas (dissenting opinion), Barsky v. Board of Regents of Univ. of NY, 347 U.S. 442 (1954).
The indolent man values rest; but the industrious man labor.
~ William Scott Downey, Proverbs, by Rev. William Scott Downey (1851 edition).
I above all believe in work -- systematic and tireless.
~ William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois
The return from your work must be the satisfaction that work brings you and the world's need of that work. With this, life is heaven, or as near heaven as you can get. Without this -- with work which you despise, which bores you, and which the world does not need -- this life is hell.
~ William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois (address on his 90th birthday in 1958), from The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century (1968). Part Three. Chapter XXIII: My Tenth Decade
They that do the world's work must do its thinking.
~ William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois, Dark Princess: A Romance (1928). Part IV: The Maharajah of Bwodpur
General well-being is incompatible with lowness of wages.
~ William Ellis, Progressive Lessons In Social Science (1850).
Landlord of a bordello! The company's good and the mornings are quiet, which is the best time to write.
~ William Faulkner (on the ideal job), Recalled on his death (6 July 1962).
My own experience has been that the tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky.
~ William Faulkner, Interview in The Paris Review, Issue 12 (Spring 1956). The Art of Fiction No. 12
One of the saddest things is that the only thing that a man can do for eight hours a day, day after day, is work. You can't eat eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day nor make love for eight hours -- all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy.
~ William Faulkner, Interview in The Paris Review, Issue 12 (Spring 1956). The Art of Fiction No. 12
Concentrate on your job and you will forget your other troubles.
~ William Feather
The hardest job of all is trying to look busy when you're not.
~ William Feather
There will always be someone telling you to work hard, but if people liked to work long hours, we'd still be plowing the land with sticks and transporting goods on our backs.
~ William Feather
We always admire the other person more after we've tried to do his job.
~ William Feather
Work is the best method devised for killing time.
~ William Feather
I worked like a son of a bitch to learn a few tricks and I fight like a steer to avoid getting stuck with parts I can't play.
~ (William) Clark Gable
That's what my work is about, the collapse of everything, of meaning, of language, of values, of art, disorder and dislocation wherever you look, entropy drowning everything in sight ... that's what I have to go into before all my work is misunderstood and distorted and, and turned into a cartoon ...
~ William Gaddis, Agapé Agape (2002).
Long the task, but work away!
~ William Davis Gallagher, from Miami Woods, A Golden Wedding, and Other Poems (1881). V. Miscellaneous: Jubilate
Thou are the peer of any man.
~ William Davis Gallagher, from Selections from the Poetical Literature of the West (1841). The Laborer
Here at work we're all just trying to get a job done. My people have the confidence of their convictions and they know their skills. And that occupies most of my time.
~ Bill Gates
I expect over the next five years between us and others a heck of a job will get done. You'll be able to sit at your desk and do whatever it is you want to do with information or presenting data or interchanging data incredibly effectively. In other words, we will have changed the way people work.
~ Bill Gates, PC Magazine (Inaugural issue, Interview; 1 February 1982). The Man Behind The Machine?
If they want we will give them a sleeping bag, but there is something romantic about sleeping under the desk. They want to do it.
~ Bill Gates, Independent (18 November 1995). Quote Unquote
If you give people tools, [and they use] their natural ability and their curiosity, they will develop things in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected.
~ Bill Gates
I'm committed to one company. This is the industry I've decided to work in.
~ Bill Gates
The vision is really about empowering workers, giving them all the information about what's going on so they can do a lot more than they've done in the past.
~ Bill Gates
There's a basic philosophy here that by empowering ... workers you'll make their jobs far more interesting, and they'll be able to work at a higher level than they would have without all that information just a few clicks away.
~ Bill Gates
When thinking and collaboration are significantly assisted by computer technology, you have a digital nervous system. It consists of the advanced digital processes that knowledge workers use to make better decisions. To think, act and adapt.
~ Bill Gates, Business @ the Speed of Thought (1999).
Anything printed and disseminated can be described as a publication -- a mimeograph handout, a 500,000-copy-a-month magazine, a scholarly journal, a book. Anyone who engages in any of these activities might describe himself as a publisher. You can self-publish.
~ William Germano, Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (2001). What Do Publishers Do?
There are few, if any, jobs in which ability alone is sufficient. Needed also, are loyalty, sincerity, enthusiasm and team play.
