Quotes About Craftsmanship

Craftsmanship, Dreyfus and Kelly argue in their book's conclusion, provides a key to reopening a sense of sacredness in a responsible manner.

These e-mails take the sender only a handful of seconds to write but can command many minutes (if not hours, in some cases) of time and attention from their recipients to work toward a coherent response. A little more care in crafting the message by the sender could reduce the overall time spent by all parties by a significant fraction

The task of a craftsman, they conclude, "is not to generate meaning, but rather to cultivate in himself the skill of discerning the meanings that are already there." This frees the craftsman of the nihilism of autonomous individualism, providing an ordered world of meaning.

Irrespective of what type of work you do, the craftsman mindset is crucial for building a career you love. Before

If you're not focusing on becoming so good they can't ignore you, you're going to be left behind. This clarity is refreshing. It tells you to stop worrying about what your job offers you, and instead worry about what you're offering the world. This mindset–which I call the craftsman mindset-allows you to sidestep the anxious questions generated by the passion hypothesis—"Who am I?", "What do I truly love?"—and instead put your head down and focus on becoming valuable.

But this doesn't matter, as the specifics of the work are irrelevant. The meaning uncovered by such efforts is due to the skill and appreciation inherent in craftsmanship—not the outcomes of their work. Put another way, a wooden wheel is not noble, but its shaping can be. The same applies to knowledge work. You don't need a rarified job; you need instead a rarified approach to your work.

THREE DISQUALIFIERS FOR APPLYING THE CRAFTSMAN MINDSET The job presents few opportunities to distinguish yourself by developing relevant skills that are rare and valuable. The job focuses on something you think is useless or perhaps even actively bad for the world. The job forces you to work with people you really dislike.

En el prefacio se cita el credo del picapedrero medieval: «Nosotros, cuyo oficio es cortar simples piedras, debemos tener siempre en mente las catedrales».

things of great importance have to be slowly produced. I don't believe in speed in artistic production, and that goes with integration.

On the hinder slope of the hill two little goatherds are tending a flock of goats; one of them is sitting on a rock whittling a crook out of ash, while the other is trying to coax a few tweets out of a reed flute.

Hemingway said it aptly: 'We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.

This was said most artfully by Michelangelo when asked how he created his famous statue of David. He said "it is easy—you just chip away the stone that doesn't look like David.

Sustainable farms are to today's headlong rush toward global destruction what the monasteries were to the Dark Ages: places to preserve human skills and crafts until some semblance of common sense and common purpose returns to the public mind.

Small is not beautiful unless small is skilled and dedicated.

Ther nys no werkman, whatsoevere he be,That may bothe werke wel and hastily;This wol be doon at leyser parfitly.

It is most necessary to avoid rusticity in any way, whether in material, design, or execution.

'Tis God gives skill,But not without men's hands: He could not makeAntonio Stradivari's violinsWithout Antonio.

When a workman is unceasingly and exclusively engaged in the fabrication of one thing, he ultimately does his work with singular dexterity; but, at the same time, he loses the general faculty of applying his mind to the direction of the work. His every day becomes more of adroit and less industrious; so that it may be said of him, that, in proportion as the workman improves, the man is degraded. Alexis de Tocqueville

It is almost possible to measure a writer's skill by the dexterity with which he repeats, and yet avoids monotony.

Am I not a master of my craft?" He paused, glaring at me. "Of course you are," I said, trying to keep my voice soothing. This would end in disaster. "Then you will bring this Grand Burger to me and I shall make it. You will taste it and you will weep, for it will be the best Grand Burger to ever grace a human mouth." He spun around dramatically and stalked off into the kitchen. "We should get him a cape," Sean said.

All trades, arts, and handiwork have gained by division of labor, namely, when, instead of one man doing everything, each confines himself to a certain kind of work distinct from others in the treatment it requires, so as to be able to perform it with greater facility and in the greatest perfection.

I think one should pay so much attention to technique, don't you? Like learning to draw before you paint.

The sculptor is master of time; he can change his subjects forward or back.

I have to make my drawing right so that my drawing will be right.