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Working hard or hardly working?
By Hayley Small — Written on Apr 26, 2020
Now that so many people are working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, it can be hard to find the right inspiration (especially if you're a full-time parent at the same time). Using some motivational quotes about work, though, can give you just the kick start you need to find success at work — whether or not you're in the office or talking over Zoom in your underwear.
Work is something that everybody needs to have to be able to survive and earn money, and unfortunately — especially now — not everyone is able to get a job. During this global pandemic, countless people have lost their jobs because companies cannot afford to keep them on as employees as the world is at a stand-still. It's hard to see so many people struggling right now, and even many of the people who are lucky enough to still be working — we know them as the "essential workers" — have taken pay-cuts to compensate for the downward turn in the economy.
Life is tough right now for everyone, so it's even more important than ever to find the positive and try to stay motivated so that we can all get through this in one piece. We can only hope that after all of this COVID-19 craziness calms down, people will be able to get their jobs back and won’t have to stress about being able to afford to survive.
So whether you're still working or you're looking for work (or filing for unemployment over and over again), use these motivational quotes for work to help you stay inspired and give you hope. You will get through this. We all will.
1. All it takes is hard work.
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell
2. Trying your best is essential.
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” — Vince Lombardi
3. It doesn't come easily.
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” — Pele
4. They know what it takes to win.
“See, winners embrace hard work.” — Lou Holtz
5. There are no substitutes for hard work.
“There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance.” — Cesar Chavez
6. Want the rewards without the work.
“Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it’ll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off.” — Kevin Hart
7. It's not about luck.
“Luck? I don’t know anything about luck. I’ve never banked on it and I’m afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work – and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.” — Lucille Ball
8. Sprituality can play a part in your success.
“Through hard work, perseverance and a faith in God, you can live your dreams.” — Ben Carson
9. Luck because of work.
“I have had lots of luck in my career but there has also been a lot of hard work.” — Maria Sharapova
10. You never want to redo the hard work.
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” — Newt Gingrich
11. Make goals to achieve them.
"When you put a lot of hard work into one goal and you achieve it, that's a really good feeling." —Derek Jeter
12. Hence the term 'work'.
“Every step of my career was hard work.” — Virgil van Dijk
13. Too many stereotypes.
“For me, I’m an American and I’m a Mexican. I live here. And it hurts me the way a lot of people talk about Mexicans when I know we’re all about hard work and dedication.” — Andy Ruiz Jr.
14. Parents are very helpful.
“From my dad I learned to be good to people, to always be honest and straightforward. I learned hard work and perseverance.” — Luke Bryan
15. Constant work makes for constant success.
“I think the thing about that was I was always willing to work; I was not the fastest or biggest player but I was determined to be the best football player I could be on the football field and I think I was able to accomplish that through hard work.” — Jerry Rice
16. Hard workers don't need pity I guess.
“I don’t pity any man who does hard work worth doing. I admire him. I pity the creature who does not work at whichever end of the social scale he may regard himself as being.” — Theodore Roosevelt
17. You must pursue your endeavors.
“It seems as if an age of genius must be succeeded by an age of endeavor; riot and extravagance by cleanliness and hard work.” — Virginia Woolf
18. Because hard work helps you in life.
“It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?” — Ronald Reagan
19. Success is never easy.
“In a lot of ways, success is much harder than I thought it would be. I figured that you’d get here and then everything would be happily ever after. But, it’s hard work, almost harder once you’re successful because you’ve got to maintain it.” — Steven Wright
20. Planning is good.
“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” — Pete Drucker
21. Everyone hopes to influence others for good.
“I hope the millions of people I’ve touched have the optimism and desire to share their goals and hard work persevere with a positive attitude.” — Michael Jordan
22. Most people do.
“John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded.” — Barack Obama
23. They know it's necessary.
“Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they’re making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that’s the difference.” — Lou Holtz
24. Hard work is necessary.
“There is no substitute for hard work.” — Thomas A. Edison
25. Stick to the essentials.
“The three great essentials to achieve anything worth-while are hard work, stick-to-it-iveness, and common sense.” — Thomas A. Edison
26. You will come back from failure stronger.
“Never let success get to your head. Never let failure get to your heart.”
27. Success isn't always necessary.
“Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.” — Colin Powell
28. The top dogs need to work hard.
“I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.” — Margaret Thatcher
29. Perseverance is everything.
“If four things are followed – having a great aim, acquiring knowledge, hard work, and perseverance – then anything can be achieved.” — A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
30. Dream big and work hard to get there.
“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” — Colin Powell
31. Hard work is satisfying.
“Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.” — Booker T. Washington
32. Talent only gets you so far.
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” — Stephen King
33. The only way to make it is to work harder than everyone else.
“I learned the value of hard work by working hard.” — Margaret Mead
34. Practice makes perfect.
“I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.” — Ray Bradbury
35. So why not work hard?
“We live in the kind of society where, in almost all cases, hard work is rewarded.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson
36. Each person's experience is different.
“My story is going to be completely different than someone else’s story in terms of hard work. What I might feel like is hard work, another person is dying to do.” — Lil Baby
37. Hard work gets rewarded.
“We need more good jobs that reward hard work with rising wages, dignity, and a ladder to a better life.” — Hillary Clinton
38. Do the work.
“Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.” — Horace
39. Some people have it easier than others, but hard work will pay off in the end.
“Bands today have to learn their craft by putting the hard work in that we did when we were young performers.” — Elton John
40. So believe and you will succeed.
“I was raised to believe in hard work, in faith and family.” — Mike Pence
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Hayley Small is a writer who focuses on pop culture, religion and relationship topics.