~ William B. Given, Jr., (1949)
Happy is the man well employed; miserable, in my opinion, is the idle man.
~ William Ewart Gladstone, in The Speeches of the Right Hon. W.E. Gladstone: 1888-1891, Volume II (1902). The Workman and His Opportunities (speech in Saltney; 26 October 1889)
I have always regarded the Constitution as the most remarkable work known to me in modern times to have been produced by the human intellect, at a single stroke (so to speak), in its application to political affairs.
~ William Ewart Gladstone, Letter to the Committee in charge of the celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the American Constitution (20 July 1887).
The American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.
~ William E. Gladstone, in The North American Review (September-October 1878). Kin Beyond Sea
Work onwards, and work upwards; and may the blessing of the Most High sooth your cares, clear your vision, and crown your labours with reward.
~ William Ewart Gladstone, Inaugural Address (as Lord Rector) To The Students Of The University Of Glasgow (5 December 1879).
Any system of rewards that is perceived by the workers as unfair will create bitterness and resentment.
~ William Glasser, M.D., The Quality School (1990).
For workers, including students, to do high quality work, they must be managed in a way that convinces them that the work they are asked to do satisfies their needs. The more it does, the harder they will work.
~ William Glasser, M.D., The Quality School (1990).
In any place work is done, you cannot accept anything less than competence if you want high quality.
~ William Glasser, M.D., (1998).
I've met a few people in my time who were enthusiastic about hard work. And it was just my luck that all of them happened to be men I was working for at the time.
~ Bill Gold
You're no good on a job like this.
~ William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954).
Studio executives are intelligent, brutally overworked men and women who share one thing in common with baseball managers: they wake up every morning of the world with the knowledge that sooner or later they're going to get fired.
~ William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting (1983). Chapter 1
I'll probably have to come back to work just to get a vacation.
~ William Goldstein, The Associated Press (28 November 2002). Lawyer Retires; All Clients Had Died
And wisest they who labor to fulfill,
With zeal and hope, the all-directing Will.
~ William J. Grayson, The Hireling and the Slave (1856).
You should do your work because it is a good thing to do. Your reward is not in the results, but in the doing.
~ Wilson Greatbatch, in IEEE Spectrum (October 1999). Threshold of the new millennium
The amount of labour which a man had undergone in the course of 24 hours might be approximately arrived at by an examination of the chemical changes which had taken place in his body, changed forms in matter indicating the anterior exercise of dynamic force.
~ William R. Grove, On the Correlation of Physical Forces (1846)
In the South of long ago whenever a new man appeared for work in any of the laborers' gangs, he would be asked if he could sing. If he could he got the job. The singing of these working men set the rhythm for the work.
~ W.C. (William Christopher) Handy (c. 1917), quoted in My Soul Looks Back, 'Less I Forget (1995).
I enjoyed doing the Tom and Jerry cartoons, and if we had never done anything else, I would have been perfectly satisfied.
~ William Denby Hanna, The Los Angeles Times (2000).
The bosses' brains are under the cap of the working man.
~ William D. "Big Bill" Haywood
We are here to confederate the workers of this country into a working class movement that shall have for its purpose the emancipation of the working class from the slave bondage of capitalism. There is no organization, or there seems to be no labor organization, that has for its purpose the same object as that for which you are called together today. The aims and objects of this organization should be to put the working class in possession of the economic power, the means of life, in control of the machinery of production and distribution, without regard to capitalist masters.
~ William D. "Big Bill" Haywood, Opening Address, Founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Brand Hall, Chicago IL (27 January 1905).
All professions are bad that depend on reputation, which is 'as often got without merit as lost without deserving.'
~ William Hazlitt, Table-talk; Or, Original Essays, Volume II (1825 edition). On The Conduct Of Life; or, Advice to a School-Boy (1822 essay)
He who does nothing, renders himself incapable of doing any thing; but while we are executing any work, we are preparing and qualifying ourselves to undertake another.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Plain Speaker, Volume I (1826). Essay VI. On Application to Study
Aren't bosses something? They're like gnats at a picnic, man. ... Get the f[*]ck out of here buddy, it's just a job, doesn't mean a thing.
~ Bill Hicks
I look up
from writing
to daylight.
~ William J. Higginson, The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku (1985).
There is no indispensable man.
~ William Hillman, Mr. President (1952).
