“My first job was with the Burns Detective Agency. They sent me over to the East River to guard coal barges during these god-awful hours like three to six in the morning. It wasn't a very difficult job -- all I had to do was make a round every fifteen minutes -- but it turned out to be a great environment for writing. I was completely alone in a little outhouse with an electric heater and a little desk.” WritingFirstsLittlesJobsThreeDifficultHoursMorningEnvironmentMinutesSixRiversRoundsEastAwfulAgencyElectricFifteenDesksCoalDetectivesBarges Author:Sam Shepard
“The first job of the historian and of the journalist is to find facts. Not the only job, perhaps not the most important, but the first. Facts are the cobblestones from which we build roads of analysis, mosaic tiles that we fit together to compose pictures of past and present. There will be disagreement about where the road leads and what reality or truth is revealed by the mosaic picture. The facts themselves must be checked against all the available evidence. But some are round and hard--and the most powerful leaders in the world can trip over them. So can writers, dissidents and saints.” WorldFirstsImportantHardFactsRealityTogetherJobsPastPowerfulLeaderFitTruth IsEvidenceRoundsSaintAvailableJournalistAnalysisMost PowerfulHistorianDisagreementPast And PresentDissidentsMosaicsPowerful LeadersTilesCobblestone Author:Timothy Garton Ash
“"One of the advantages of having laws is the pleasure one may take in breaking them. We here are not children, Mr. Gurgeh." Hamin waved the pipestem round the tables of people. "Rules and laws exist only because we take pleasure in doing what they forbid, but as long as most of the people obey such proscriptions most of the time, they have done their job; blind obedience would imply we are - ha!" - Hamin chuckled and pointed at the drone with the pipe - "no more than robots!"” PeopleMayChildrenLongDoneJobsLawPleasureAdvantageTablesBlindRoundsObedienceRobotsPipeDronesBlind Obedience Author:Iain Banks
“D'you call life a bad job? Never! We've had our ups and downs, we've had our struggles, we've always been poor, but it's been worth it, ay, worth it a hundred times I say when I look round at my children.” LooksChildrenJobsPoorStruggleHundredRoundsMy ChildrenWorth ItUps & DownsBad Jobs Book:The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection Source: The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection
“The job of a friend is not to decide what should be done, not to run interference or pick up the slack. The job of a friend is to understand, and to supply energy and hope, and in doing so to keep those they value on their feet a little longer, so that they can fight another round and grow strong in themselves.” ShouldLittlesDoneRunningJobsValuesFightingEnergyStrongGrowsFeetFriendsPicksRoundsInterference Author:Merle Shain