“Vineyards and shining harvests, pastures, arbors, And all this our very utmost toil Can hardly care for, we wear down our strength Whether in oxen or in men, we dull The edges of our ploughshares, and in return Our fields turn mean and stingy, underfed, And so today the farmer shakes his head, More and more often sighing that his work, The labour of his hands, has come to naught.” MenMeanHandsCareTodayTurnsWorkFieldsReturnShiningEdgesDullShakesLabourFarmersHarvestToilPasturesVineyardsStingyOxenArbors Author:Lucretius
“Toil and pleasure, in their natures opposite, are yet linked together in a kind of necessary connection.” KindTogetherPleasureConnectionsOppositesToilLinked Book:The history of Rome Source: The history of Rome
“Freedom of enterprise was from the beginning not altogether a blessing. As the liberty to work or to starve, it spelled toil, insecurity, and fear for the vast majority of the population. If the individual were no longer compelled to prove himself on the market, as a free economic subject, the disappearance of this freedom would be one of the greatest achievements of civilization.” IfsWould BeIndividualBusinessLibertyEconomicSubjectsCivilizationBlessingProveAchievementMajorityPopulationEnterpriseInsecurityToilCompelledDisappearanceGreatest AchievementInsecurity And Fear Book:One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society Source: One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society
“In all my work I like to convey the fact that I like cooks, that it's noble toil and that it is hard.” HardFactsNobleCooksToil Author:Rocco DiSpirito
“When you're not involved, other people's unhappiness seems to be about the funniest damn thing on earth because you think you can solve it, that you are God, that you are above this, and that their unhappiness is just such useless toil and agony. If it's you, it ceases to be a comedy.” PeopleIfsThinkingSeemsEarthComedyInvolvedSolveCeaseUselessDamnUnhappinessAgonyToilDamn Things Author:Barry Hannah
“I love not knowing what's going to happen next. With work, you never know. You rehearse and strive and get it right sometimes, and still you never know. Some people are like that with their marriages. They work and strive and labour and toil at them. God, what a bore! What an unromantic bore!” PeopleKnowsStillsSometimesHappensNextKnowingStriveLabourBoresNot KnowingToil Author:Celia Imrie
“Monks, one thing, if practiced and made much of, conduces to great thrill, great profit, great security after the toil, to mindfulness and self-possession, to the winning of knowledge and insight, to pleasant living in this very life, to the realization of the fruit of release by knowledge. What is that one thing: It is mindfulness centered on the body.” IfsMindMadeSelfPhilosophyBodyWinningPsychologyOne ThingSecurityMindfulnessMedicineFruitProfitPossessionInsightSensesReleaseRealizationPleasantThrillToilMonkSoma Author:Gautama Buddha