I find that a man is as old as his work. If his work keeps him from moving forward, he will look forward with the work.
~ William Ernest (W.E.) Hocking
Do not trouble yourselves about standards or ideals; but try to be faithful and natural: remember that there is no greatness, no beauty, which does not come from truth to your own knowledge of things; and keep on working, even if your work is not long remembered.
~ William Dean Howells, Criticism and Fiction (1891).
He was in love with his work, and he felt the enthusiasm for it which nothing but the work we can do well inspires in us.
~ William Dean Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham (1884).
Without labor, what is there? Without it, there were no world itself. Whatever we see or perceive -- in heaven or on the earth -- is the product of labor. The sky above us, the ground beneath us, the air we breathe, the sun, the moon, the stars -- what are they? The product of labor.
~ William Howitt, The True Dignity of Labor
The workaholic maintains a frantic schedule. He is consistently preoccupied with performance. He finds it difficult to refuse additional responsibilities. He is unable to relax. If someone you know exhibits these characteristics, he or she is probably a workaholic.
~ Bill Hybels, Christians in the Marketplace (1982). Profession or Obsession?
It is ridiculous to pay ballplayers $2000 a year, especially when the $800 boys often do just as well.
~ William A. Hulbert, (1880).
Surface work makes no impression, except that it is prettily done.
~ William Morris (W.M.) Hunt, from Talks on Art (1875).
Do what you are paid to do and then some. It's the then some that gets your salary raised.
~ (Col.) William C. Hunter, Brass Tacks (1910).
Good honest work is the foundation of all righteousness.
~ William Dewitt Hyde, Practical Ethics (1892). Chapter VI: Exchange
Every man who possibly can should force himself to a holiday of a full month in a year, whether he feels like taking it or not.
~ William James, Vacations (1873).
Publishers are demons, there's no doubt about it.
~ William James, Letter to Henry Holt (21 March 1890)
Praise shall conclude that work which prayer began.
~ William Jenkyn, from An Exposition Upon the Epistle of Jude (delivered at Christ Church, Newgate Street, London England; 1653).
I don't want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard.
~ Billy Joel, in The Stranger (1977 album). Just the Way You Are
Workin' too hard can give me
A heart attack
You oughta know by now.
~ Billy Joel, in The Stranger (1977 album). Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.
~ Bill Joy, (attributed; aka "Joy's Law).
Working at home for the first time with our five children under foot, I discovered that most of the magazine cartoons I was selling had to do with family life and small children. I then decided to produce The Family Circus.
~ Bill Keane, King Features About the Cartoonist
If you have genius you may gain a fortune; but even mediocrity is sure of a competence if you are faithful and honest in your work.
~ William Williams Keen, Valedictory Address at the Commencement of Jefferson Medical College (2 May 1893).
The site roared twenty-four hours a day for nine full months and beyond. From autumn through winter and into spring the crews labored in twelve-hour shifts, got some sleep, and came back for more. The enormous scale of their workplace is difficult to convey.
~ William Langewiesche (on the massive deconstruction of "Ground Zero"), American Ground (24 October 2002).
Art is thoughtful workmanship.
~ William Richard (W.R.) Lethaby, in The Imprint (January 1913). Art and Workmanship
She likened her job to "running a small country, a medium corporation, and being a social worker."
~ Wilma Mankiller
When you're a professional, you come back, no matter what happened the day before. You don't want 'em to like you. ... If you're any good, it'll only make you play harder.
~ Alfred Manuel "Billy" Martin
To be a giant, and not a dwarf, in your profession, you must be always growing.
~ William Mathews, Getting on in the World; Or, Hints on Success in Life (1872). XVI. Reserved Power
A great deal of the joy of life consists in doing perfectly, or at least to the best of one's ability, everything which he attempts to do. There is a sense of satisfaction, a pride in surveying such a work -- a work which is rounded, full, exact, complete in all its parts -- which the superficial man, who leaves his work in a slovenly, slipshod, half-finished condition, can never know. It is this conscientious completeness which turns work into art. The smallest thing, well done, becomes artistic.
~ William Mathews, Conquering Success, Or, Life in Earnest (1903). IX. Thoroughness
Work is a drug that dull people take to avoid the pangs of unmitigated boredom.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, from The Explorer (1909).
You are bound by the rules of your profession; a standard of conduct is imposed upon you. The pattern is predetermined. It is only the artist, and maybe the criminal, who can make his own.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up (1938).
