Quotes About Work

One of the questions writers bump up against in their work, whether they know it or not, is about lying. Because fiction is a form of deceit, and one's abilities are measured by how convincingly one can persuade readers that these events really happened.

It is very true to say that work done by writers is quite often an attempt to give solid expression to that which is bothering them... They feel they have got it right if they express the stress.

August Wilson is the one writer that writes about men like my father, who had a fifth grade education, who was a janitor at McDonald's.

The C student starts a restaurant. The A student writes restaurant reviews.

The only thing that's authentic about what a writer writes is his work.

I think nobody since has written such extraordinary work as Shakespeare writes. The characters he writes are full of inconsistencies, which is a great human quality - I mean, we're all very inconsistent in the way we behave.

My autobiography would be 'Loves music, loves art, works hard, writes music, tours the world, makes records.'

I can't recommend technical writing as a day job for fiction writers because it's going to be hard to write all day and then come home and write fiction.

You spend most of your life working and trying to hone your craft, working on your chops, working on your writing, and you don't really think about accolades. Then you get a bit older and they start coming your way. It's a nice pat on the back.

Writing is a dreadful labor, yet not so dreadful as Idleness.

I have a great fondness for any character I work on. Whether it's somebody like Batman or Harley Quinn or whatever character I'm writing, I just really enjoy the heck out of it, and I try to do the best job I can with it.

I work in a business environment forty hours a week, and writing is what I do to unwind. It allows me to transport myself to a happy place where I can indulge my hopes, beliefs, aspirations and fantasies. It also allows me to live and breathe a topic for eighteen months while I'm researching and writing.

But even writing the column for the 'Telegraph,' that idea of working to deadlines, which as an actor that's not something you have to do in the same way. It's excited me into wanting to do a bit more.

Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.

It's the work that's important, not the individual who does it.

Yes, freedom is magnificent. But freedom is hard work.

We are only missionaries for the world, after all, and when our work is done we really don't exist. Do we? Can it be said for anyone?

Learning to suffer is called growing up. If we postponed all our sorrows, could we be capable of doing the work we're called to do?

I always had the uncomfortable feeling that if I wasn't sitting in front of a computer typing, I was wasting my time--but I pushed myself to take a wider view of what was productive. Time spend with my family and friends was never wasted.

Just because we're busy doesn't mean we're being productive. Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.

Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.

by politely asking questions ..., we often can clarify our approach, prevent false steps and needless work, and end up with a better result

Procrastinators can't make themselves work—often, ironically, because they're so anxious about work that they have to distract themselves from it—but they can't enjoy free time, either, because they know they should be working. A regular work schedule can help procrastinators because progress and engagement relieve their anxiety.

It struck me, in fact, that all of my work on habits and happiness was meant to help us construct, as much as possible, just that: everyday life in Utopia. Everyday life with deep, loving relationships and productive, satisfying work; everyday life with energy, health, and productivity; everyday life with fun, enthusiasm, and engagement, with as little regret, guilt, or anger as possible.