← Your daily dose of motivation
174 quotes, page 1 of 6Starting again
After redundancy, a move to a new country, an illness, a mistake or a long gap. A second start is still a start.
We say who really said each one, and where the credit is uncertain we tell you. Every card is ours to share.
“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”
T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding (1942)
A redundancy letter feels like the end of something. It is also the first day of whatever you do next.
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding (1942)
Coming back to a trade after years away, you see it with fresh eyes. That is worth something to an employer.
“For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.”
T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding (1942)
Your old job title does not have to describe you any more. Write the CV for the work you want next.
“Home is where one starts from.”
T. S. Eliot, East Coker (1940)
New to the UK or new to the area? The first job is a starting point, not a final verdict.
“You may trod me in the very dirt but still, like dust, I'll rise.”
Maya Angelou, Still I Rise (1978)
A bad review or a sacking is not the last word on you. Turn up to the next interview with your head up.
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.”
Maya Angelou, as widely quoted
Ten applications and no reply is a defeat. Stopping at ten is the only way it becomes the result.
“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
Maya Angelou, All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986)
If a new starter on your shift is far from home, a cup of tea and a proper welcome goes a long way.
“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (1994)
Getting the job is one hill. Passing probation is the next. Take them one at a time.
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
Attributed to Nelson Mandela. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
Gaps on a CV often hide a comeback. Say so plainly in the interview: what happened and what you did next.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
Attributed to Nelson Mandela. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
Learning a few words of a colleague's language, or they of yours, builds trust faster than any team meeting.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”
Helen Keller, Optimism (1903)
Most people on any site or ward have come through something hard. You are in good company.
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened.”
Helen Keller, Helen Keller's Journal (1938)
A hard year can show on a CV as grit. Employers in care and logistics notice people who kept going.
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
Helen Keller, We Bereaved (1929)
Stop rereading the redundancy letter. Spend that time reading job adverts instead.
“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929)
Coming back after illness, you may know your limits better than anyone. That makes you safer, not weaker.
“When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”
Confucius, Analects 1.8 (Legge translation)
Got something wrong on your last job? Own it, change the habit, and move on.
“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)
A bad shift ends at clocking off. Tomorrow's shift starts clean.
“After all, tomorrow is another day.”
Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind (1936)
If today's interview went badly, write down what you would say differently, then let it go.
“There are no second acts in American lives.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, notes for The Last Tycoon (1941). Fitzgerald himself was wrong: his reputation had a huge second act after his death.
Thankfully he was wrong. Plenty of HGV drivers, carers and electricians started in their forties or fifties.
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
Attributed to George Eliot. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
Night classes, apprenticeships for adults, a CSCS card at fifty: the door is still open.
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, letter to his daughter
Mispicks and late drops happen. Log them, learn, and leave them at the gate.
“It is always darkest just before the day dawneth.”
Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine (1650)
The week before an offer often feels like the worst one. Keep sending applications.
“If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind (1820)
Seasonal work dries up in January and returns by spring. Use the quiet weeks to get a new ticket.
“Come, my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses (1842)
Changing trade later in life is common now. Ask a local college what adult courses they run.
“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
Attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
No offer this week? Count the applications, calls and courses instead. Those are your seeds.
“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success.”
Samuel Smiles, Self-Help (1859)
The business that went under taught you about cash flow and customers. Put that on the CV.
“He who never made a mistake never made a discovery.”
Samuel Smiles, Self-Help (1859)
New in the kitchen? You will burn a few things. Every chef did.
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
The Bible, Psalm 30:5 (King James Version)
A bad night does not decide the week. Get some sleep and look again in daylight.
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth.”
The Bible, Isaiah 43:19 (King James Version)
Starting a new line of work is allowed at any age. It just starts with the first application.
“They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
The Bible, Lamentations 3:23 (King James Version)
Each early shift is a fresh chance to show who you are now, not who you were.
“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.”
The Bible, Proverbs 24:16 (King James Version)
Knocked back again? Ask for feedback, fix one thing, and apply again.
Other sections
- Work and keeping going (447)
- Stoic calm (235)
- An open mind (272)
- Starting a business (245)
- For leaders (167)
- Working with people (155)
- Mindset and habits (246)
- Safety and health (183)
- Starting again (174)
- Pride in the job (156)
- True stories of people who started small