The man who whistles at his work seldom slights it.
~ Will M. Maupin, from Whether Common or Not (1903). Prose Selections. Brain Leaks
I don't want to age 10 years in five but I want to work 10 years' worth in the next five years.
~ Billy Mays, interview in Portfolio Magazine, World According to ... (October 2008). Q&A With Pitchman Billy Mays
You can use it with great pleasure and ease
Without wasting any elbow grease
And when washing the most dirty clothes
The sweat will not be running from your nose.
~ William Topaz McGonagall, Sunlight Soap commercial (c. 1888)
[P]ractice every time you get a chance.
~ Bill Monroe, quoted in Artists of American Folk Music (1986).
A man at work, making something which he feels will exist because he is working at it and wills it, is exercising the energies of his mind and soul as well as of his body. Memory and imagination help him as he works. Not only his own thoughts, but the thoughts of the men of past ages guide his hands; and, as part of the human race, he creates. If we work thus we shall be men, and our days will be happy and eventful.
~ William Morris, from Signs of Change (1888). Useful Work versus Useless Toil
All other work but this is worthless; it is slaves' work -- mere toiling to live, that we may live to toil.
~ William Morris, from Signs of Change (1888). Useful Work versus Useless Toil
But in the cloudy dawn the sun arisen
Brings us our day of work to win the best.
~ William Morris, in The Commonweal (23 November 1889). A Death Song
For that which the worker winneth shall then be his indeed,
Nor shall half be reaped for nothing by him that sowed no seed.
~ William Morris, from Poems by the Way (1891). The Day is Coming
Hark the rolling of the thunder!
Lo the sun! and lo thereunder
Riseth wrath, and hope, and wonder,
And the host comes marching on.
~ William Morris, published in Justice and Commonweal (1885). Chants for Socialists, 5: The March Of The Workers
I would only get rid as much as possible of all nasty and stupid work, and what is left I would divide as equitably as might be among all classes.
~ William Morris, in The Life of William Morris, Volume II (1899). Chapter XV. The Democratic Federation: 1883-1884
In a properly ordered state of Society every man willing to work should be ensured -- First - Honourable and fitting work; Second - A healthy and beautiful house; Third - Full leisure for rest of mind and body.
~ William Morris, Lecture to the Leicester Secular Society (23 January 1884). Art and Socialism
It is beyond a doubt that if the workers unite to claim their heritage, the due membership of society, the tyranny of privilege must fall before them, and that true society will rise out of its ruins.
~ William Morris, Statement of Principles of the Hammersmith Socialist Society (1890).
It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to do; and which should he done under such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome nor over-anxious.
~ William Morris, Lecture to the Leicester Secular Society (23 January 1884). Art and Socialism
Nothing should be made by man's labour which is not worth making, or which must be made by labour degrading to the makers.
~ William Morris, Lecture to the Leicester Secular Society (23 January 1884). Art and Socialism
On we march then, we the workers, and the rumor that ye hear
Is the blended sound of battle and deliv'rance drawing near;
For the hope of every creature is the banner that we bear.
And the world is marching on.
~ William Morris, published in Justice and Commonweal (1885). Chants for Socialists, 5: The March Of The Workers
Our present joyless labour, and our lives scared and anxious as the life of a hunted beast, are forced upon us by the present system of producing for the profit of the privileged classes.
~ William Morris, from Signs of Change (1888). Useful Work versus Useless Toil
The reward of labor is life. Is that not enough?
~ William Morris, from News from Nowhere (1890). XV. On The Lack of Incentive To Labor In A Communist Society
I work for him despite his faults and he lets me work for him despite my deficiencies.
~ Bill Moyers (as press secretary to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson), in The New York Times (3 April 1966).
Film is a director's medium. We are basically puppets. Producers earn all the money, and you get the sense that they hate actors. The crews are treated like slaves. ... I don't think I can live with the inauthenticity of movies anymore. I don't like watching them, especially my own stuff.
~ Liam Neeson, Redbook magazine (June 1999).
I'm not supposed to say anything but let's face it, Jedi knights never die.
~ Liam Neeson, FoxNews Channel (27 December 2001). Liam Neeson: Return From Dead In Star Wars Episode Two?
As long as there's a few farmers out there, we'll keep fighting for them.
