Topic
The collection is skeptical of the romantic view of labor. Carlyle's command to produce something, however small, and Channing's warning against reverie are the hard voices. Van Gogh finds himself growing calmer and more fit through work; Galileo notes the sun ripens grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do. Lamb contrives to leave early after arriving late; Flaubert attacks the dressing gown as the enemy of activity. King's measure is simple: not how long but how well. The recurring insight is that work is best understood not as what you do for money but as what you choose to do with attention. These quotes are good for anyone questioning whether what they do every day is worth doing.
The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.
The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.
Genius is one per cent, inspiration and ninety-nine per cent, perspiration.
Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.