← Your daily dose of motivation
174 quotes, page 5 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.
“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”
Attributed to Charles Spurgeon. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
Slow progress in a new language still gets you there.
“Don't give up. Don't ever give up.”
Jim Valvano, ESPY Awards speech (1993). Spoken weeks before his death from cancer.
Keep going with the job hunt. It is a matter of when, not if.
“Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
Lou Gehrig, farewell speech at Yankee Stadium (1939). Said after his diagnosis with ALS.
Even on a hard day, there are people around you at work worth being thankful for.
“You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.”
Stuart Scott, ESPY Awards speech (2014)
Working through treatment, or returning after it, is a quiet kind of victory.
“They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary.”
The Bible, Isaiah 40:31 (King James Version)
Strength comes back after illness. Build it up a shift at a time.
“Just living is not enough, said the butterfly. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
Hans Christian Andersen, The Butterfly (1861)
A job that pays the bills and leaves you time to breathe is worth looking for.
“It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
You are not the person who made that mistake years ago. Interview as who you are now.
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!”
Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)
First day in a new job? Leave early, find the gate, and go in.
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988)
Plenty of people fall into care work or driving by accident and stay for life.
“Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky (2004)
Back in your old trade after years away? You bring back more than you left with.
“And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive.”
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore (2002)
The hard months will blur. The new job, and who you became getting it, will stay.
“Barn's burnt down, now I can see the moon.”
Mizuta Masahide, Japanese haiku poet (17th century)
After losing a job, notice what you can see now that you could not before.
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”
Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (1869)
Settling into a new country or a new job takes both. Give yourself both.
“There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still.”
Betsie ten Boom, quoted by Corrie ten Boom in The Hiding Place (1971)
However low things feel, there are people and services ready to help you climb out.
“All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them.”
Isak Dinesen, as quoted by Hannah Arendt in The Human Condition (1958)
In interviews, a gap told as a story with a lesson lands better than a gap hidden.
“The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail.”
Laozi, Tao Te Ching 76
Being willing to try a different shift pattern or role helps you through hard times.
“While there's life, there's hope.”
Cicero, Letters to Atticus 9.10
Whatever went wrong, you are still here and can still apply for the next job.
“It's a long road that has no turning.”
English proverb
A long run of bad luck in work does turn. Keep walking.
“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”
Freya Stark, Baghdad Sketches (1932)
New to a town for a job? Take a walk on your first morning and learn the streets.
“Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.”
Grandma Moses, who began painting seriously in her late seventies
Starting something new in retirement or later life is common. Many employers welcome older workers.
“I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.”
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl (1944 entry)
Even in a hard job search, notice what is still good: family, friends, health.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
Anne Frank, Give! (1944)
You can volunteer, help a neighbour, or take a course today, job or no job.
“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”
Attributed to Nelson Mandela. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
Holding a grudge against an old employer only slows your next step.
“Even if you are taken by a tiger, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.”
Korean proverb
In a crisis at work, stay calm and think. Panic makes everything worse.
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis (1776)
The job you fought hardest to get is often the one you value most.
“When the year becomes cold, then we know how the pine and the cypress are the last to lose their leaves.”
Confucius, Analects 9.28 (Legge translation)
Hard times at a firm show who keeps steady. Be the one people can rely on.
“Little by little, an egg will walk.”
Ethiopian proverb
A new arrival with no English can be running a shift in a few years. It happens all the time.
“You live a new life for every new language you speak. If you know only one language, you live only once.”
Czech proverb
Evening ESOL classes are often free or cheap. They can change the jobs open to you.
“Traveller, there is no road; the road is made by walking.”
Antonio Machado, Campos de Castilla (1912)
There is no set route back after a gap. You make it by taking the next small step.
“They can cut all the flowers, but they cannot keep spring from coming.”
Attributed to Pablo Neruda. Widely attributed; the original source has not been traced.
A closure can take your job. It cannot take your skills or your will to work.
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