~ Willie Nelson, The Associated Press (20 September 2002). Nelson Still Pushing 'Farm Aid'
The fight to save family farms isn't just about farmers. It's about making sure that there is a safe and healthy food supply for all of us. It's about jobs, from Main Street to Wall Street. It's about a better America.
~ Willie Nelson, Farm Aid.org
Self-made men are very apt to usurp the prerogative of the Almighty and overwork themselves.
~ (Edgar Wilson) "Bill" Nye
I just haven't the time to come down with a total, full-on snot job.
~ William Orbit, Saturday Times (Interview; 4 December 1999). Mixed-up kid
Producers point people away from a road that isn't so productive.
~ William Orbit, BBC (Interview; November 1998). What do I do now?
And the master-word is Work, a little one, as I have said, but fraught with momentous sequences if you can but write it on the tablets of your hearts, and bind it upon your foreheads.
~ William Osler, from Aequanimitas: With Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practioners of Medicine (1904). XVIII. The Master-word in Medicine (University of Toronto; 1903)
It cannot be too often or too forcibly brought home to us that the hope of the profession is with the men who do its daily work in general practice.
~ William Osler
It [work] is the open sesame of every portal, the great equalizer in the world, the true philosopher's stone which transmutes all the base metal of humanity into gold.
~ William Osler, from Aequanimitas: With Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practioners of Medicine (1904). XVIII. The Master-word in Medicine (University of Toronto; 1903)
The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well.
~ William Osler
Practice, practice is every thing.
~ William Paley, quoted in Recollections of the Table-talk of Samuel Rogers (1856).
[T]he wise prove, and the foolish confess, by their conduct, that a life of employment is the only life worth leading.
~ William Paley, Reasons For Contentment, Addressed To The Labouring Part Of The British Public (sermon given in 1790; published in 1793).
I had an Italian mother. She didn't view what I was doing as really a profession. She viewed it as recreation. I said, "Gee Mom, I'm going to be the head coach of the New York Giants." And she said to me, "When are you going to get a real job like your brother the banker?"
~ Bill Parcells, CBS TV "60 Minutes" (31 August 2003). The Coach: Bill Parcells
Love Labor: For if thou dost not want it for Food, thou mayest for Physick.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Industry
Whenever it is in any way possible, every boy and girl should choose as his life work some occupation which he should like to do anyhow, even if he did not need the money.
~ William Lyon ("Billy") Phelps
To act upon the minds of the people at large, a work must be entertaining, periodical and cheap.
~ William Playfair, Letter to William Windham (1795)
A man is a fool to take himself too seriously; but no man can take his life work too seriously.
~ William Lyon ("Billy") Phelps, Teaching in School and College (1912). X: The Moral Aspect of Teaching
It brings up happy old days when I was only a farmer and not an agriculturist.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), from The Gentle Grafter (1908). Modern Rural Sports
With its use of puzzles in its hiring decisions, Microsoft plays to the more appealing side of the digital generation mythos -- of maverick independence and suspicion of established hierarchies. Puzzles are egalitarian, Microsoft's people contend, in that it doesn't matter what school you attended, where you worked before, or how you dress. All that matters is your logic, imagination, and problem-solving ability.
~ William Poundstone, How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest Company Selects the Most Creative Thinkers (May 2003).
Go wherever faith can see, or hope can breathe, or love can work, or courage can venture.
~ William Morley (W.M.) Punshon, Lecture Delivered Before the Young Men's Christian Association (1857). John Bunyan
If our industrial structure is to endure, tbe conditions in it must come to be such as will make our working men and women better, wiser, happier, and stronger through their work. It is a wrong to the community that profit should arise out of continued conditions that injure the workers. But a chasm of sympathy and an equal chasm of knowledge too often separate the workers from the employer; and through this want of knowledge and this lack of sympathy we all suffer.
~ William C. Redfield, published in The Atlantic Monthly v. 110 (1912). The Moral Value Of Scientific Management
Inadequate compensation seriously compromises the judicial independence fostered by life tenure. That low salaries might force judges to return to the private sector rather than stay on the bench risks affecting judicial performance. ... Every time an experienced judge leaves the bench, the nation suffers temporary loss in judicial productivity. Diminishing judicial salaries affects not only those who have become judges but also the pool of those willing to be considered for a position on the federal bench.
~ William H. Rehnquist (in his annual report on the U.S. judiciary), United Press International (1 January 2003). Rehnquist calls for judges' pay hike
Pregnancy is of course confined to women, but it is in other ways significantly different from the typical covered disease or disability.
