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174 quotes, page 3 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.
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
Robert Frost, The Death of the Hired Man (1914)
Moving back in with family while you find work is nothing to be ashamed of.
“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”
Langston Hughes, Dreams (1922)
Keep the long-term goal, the own van or the own cafe, even while you take the job that pays now.
“Into each life some rain must fall.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Rainy Day (1842)
Everyone has a bad patch at work at some point. It does not mean the rest will be the same.
“To err is human, to forgive divine.”
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711)
Managers: a new starter's first mistake is a chance to teach, not to write them off.
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1734)
Every Monday morning job board check is hope in action. Keep doing it.
“The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.”
William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well
Every working life has good and bad years in it. One bad year does not spoil the cloth.
“Sweet are the uses of adversity.”
William Shakespeare, As You Like It
Managing on less after redundancy teaches budgeting skills a small business owner needs.
“Things without all remedy should be without regard: what's done is done.”
William Shakespeare, Macbeth
You cannot unsend that email or undo that row. Apologise if needed and get on with the next job.
“The world was all before them, where to choose their place of rest, and Providence their guide.”
John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667). The last lines of the poem, as Adam and Eve leave Eden to start again.
Starting over after losing everything still leaves you the whole map to choose from.
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”
John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667)
The same night shift can feel grim or fine depending on what you tell yourself about it.
“Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.”
Samuel Johnson, letter (1762)
Having an interview booked lifts the whole week. Book as many as you can.
“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”
Attributed to Edmund Hillary. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
The hardest part of a career change is often the voice saying you are too old for it.
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
Attributed to Bruce Lee. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
Some jobs are just hard: night shifts, cold yards, heavy lifting. Strength grows with the doing.
“To regret one's own experiences is to arrest one's own development.”
Oscar Wilde, De Profundis (1905), written in Reading Gaol
A past conviction is part of your story. What you learned from it can be part of your interview answer.
“Where there is sorrow there is holy ground.”
Oscar Wilde, De Profundis (1905)
Carers know this. Being present for someone on their worst day is serious, good work.
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)
Agency work and zero hours can still be a step towards something better. Keep your eye on it.
“Man is a creature that can get used to anything, and I think that is the best definition of him.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The House of the Dead (1862)
Early starts, new food, a new language: within months most of it feels normal.
“The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago (1973)
Employers who give someone with a record a fair chance often get their most loyal worker.
“Nothing is miserable unless you think it so.”
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (about 524), written in prison
A step down in job title is only humiliating if you decide it is.
“People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book.”
Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)
The library is free. A book on bookkeeping or English grammar can start a new career.
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”
Nora Ephron, Wellesley College commencement address (1996)
After a divorce, a job of your own can be the first chapter of the next part.
“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours (Barrows and Macy translation)
The dread on the first morning of a new job does not last. Go in anyway.
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (1929)
Not sure what you want to do next? Try a few temp jobs and see what fits.
“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
Albert Camus, Return to Tipasa (1952)
Low months between jobs end. Something in you got you this far and will get you further.
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
Albert Camus, The Misunderstanding (1944)
Career changes in later life can bloom. Care homes and retail value maturity.
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
Frederick Douglass, speech at Canandaigua (1857)
The hard bit of learning a new system at work is the bit where you are getting better.
“I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly not bend and crush me completely.”
Ludwig van Beethoven, letter to Franz Wegeler (1801), as his deafness grew
A diagnosis can change the work you do without ending your working life. Ask about reasonable adjustments.
“Feet, what do I need them for if I have wings to fly?”
Frida Kahlo, her diary (1953)
If your body rules out heavy work now, look at what your experience lets you teach or plan.
“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”
Stephen Hawking, as widely quoted
Can't drive or lift any more? Dispatch, planning and training roles need people who know the job.
“Once you choose hope, anything's possible.”
Christopher Reeve, as widely quoted
Hope is a choice you can make again every morning before the shift.
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