Challenging Work Quotes

Writing is challenging work because it's so easy to get consumed with how it's going, what's going to happen to it, who's going to like or not like it. You want to get all of that stuff out of your head and just let the work flow. ~ Wayne Dyer

The most challenging work is producing. The physical act of getting a production up and running is extremely taxing, and you never have any guarantee that your years of work on any given project will ever bear fruit. ~ David Hayter

Some of the most challenging work a suicide survivor can do is to pray. To pray fully, survivors must bring all of themselves to the prayer: their anger, disappointment, fears, insecurities, and why's. I bring all of me into an encounter with God, aware that nothing in the human experience, or the human response to the ambushes of life, is alien to God. ~ Harold Ivan Smith

Being a fan of authentic Dada, I find today's art - what I call 'Bankers' Dada' - mind-numbingly dull. The most challenging work I've seen of late is by The British Art Resistance. Their document, 'A Call for Heroes in an Age of Cowards', is apt in these days of witless chancers. ~ Billy Childish

After 20 years of doing comedy, I find dramatic work more challenging. ~ Marla Gibbs

People will be engaged in your work if it is good, interesting or challenging. ~ Jillian Mayer

We are constituted so that simple acts of kindness, such as giving to charity or expressing gratitude, have a positive effect on our long-term moods. The key to the happy life, it seems, is the good life: a life with sustained relationships, challenging work, and connections to community. ~ Paul Bloom

Lasting goal achievement requires lots of time, hard work, sacrifice & dedication to a process that is maintained over years. ~ Marshall Goldsmith

The principle of analogy is so simple, so natural, that everyone uses it in daily life. Imagine someone sitting down in front of the television after a long day at work. The first image he sees is that of a giant reptile squashing tall buildings. Is one's first hunch, "Oh! The news channel!"? Probably not. More likely one surmises the TV set had been left on the science fiction channel. Why? Because one's world of contemporary experience does not include newscasts of giant dinosaurs wreaking havoc in modern cities, but one has seen monster movies in which such disasters are quite typical. Which analogy does the TV screen image fit? ~ Robert M. Price

Typically, I work with the script and the director for awhile before, just to make sure we're on the same page. ~ Mads Mikkelsen

I managed to get my copy of Ulysses through safely this time. I rather wish I had never read it. It gives me an inferiority complex. When I read a book like that and then come back to my own work, I feel like a eunuch who has taken a course in voice production. ~ George Orwell

There's never a recession if you work for the government. ~ Ann Coulter

Shutting off [Twitter] without warning was jarring and isolating, like having a friend you rely on just vanish with no explanation. Jordan was right: I didn't have to be there, be it for work or for personal gain. I didn't have to play. I realized, though, that I wanted to -- I like attention and I like being able to control my own narrative. Above all, I like bothering people. I like being present in spaces where I am not welcome because you do not deserve to feel comfortable just because you're racist or sexist or small-minded. Something about ceding this territory, this part of the digital world that I felt ownership over, felt so deeply unfair. It's my house; why should I leave? ~ Scaachi Koul

The old dreams were good dreams; the didn't work out, but I'm glad I had them. ~ Robert James Waller

Even low-calorie diets and vigorous exercise fail to work in the long term for at least some people. ~ Andrew Weil

Work is the undoing of nature. ~ Paul Majkut

He saw the pleasure you took from your job every day of his life, and THAT was what he wanted. ~ David Halberstam

I really like you better aimless and lost among people, a little crazy, oddball, not looking like yourself. So that I don't know you at all and the nearer I get to you the more you separate yourself from me
I get dizzy trying to follow you and I have to work really hard
and that's what I want! ~ Alia Mamdouh

The basic need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be curbed, sacrificed or subordinated to any consideration whatsoever. It demands total independence in function and in motive. To a creator, all relations with men are secondary. "The basic need of the second-hander is to secure his ties with men in order to be fed. He places relations first. He declares that man exists in order to serve others. He preaches altruism. "Altruism is the doctrine which demands that man live for others and place others above self. "No man can live for another. He cannot share his spirit just as he cannot share his body. But the second-hander has used altruism as a weapon of exploitation and reversed the base of mankind's moral principles. Men have been taught every precept that destroys the creator. Men have been taught dependence as a virtue. ~ Ayn Rand