~ William H. Rehnquist, General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, 429 U.S. 125 (1976).
An actor is a fella that just has a little more monkey in him.
~ Will Rogers
Once a man wants to hold a public office he is absolutely no good for honest work.
~ Will Rogers, Weekly Articles (22 March 1925).
Once you are a showman, you are plum ruined for manual labor again.
~ Will Rogers, in Tulsa Daily World (17 July 1932).
The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn't still be a farmer.
~ Will Rogers
The man with the best job in the country is the Vice President. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, "How's the President?"
~ Will Rogers, Speech (1934).
Black women ... work because their husbands can't make enough money at their jobs to keep everything going. ... They don't go to work to find fulfillment, or adventure, or glamour and romance, like so many white women think they are doing. Black women work out of necessity.
~ Wilma Rudolph, Wilma. Chap. 14 (1977)
My work is writing, but my real work is being.
~ William Saroyan, Obituaries (1979).
Without pressure, the work sometimes doesn't get done at all.
~ William Sarán, in Writer's Yearbook (1962).
I have always had a sneaking suspicion that work is a kind of excuse for failure, general failure -- to know, to understand, to cherish, to love, to believe, and so on. It is a kind of evasion, a kind of escape from the knowledge that one is entirely without grace, that one is altogether ill and mad.
~ William Saroyan, Not Dying (1963).
Well, you can't enjoy living unless you work. Unless you do something. I don't do anything. I don't want to do anything any more.
~ William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life (1939 play).
Every day we find it is a great work to accomplish a little work.
~ William Secker, from The Nonsuch Professor in His Meridian Splendor, or the Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians (1660).
Master, I've done Thy bidding, and the light is low in the west,
And the long, long shift is over ... Master, I've earned it -- Rest.
~ Robert William Service, from The Spell of the Yukon, and Other Verses (1907). The Song of the Wage-slave
Devise, wit; write, pen; for I am for whole volumes in folio.
~ William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost. Act I, scene ii
Fie upon this quiet life! I want work.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I
I am a true laborer: I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness, glad of other men's good, content with my harm.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act III, scene ii
[L]eave no rubs nor botches in the work.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act III, scene i
Mechanic slaves
With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act V, scene ii
O, how full of briars is this working-day world!
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act I, scene iii
Proud of employment, willingly I go.
~ William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost. Act II, scene i
[T]here's no better sign of a brave mind than a hard hand.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II. Act IV, scene ii
Thou art not for the fashion of these times,
Where none will sweat but for promotion.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene iii
We are but warriors for the working-day.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry V. Act IV, scene iii
Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I. Act I, scene ii
Have I done anything for society? I have then done more for myself. Let that truth be always present to thy mind, and work without cessation.
~ William Gilmore Simms
It's not legal for us to strike, but we're looking at possible injunctions to close facilities down and clean them up. These workers' lives are just as important as those congressmen and senators.
~ William Smith, in The New York Daily News (23 October 2001). Postal Workers Demand Shutdown
I am constantly torn between the attitude of the conscientious journalist who is a recorder and interpreter of the facts and of the creative artist who often is necessarily at poetic odds with the literal facts.
~ William (W.) Eugene Smith
The secret of success and contentment lies in finding one's own fitting work, and this is much more difficult than is generally believed.
~ Wilhelm Stekel, The Beloved Ego: Foundations Of The New Study Of The Psyche (1921 translation). Chapter XIX. Aphorisms
The court seems to be saying that your disability, in order to be protected, has to be across the board. It's going to be much more difficult for people to seek protection from the act if problems occur on the job.
~ William Stothers (on Toyota v. Williams), The Associated Press (9 January 2002). Supreme Court Limits Disability Law
[H]e is the Forgotten Man. He passes by and is never noticed, because he has behaved himself, fulfilled his contracts, and asked for nothing.
~ William Graham Sumner, What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883). Chapter IX. On The Case Of A Certain Man Who Is Never Thought Of
He who would be well taken care of must take care of himself.
~ William Graham Sumner, What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883). Chapter VI Title
The men who start out with the notion that the world owes them a living generally find that the world pays its debt in the penitentiary or the poor house.
