In this article, we’re going to be diving into some of the most powerful quotes about work ethic ever spoken.
Work ethic is the foundational ingredient in all success stories. Aside from those who inherited multi-million dollar fortunes, no one has reached great levels of wealth and success without putting in serious amounts of work.
The reality of life is that there are certain situational factors that make success easier for some and harder for others.
Some people grow up knowing they are destined to inherit millions, others grow up not wondering where their next meal is going to come from.
Some people grow up in close-knit families while others grow up in broken families marred by dysfunction and chaos.
The bottom line is that some people get a head start at this game called life.
Fair? Nope, not fair.
But should that stop you from going after life you want? Absolutely not.
You may not be able to control your talent, genes, or upbringing, but you can always control your work ethic. Fostering this trait allows you to leapfrog those who are waiting for their dreams to become reality.
So without further ado, here’s some inspirational quotes about work ethic that will motivate you to hustle towards your goals.
Motivational Quotes About Work Ethic
- “All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.” ~ Calvin Coolidge
- “Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.” ~ Joseph Joubert
- “If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.” – Malcolm Gladwell
- “You can’t cheat the game. You can’t cheat the grind. You get out what you put in at the end of the day.” ~ Da Baby
- “Hard work opens doors and shows the world that you are serious about being one of those rare – and special – human beings who use the fullness of their talents to do their very best.” – Robin Sharma
- I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.” – Booker T. Washington
- “Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” – Thomas A. Edison
- “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” – Pele
- “Genes can’t make you successful if you’re not doing the work. Yes, it’s possible that the ripped trainer at the gym has better genes, but if you haven’t put in the same reps, it’s impossible to say if you have been dealt a better or worse genetic hand. Until you work as hard as those you admire, don’t explain away their success as luck.” ~ James Clear
- “Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing.” ~ William Arthur Ward
- “There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.” ~ Kenneth Blanchard
- “The successful among us delay gratification and bargain with the future.” ~ Jordan Peterson
- “Developing a good work ethic is a key to success. Apply yourself at whatever you do, whether you’re a janitor or taking your first summer job, because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.” ~ Tyler Perry
- “Every time you stay out late; every time you sleep in; every time you miss a workout; every time you don’t give 100% – You make it that much easier for me to beat you.”~ Unknown
- “Work is a four letter word that most people don’t like. They’re simply not willing to put in the work.” ~ Les Brown quote
- “The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be outworked. Period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me; you might be all of those things – you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m gonna die. It’s really that simple, right? … You’re not going to outwork me.” ~ Will Smith
- “You don’t get what you wish for, you get what you work for.” ~ Unknown
- “Most things are more rewarding when you break a sweat to get them.” ~ Matthew McConaughey quote
- “Work hard in silence, let your success make the noise.” ~ Frank Ocean
- “There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” ~ Derek Jeter
- “If you want to be a warrior, you have to train like one.” ~ Denzel Washington quote
- “Most people give up when they are about to achieve success. They quit on the one-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from the winning touchdown.” ~ Ross Perot
- “To uncover your true potential, you must first find your own limits, and then you have to have the courage to blow past them.” ~ Picabo Street
- “The key thing to success is just to never stop. Most people just give up too early.” ~ Young Dolph
- “Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds.” ~ Alan Schoenfeld
- “What you don’t sweat out when you’re young will turn into tears when you’re old.” ~ Japanese Proverb
- “Dreams can come true, but there is a secret. They’re realized through the magic of persistence, determination, commitment, passion, practice, focus and hard work. They happen a step at a time, manifested over years, not weeks.” ~ Elbert Hubbard
- “Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “I wasn’t the biggest, I wasn’t the fastest, I wasn’t the strongest, but I bought into something called work ethic.” ~ Ray Lewis
- “Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to try to take it all away from you.” ~ Mark Cuban
- “To achieve what 1% of the world’s population has, you must be willing to do what only 1% dares to do.” ~ Manoj Arora
- “The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.” ~ Andrew Carnegie
- “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” ~ Dale Carnegie
- “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” ~ Jacob Riis
- “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” ~ Beverly Sills
- “If you wait for the mango fruits to fall, you’d be wasting your time while others are learning how to climb the tree.” ~ Michael Bassey Johnson
- “A positive mindset in the absence of hard work will get you nowhere.” ~ Lailah Akita
- “Everybody wants to be famous but nobody wants to do the work.” ~ Kevin Hart
- “Nothing remarkable or impressive comes to be overnight.” ~ Innocent Mwatsikesimbe
Quotes On Work Ethic & Integrity
Working hard is important, but it’s even more important to maintain your values and morals as you pursue your goals.
It’s not worth compromising your character in order to reach your goals. To really hammer this point home, here are the best quotes about work ethic and integrity.