Third box car, midnight train, destination Bangor, Maine. Old worn out suit and shoes, I don't pay no union dues. ~ Roger Miller

People who do surf the Internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20 percent of their total time in the office - are more productive by about 9 percent than those who don't," according to Dr. Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing at the University of Melbourne, Australia. ~ Erik Qualman

As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way. ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

You can't work at a relationship; you can't control it. You have to be lucky and go through your life. If you are not lucky you have to be prepared for some degree of suffering. That's why most relationships are very difficult and have some degree of pain. People stay together because of inertia, they don't have the energy. Because they are frightened of being lonely, or they have children. ~ Woody Allen

The more you expose yourself as a celebrity, the less interesting you are to watch in your work, because if you're putting yourself out there all the time, you're not holding anything back. ~ John Cusack

I have closed that page of my life without rancor. I do not disown any of the work done. ~ Riccardo Muti

I received a wonderful email after I spoke at a school from a girl who'd lived in a war zone and endured horrors no human being should suffer, let alone a child. This young lady was fortunate to be bought to Britain and seemed to adjust well, but suddenly found herself falling off the rails and sliding into hell when I chatted to her. In her letter, she told me the difference that I'd made. She's now 20 years old and a fashion designer employing staff and she puts her work ethic down purely to talking to me. It's my most treasured letter. ~ Simon Weston

There is a point when tears don't work to wash things away anymore. Grabbing for breath has now broken my fingers. ~ Buddy Wakefield

I still get enormous pleasure and a sense of fulfillment out of writing a book that I'm proud of. I see myself as a bit like a jewel-maker who can sit back and admire his work. ~ Wilbur Smith

I wonder a lot about making things meaningful. You want to do meaningful work and make art, but you're making records, which is good, but you don't want to weight them - it's a very curious thing. ~ Doseone

Having clear boundaries means that we are in touch enough with the healthy, loving part of ourselves to know what does and doesn't work for our higher good, and to choose accordingly. ~ Michael Mirdad

I work by hand, with a fountain pen, in bound notebooks I buy in India. ~ Damon Galgut

I'd chosen this spot. We'd tried to get out in the water once, but it was summer and people were everywhere. Even at night, there were bonfire parties and midnight surfers. We'd all snuck out and come here at three in the morning a few weeks ago, but nothing had worked right. It was too hard to concentrate and work to stay afloat offshore. Plus, there were jellyfish everywhere, and once Eli got stung, he refused to go back in. ~ Elizabeth Norris

Work hard, use your common sense and don't be afraid to trust your instincts. ~ Fred L. Turner

It's simple. If you go to see 'Saturday Night Fever' expecting it to be good, it's a corker. However, if you go expecting it to be a crock of shit, it's that, too. Thus 'Saturday Night Fever' can exist in two mutually opposing states at the very same time, yet only by the weight of our expectations. From this principle we can deduce that any opposing states can be governed by human expectation - even, as in the case of retro-deficit-engineering, the present use of a future technology."
"I think I understand that. Does it work with any John Travolta movie?"
"Only the artistically ambiguous ones such as 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Face/Off.' 'Battlefield Earth' doesn't work, because it's a stinker no matter how much you think you're going to like it, and 'Get Shorty' doesn't work either, because you'd be hard-pressed not to enjoy it, irrespective of any preconceived notions. ~ Jasper Fforde

Self-regulation can be taught to many kids who cycle between frantic activity and immobility. In addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic, all kids need to learn self-awareness, self-regulation, and communication as part of their core curriculum. Just as we teach history and geography, we need to teach children how their brains and bodies work. For adults and children alike, being in control of ourselves requires becoming familiar with our inner world and accurately identifying what scares, upsets, or delights us. ~ Bessel A. Van Der Kolk

Passion is needed for any great work, and for the revolution, passion and audacity are required in big doses. ~ Che Guevara

Sophie moved to his side. "Hey," she said, nudging him until he looked at her. "Think you can help me master these dance moves before the Ceremonies next week?"