~ William Graham Sumner, in Earth-Hunger And Other Essays (1913). Earth Hunger Or The Philosophy Of Land Grabbing (written in 1896)
I have long gone about with a conviction on my mind that I had a work to do -- a Work, if you like, with a great W; a Purpose to fulfil; a chasm to leap into.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Book of Snobs (1848). Prefatory Remarks
So, as thy sun rises, friend, over the humble house-tops round about your home, shall you wake many and many a day to duty and labour. May the task have been honestly done when the night comes.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Adventures of Philip (1862).
So far I've found that most high-level executives prefer the boardroom to the Bahamas. They don't really enjoy leisure time; they feel their work is their leisure.
~ William Theobald
I still hang out with my friends at the mall. It's just that this is my job, playing golf on the PGA Tour.
~ William Augustus "Ty" Tryon IV, The Associated Press (4 December 2001). Teen-Ager Tyron Earns PGA Tour Card
I follow my profession as a legitimate source of livelihood, and when it ceases to support me without having to accept gratuities, or hawk pasteboards, I'll leave it altogether, and for ever.
~ William Frederick (W.F.) Wallett, The Public Life Of W.F. Wallett, The Queen's Jester: An Autobiography (1870).
Among the nicest and most satisfying rewards of my new career as a broadcaster is that I get to work and I don't get hurt physically.
~ William (Bill) Theodore Walton, III, in ESPN "Classic's SportsCentury" (2001). Walton weathered injuries to win titles
A REAL job is a job you hate.
~ Bill Watterson, Speech at Kenyon College Commencement, Gambier, Ohio (20 May 1990). Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed It and Fled
Amazingly, much of the best cartoon work was done early on in the medium's history. The early cartoonists, with no path before them, produced work of such sophistication, wit, and beauty that it increasingly seems to me that cartoon evolution is working backward. Comic strips are moving toward a primordial goo rather than away from it. ... Not only can comics be more than we're getting today. but the comics already have been more than we're getting today.
~ Bill Watterson, Speech at the Festival of Cartoon Art, Ohio State University (27 October 1989). The Cheapening of Comics
If you have the personalities down, you understand them and identify with them; you can stick them in any situation and have a pretty good idea of how they're going to respond. Then it's just a matter of sanding and polishing up the jokes. But if you've got more ambiguous characters or stock stereotypes, the plastic comes through and they don't work as well. These two characters clicked for me almost immediately and I feel very comfortable working with them.
~ Bill Watterson (on "Calvin and Hobbes"), Honk Magazine (Interview; 1986).
It's only work if somebody makes you do it.
~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes (28 August 1989).
It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves.
~ Bill Watterson, Speech at Kenyon College Commencement, Gambier, Ohio (20 May 1990). Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed It and Fled
Obviously the great thing about this job is the complete freedom of the schedule. So long as I meet the deadline, they don't care when I work or how I work. Sometimes I work all day if I'm under a crunch; I take a day off here and there if I have something else pressing or if I'm just tired of what I'm doing ...
~ Bill Watterson, Honk Magazine (Interview; 1986).
The best preparation for work is not thinking about work, or talking about work, or studying about work, or even learning about work -- the best preparation is work.
~ William Weld, The American Enterprise, Vol. 5, No. 4 (July/August 1994). THE REFORM AGENDA. Welfare: The Massachusetts Model
My task is one in which it is impossible to tire; my work repays itself: it fills my mind with complacency and peace.
~ William Wilberforce, Speech, House of Commons (2 April 1792).
Rouse to some work of high and holy love,
And thou an angel's happiness shalt know.
~ Carlos Wilcox, in Remains of the Rev. Carlos Wilcox (1828). The Religion of Taste. CVII
If you are seeking health, wealth, usefulness, skill in any direction, there is nothing and no one who can hinder your attainment of the coveted boon, if you are willing to work and wait.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
If you work with zeal and ardor till the night,
You can only make the wasted moments right.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Drops of Water (1872). Arise
Neglect no labor and no duty shirk;
Not many hours are left thee for thy work.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from Maurine and Other Poems (1888). Poems of the Week
A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant and a bastard.
~ Billy Wilder
Against my need I set my will.
~ Marguerite Wilkinson, from Bluestone (1920). Songs of Poverty: Work
Old customs and systems die hard at the works and, whatever their own opinion of the matter may be, the officials are not considered by the workmen to be of a very progressive type. Many of the methods employed, both in manufacture and administration, are extremely old-fashioned and antiquated; an idea has to be old and hoary before it stands a chance of being adopted here.