- “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better” ~ Jim Rohn
- “If you can’t outplay them, outwork them.” ~ Ben Hogan
- “How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.” – Yvon Chouinard
- “Believe passionately in what you do, and never knowingly compromise your standards and deepest values. Act like a true professional, aiming for true excellence, and the money will follow.” ~ David Maister
- “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” ~ Zig Ziglar
- “Your character, integrity, work ethic, and hard work will bring you more in life than anything else.” ~ Jason Poston
- “It takes less time to do things right than it does to explain why you did it wrong.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- “A good work ethic is not so much a concern for hard work but rather one for responsibility. There have been a great many men and women who have, in fact, used work or hustle or selfish ambition as an escape from real responsibility, an escape from purpose. In matters such as these, the hard work is just as dysfunctional as the sloth.” ~ Criss Jami
- ”Our lives improve only when we take chances—and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.” ~ Walter Anderson
- “In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” ~ Warren Buffett
- “If hard work, integrity, thrift, and perseverance have caused you to succeed, then you don’t owe anyone an apology for winning.” ~ Dave Ramsey
- “True heroes are made of hard work and integrity.” ~ Hope Solo
- “If your success was earned through hard work and honesty. Never apologize for it.” ~ Frank Sonnenberg
- “The difference between a great man and a little man is their commitment to integrity and hard work.” ~ Shiv Khera
- “The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded.” ~ Scott Hamilton
- “When you are able to maintain your own highest standards of integrity – regardless of what others do – you are destined for greatness.” ~ Napoleon Hill
- “Integrity, the choice between what’s convenient and what’s right.” ~ Tony Dungy
- “Hard work reflects a strong character, integrity and self-worth. Laziness shows a weak character, self-deceiving and self-depreciation.” ~ Dr J.P. Chia
Hard Work Quotes
Continuing with this list of quotes about work ethic, here are some of the best quotes of all time about the power of hard work.
- “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” ~ Kevin Durant
- “Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.” ~ Robert Half
- “Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they’re making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that’s the difference.” ~ Lou Holtz
- “Working hard becomes a habit, a serious kind of fun. You get self-satisfaction from pushing your self to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off.” ~ Mary Lou Retton
- “At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it’ll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually your hard work will pay off.” ~ Kevin Hart
- “The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Work is the key to success, and hard work can help you accomplish anything.” ~ Vince Lombardi
- “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” ~ Muhammad Ali quote
- “Get better at whatever you’re doing. So what if you suck at it now. Everybody sucks at everything when they start. But if you love it, and don’t lie to yourself. But if you love it, and don’t lie to yourself, then get better at it.” ~ Joe Rogan quote
- “I never feared about my skills because I put in the work. Work ethic eliminates fear. So if you put forth the work, what are you fearing? You know what you’re capable of doing and what you’re not.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.” ~ Paulo Coelho
- “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.” ~ Michelangelo
- “All roads that lead to success have to pass through hard work boulevard at some point.” ~ Eric Thomas
- “A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well.” ~ Frederick Douglass
- “Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.” ~ Sam Ewing
- “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” ~ Newt Gingrich
- “There is simply no substitute for hard work when it comes to achieving success.” ~ Heather Bresch
- “We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in.” ~ Arianna Huffington
- “Work and you’ll get what you need; work harder and you’ll get what you want.” ~ Prabakran Thirumalai
- “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” ~ Harry Golden
- “The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell
- “Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.” ~ Kobe Bryant
Work Ethic Quotes For Employees
Here are some of the best quotes about work ethic for employees to give you some motivational jet-fuel to start outworking your colleagues
- “The road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it’s possible to achieve the American dream.” ~ Tommy Hilfiger
- “If you set a good example, you need not to worry about setting rules.” ~ Lee Iacocca
- “The essence of professionalism is the focus upon the work and its demands, while we are doing it, to the exclusion of all else.” ~ Steven Pressfield
- “Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them.” ~ Julius Irving
- “You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That’s the mark of a true professional. Professionalism has nothing to do with getting paid for your services.” ~ Joe Paterno
- “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” ~ Jim Rohn
- “This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” ~ Alan Watts
- “You can’t have a million dollar dream with a minimum wage work ethic.” ~ Unknown
- “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”~ Mark Twain
- “We can each define ambition and progress for ourselves. The goal is to work toward a world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents, and interests.” ~ Sheryl Sandberg
- “Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls – family, health, friends, and integrity – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.” ~ Gary Keller
- “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you’ve found it.” ~ Steve Jobs
- “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “You can work really hard in your job and make a living. You can work really hard on yourself and make a fortune. Love your life, and leave a legacy worth remembering.” ~ Dan Miller
- “Don’t be upset about the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do.” ~ Harvey Specter quote
- “Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning. Once it does, it becomes the kind of thing that makes you grab your wife around the waist and dance a jig.” ~ Malcolm Gladwell
- “Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.” ~ Simon Sinek
- “If your dream is a big dream, and if you want your life to work on the high level you say you do, there’s no way around doing the work it takes to get you there.” ~ Joyce Chapman
- “Without hard work and self-discipline it is difficult to be a top professional.” ~ Jahangir Khan
- “At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?” ~ Marcus Aurelius
- “Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.” ~ Albert Einstein
- “Either you run the day or the day runs you.” ~ Jim Rohn
- “You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.” ~ Sam Levenson
- “Far and away the best prize that life offers is to work hard at work worth doing.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
- “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh
- “If you are willing to work hard and ask lots of questions, you can learn business pretty fast.” ~ Mark Cuban
- “Though you can love what you do not master, you cannot master what you do not love.” ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Final Thoughts On These Quotes About Work Ethic
Whether you’re trying to reach the top of your field, develop deep personal relationships, or attain financial freedom….there’s no way around hard work.
Hard work is the bridge between your dreams and your current reality. So if you’re feeling lost in life, or just have that bad taste in your mouth cause your actions aren’t matching your ambitions, the quickest way to erase that feeling is to get to work.
Because when your commitment matches your ambition, nobody can stop you.
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