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185 quotes, page 2 of 7Pride in the job
For anybody who does it properly when nobody is watching: the tidy load, the clean weld, the bed made right. Craft is a habit, not a job title.
We say who really said each one, and where the credit is uncertain we tell you. Every card is ours to share.
“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, as those move easiest who have learned to dance.”
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711)
The barista who looks relaxed at the rush has practised every move. Ease is earned.
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.”
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711)
Half-knowing how to use a machine is riskier than not knowing. Finish the training properly.
“Every artist was first an amateur.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Progress of Culture (1867)
Every head chef was once the new kid on the pot wash. Start where you are.
“The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, New England Reformers (1844)
Not every good job gets thanked. The quiet satisfaction is yours to keep anyway.
“Man is a tool-using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.”
Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus (1836)
Learn your tools inside out, from the pallet truck to the till. They multiply what you can do.
“Genius, which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all.”
Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia (1858)
Much of what looks like talent is just being willing to take the extra trouble.
“No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.”
Julia Child, My Life in France (2006)
Your first omelettes will be ugly. Cook a hundred and they will not be.
“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”
Julia Child, as widely quoted
Try the new task. The worst outcome is usually a lesson and a laugh.
“Mise-en-place is the religion of all good line cooks.”
Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential (2000). Mise en place: everything prepared and in its place before service.
Set up before the rush: stock topped up, tools in reach, paperwork ready. Then the rush is just work.
“You don't take a photograph, you make it.”
Attributed to Ansel Adams. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
A good shift is not something that happens to you. You make it, task by task.
“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.”
Attributed to Henri Cartier-Bresson. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
Early efforts are meant to be rough. Count them as practice, not as a verdict.
“He that hath a trade hath an estate.”
Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758)
A trade or ticket is something nobody can take from you. Every course you pass is yours for life.
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
Attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
Cheap boots on a building site soon cost more than good ones. Buy once, buy well where it matters.
“A carpenter is known by his chips.”
English proverb
The mess you leave says as much as the job you did. Sweep up before you go.
“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
Abraham Maslow, The Psychology of Science (1966)
Learn more than one way to fix a problem. The quick fix is not right every time.
“The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.”
Frank Lloyd Wright, The New York Times (1953)
Some mistakes stay on show for years. Check it twice before it is set in concrete.
“Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.”
Epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren, St Paul's Cathedral. From the Latin: Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice.
Your best reference is the work you leave behind. Let it speak for you.
“Well building hath three conditions: firmness, commodity, and delight.”
Sir Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture (1624), after Vitruvius. Commodity here means usefulness.
Good work is solid, useful and pleasant to live with. Aim for all three.
“Keep it simple, stupid.”
Attributed to Kelly Johnson, aircraft engineer at Lockheed. The KISS principle, said to have come from his design team.
If a step can be skipped without harm, skip it. Simple systems break less on a night shift.
“Premature optimization is the root of all evil.”
Donald Knuth, Structured Programming with go to Statements (1974)
Get the job working first, then make it faster. Tuning a plan that does not work wastes time.
“Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.”
Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month (1975)
More hands do not always help. New staff need training, and that takes time from the old hands.
“Make it work, make it right, make it fast.”
Attributed to Kent Beck, software engineer. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
First get it done, then get it done properly, then get it done quickly. In that order.
“Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.”
Edsger W. Dijkstra, How do we tell truths that might hurt? (1975)
Fewer moving parts, fewer breakdowns. True for engines and for rotas.
“A house is a machine for living in.”
Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture (1923)
A kitchen or a care home works best when it is set out for the people who use it every day.
“The master's eye makes the horse fat.”
Old proverb, recorded in Xenophon's Oeconomicus
Business owners: walk the floor. Things go better where someone who cares is looking.
“By the work one knows the workman.”
Jean de La Fontaine, Fables, Book 1 (1668). French: A l'oeuvre on connait l'artisan.
Your references matter, but your work matters more. Let every job be a reference.
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”
Colossians 3:23 (King James Version)
Do the job as if the most important person in the world will inspect it, even when nobody will.
“Yoga is skill in action.”
Bhagavad Gita 2.50
Calm, skilled hands on the job are their own kind of peace.
“With enough effort, an iron rod can be ground into a needle.”
Chinese proverb (Tie chu mo cheng zhen). From the legend of a young Li Bai meeting an old woman grinding an iron bar.
Skills that look impossible get worn into shape with daily effort.
“A good cook changes his knife once a year, because he cuts. A mediocre cook changes his knife once a month, because he hacks.”
Zhuangzi, Cook Ding (trans. Burton Watson)
Working with the grain saves your tools and your back. Learn the right way, not the hard way.
Other sections
- Work and keeping going (559)
- Stoic calm (316)
- An open mind (366)
- Starting a business (299)
- For leaders (218)
- Working with people (214)
- Mindset and habits (339)
- Safety and health (219)
- Starting again (210)
- Pride in the job (185)
- True stories of people who started small