~ Alfred Williams, Life in a Railway Factory (1915)
Man is immortal till his work is done.
~ James Williams, from Ethandune and Other Poems (1892). Sonnets of Places: Hoorn
How about Them Lunch Toters,
Ain't they a bunch?
Goin' off to work,
A-totin' they lunch.
~ Mason Williams, from Them Poems (2000). Them Lunch Toters
I have always been pushed by the negative. The apparent failure of a play sends me back to my typewriter that very night, before the reviews are out. I am more compelled to get back to work than if I had a success.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams
Work!! -- the loveliest of all four-letter words.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, from Tennessee Williams Memoirs (1975).
Writers are paranoid because they're living two lives -- their creative life, which they are most protective of, and their life as a human being. They have to protect both lives. I put a premium on the creative life. One risks one's personal life in order to work, and when one cannot work, or when one expects total failure, there is a crisis.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, Playboy magazine (Interview; April 1973).
What's work but making a song
Of the trees and the wheat?
~ Waldo Goronwy Williams, in The Peacemakers: Selected Poems (English translation, 1997). What is Man? (Pa Beth Yw Dyn?; written c.1952)
The union struggle is not against employers. It's against workers. One way you see this is to ask: Who gets beat up or killed during a strike? It's not the owners or management; it's workers who've disagreed with the union and wish to work.
~ Walter E. Williams, (1994)
Ideas and thoughts are all right, and nice things to have around, but somehow we seem to require something in the way of physical matters such as are reported to us by eye or ear or muscle in order to really prove to us that we're alive and on the job.
~ Whiting Williams, What's on the Worker's Mind: By One who Put on Overalls to Find Out (1920). Chapter IV: Steel Still Slow -- Miners Wanted
The better work we do is always done under stress and at great personal cost.
~ William Carlos Williams
And Courage and Patience together,
Are plants of a rich, golden soil;
For the fruits of the noblest genius
Oft yield to the triumphs of toil.
~ Henry Williamson, Heaven's Evangel And Other Poems (1865). Pebbles
The only work that will ultimately bring any good to any of us is the work of contributing to the healing of the world.
~ Marianne Williamson
A good boss makes his men realize they have more ability than they think they have so that they consistently do better work than they thought they could.
~ Charles E. Wilson
Work only a half a day; it makes no difference which half -- it can be either the first 12 hours or the last 12 hours.
~ Kemmons Wilson, Kemmons Wilson's Twenty Tips For Success
The consequences of high neighborhood joblessness are more devastating than those of high neighborhood poverty. A neighborhood in which people are poor but employed is different from a neighborhood in which people are poor and jobless. Many of today's problems in the inner-city ghetto neighborhoods -- crime, family dissolution, welfare, low levels of social organization, and so on -- are fundamentally a consequence of the disappearance of work.
~ William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor (1996).
As if his whole vocation
Were endless imitation.
~ William Wordsworth, from Poems in Two Volumes (1807). Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
God for his service needeth not proud work of human skill;
They please him best who labour most to do in peace his will.
~ William Wordsworth, from The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth (1871). The Poet's Dream. Sequel To The Norman Boy
Few months of life has he in store
As he to you will tell,
For still, the more he works, the more
Do his weak ankles swell.
~ William Wordsworth, from Lyrical Ballads (1798). Simon Lee, the old Huntsman
That spectacle, for many days, my brain
Worked with a dim and undetermined sense
Of unknown modes of being; o'er my thoughts
There hung a darkness, call it solitude
Or blank desertion.
~ William Wordsworth, The Prelude (1850 edition). Book I: Introduction -- Childhood and School-time
I always thought I'd make a good photographer. I'd like to be in charge of a library, or be an archeologist. Again, it's research, a bit of detective work -- the things I really love to do.
~ Bill Wyman (William George Perks), Interview in Publishers Weekly (9 September 2002). Stones Bass Player Displays New Chops
A king is but a foolish labourer
Who wastes his blood to be another's dream.
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Rose (1893). Fergus and the Druid
Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Tower (1928). Among School Children
None too hopeful we found our lives;
Sore was labor from day to day;
Still we strove for our babes and wives --
Now, to the trumpet, we march away!
~ William Young, Wishmakers' Town (1898 edition). The Pawns
© 1999-2012 all things William. All Rights Reserved.
A Collection of Quotes Based on the Name William