A small grin spread across his lips. "I don't know. I can't exactly work miracles."

"Hey, I'm not that bad."

He grabbed her hands as she tried to shove him, and his face turned serious. "You're not bad at all. You're awesome."

He blushed after he said it, and Sophie dropped her eyes to the ground. ~ Shannon Messenger

My work in the House of Representatives, at this time in my life, is completed. It is time to return home. ~ J. C. Watts

Regardless of the source of our pain, we must accept that God knows, God loves, and God is at work. ~ Charles Stanley

I do firmly believe that universal forces are at work that pull us inexorably toward the deserving results of our actions. ~ Robert Ringer

The value of doing something does not lie in the ease or difficulty, the probability or improbability of its achievement, but in the vision, the plan, the determination and the perseverance, the effort and the struggle which go into the project. Life is enriched by aspiration and effort, rather than by acquisition and accumulation. ~ Helen Nearing

I'm first and foremost a biological explorer. I've looked all over the world for answers. Secondly, I'm an ecological designer, and by that I mean I attempt to work with constellations of nature to create technological forms. So I'm part engineer, part ecologist, part inventor, really. ~ John Todd

There is a view that jazz is 'evil' because it comes from evil people, but actually the greatest priests on 52nd Street and on the streets of New York City were the musicians. They were doing the greatest healing work. They knew how to punch through music that would cure and make people feel good. ~ Garth Hudson

Genius is often a short way of spelling hard work. Poverty, obscurity, struggle and ambition formed the foundation for many careers of transcendent achievement. Few marks are made in the world's history by eight-hour-day men ... Sir Joshua Reynolds had but one maxim for success: Work, work, work. Is not rigid and continuous training necessary for the making of strong athletes? Hard work is not fatal to real success. Vouloir c'est pouvoir. ~ B.C. Forbes

The secret to global investing is gaining an insight into the hopes and desires of the people who live and work in the countries you invest in. ~ Mark Mobius

As he was speaking, he kept reminding himself that he was going to a rendezvous and that not a living soul knew about it, or, probably, ever would. He led a double life--one in public, in the sight of all whom it concerned, full of conventional truth and conventional deception, exactly like the lives of his friends and acquaintances, and another which flowed in secret. And, owing to some strange, possibly quite accidental chain of circumstances, everything that was important, interesting, essential, everything about which he was sincere and never deceived himself, everything that composed the kernel of his life, went on in secret, while everything that was false in him, everything that composed the husk in which he hid himself and the truth which was in him--his work at the bank, discussions at the club, his 'lower race,' his attendance at anniversary celebrations with his wife--was on the surface. He began to judge others by himself, no longer believing what he saw, and always assuming that the real, the only interesting life of every individual goes on as under cover of night, secretly. Every individual existence revolves around mystery, and perhaps that is the chief reason that all cultivated individuals insisted so strongly on the respect due to personal secrets. ~ Anton Chekhov

What right have we to believe Nature under any obligation to do her work by means of complete minds only? She may find an incomplete mind a more suitable instrument for a particular purpose. ~ William James

My goal was always getting my work out in the world, and in many ways, I feel like the luckiest person alive. ~ Merrill Markoe

Every noble work is at first impossible. ~ Thomas Carlyle

Humph,' he said, with a disagreeable air, 'the universe does its work very quietly.' ("The Bogey Man") ~ A.E. Coppard

There's no reward without work, no victory without effort, no battle won without risk. ~ Nora Roberts

Anybody can work when everything goes smoothly, when there is nothing to trouble him; but a man must be made of the right kind of stuff who can rise above the things which harass and handicap the weak, and do his work in spite of them. Indeed, this is the test of greatness. ~ Orison Swett Marden

Your work is first, learning is first, winning is everything because without it there is nothing. ~ Orson Scott Card

What do dogs do on their day off?; Can't lie around – that's their job! ~ George Carlin