100+ WORK ETHIC QUOTES TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE MORE

There’s a certain ingredient to success that most high achievers give a lot of credit to for their successes.  Traces of this ingredient can be found in just about every success story.

Pick up any book on success, and this key success ingredient usually jumps out at you in the first few chapters.  Watch any documentary or read any autobiography of high achievers who have accomplished what you aspire to do, and you’ll always hear them hint at what they owe their success to.

The Success Ingredient Available To Us All…

Often, we’re even blatantly told what separates the sucessful from the unsuccessful.  Yet, we still fail to embrace this crucial success ingredient.  Perhaps, it’s because it’s too simple.  Or, perhaps it’s because it is rarely pleasant, and never easy.  And well, most people like things to be pleasant and they love when things are easy.

But success can’t be found in either of those things.  No, but it can be found in their opposites.

So, what’s the secret ingredient?

Put simply, it’s HARD WORK!

That’s right, hard work is one of the key ingredients to achievement that anyone can stake a claim in.  Working hard and having a strong work ethic is available to everyone.

Achievement is a Choice

What this means is that anyone can decide to achieve more.  It means that succeeding at a higher level is always a choice.  It means just about anyone can make up their minds to win at this thing called life by simply choosing to embrace the pain, the discomfort, and the effort that goes into that creation process known as labor.  Yes,  hard work, labor, and toil is where all success stems.

But, don’t just take our word for it.

Read these work ethic quotes from the people who have done what it takes to succeed in life.  Let them move you to new levels of intensity and action towards doing your best work.  The result can only be a stronger work ethic.  Behold:

100+ POWERFUL QUOTES ABOUT WORK ETHIC

1. “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.”  – Peter Drucker

2. “Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.” – Jim Rohn

3. “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo

4. “Success isn’t owned. It’s leased, and rent is due every day.” – J. J. Watt

5. “I never dreamed of success. I worked for it.” – Estee Lauder

6. “If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.” – Hershel Walker

7. “I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.” – Larry Bird

8. “There is no easy way. There is only hard work, late nights, early mornings, practice, rehearsal, repetition, study, sweat, blood, toil, frustration, and discipline.” – Jocko Willink

9.  “All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.” – Calvin Coolidge

10.  “All wealth is the product of labor.”  –  John Locke

11. “Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.”  –  Malcolm Forbes

12. “Success is dependent upon the glands – sweat glands.” – Zig Ziglar

13. “The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.” – John Ruskin

14. “I would rather risk wearing out than rusting out.” – Theodore Roosevelt

15. “Where I excel is sickening, ridiculous, work ethic.” – Will Smith

16. “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” – Derek Jeter

17. “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson

18. “Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.” – Joseph Joubert

19. “Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind.” – Henry Ford

20. “If you can’t outplay them, outwork them.” – Ben Hogan

21. “I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.”
— Jim Carrey

22. “Hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but improves its chances.” – B.J. Gupta

23.  “We forget that every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort. We postpone and postpone, until those smiling possibilities are dead.” – William James

24.  “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.” – Thomas A. Edison

25.  “You always want to outwork your potential.” – Kobe Bryant

26.  “Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.” – Robert Half

27.  “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

28. “The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day”  –  Wayne Gretzky

29.  “I think the thing about that was I was always willing to work; I was not the fastest or biggest player but I was determined to be the best football player I could be on the football field and I think I was able to accomplish that through hard work.” – Jerry Rice

30.   “There is no substitute for hard work.” – Thomas Edison

31. “Employment is nature’s physician, and is essential to human happiness.” – Galen

32. “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

33. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” – Stephen King

34. “I believe that opportunity looks a lot like hard work.” – Ashton Kutcher

35. “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.” – Louis Pasteur

36. “If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.” – Malcolm Gladwell

37. “I’m always kind of doing something — there’s never really any downtime.” – Henry Rollins

38. “I can say the willingness to get dirty has always defined us as an nation, and it’s a hallmark of hard work and a hallmark of fun, and dirt is not the enemy.” – Mike Rowe

39. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” – Newt Gingrich

40.  “Without labor nothing prospers.”  –  Sophocles

41.  “Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.”  –  Voltaire

42. “The best things in life make you sweaty.” – Edgar Allan Poe

43. “It’s only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy, and resolute courage , that we move on to better things.”  – Theodore Roosevelt

44. “Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” –  David Bly

45. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” – Bruce Lee

46. “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

47. “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

48. “The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.” – Steven Pressfield

49. “Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.” – David Rockefeller

50. “It’s not about money or connections.  It’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone when it comes to your business.”  –  Mark Cuban

HALFWAY THERE

Work ethic is the principle that hard work is intrinsically virtuous or worthy of reward. As such, those who have a strong work ethic are those lovely people who not only embrace hard work, but have a good attitude towards working hard, and putting in the extra effort in just about everything they do.

So, considering you’ve made it halfway through our collection of quotes on the value of hard work and having a strong work ethic, we hope you’ll agree, that hard work works. If you’re not convinced, well, this last batch of work ethic quotes are next level, so please keep reading. And if you are convinced, well, we already know you’ll go the extra mile to finish what you started.

51. “Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it.” – Napoleon Hill

52. “You can’t have a million-dollar dream with a minimum-wage work ethic.” – Stephen C. Hogan

53. “Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.” –  Robert Half

54. “Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” –  Thomas A. Edison

55. “Ideas don’t work for people unwilling to do the work.”  –  Robin Sharma

56. “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” – Vince Lombardi

57. “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

58. “I learned the value of hard work by working hard.” – Margaret Mead

59. “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” ― Ann Landers

60. “Work your ass off.  There is no magic pill.”  –  Arnold Schwarzenegger

61. “Do it from the heart or not at all.” – Jeanette Winterson

62. “You are working so hard not to fail. You have to start working hard to succeed.” – Steve Harvey

63. “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

64. “All roads that lead to success have to pass through hard work boulevard at some point.” – Eric Thomas

65. “Dream big, stay positive, work hard, and enjoy the journey.” – Urijah Faber

66. “You get what you work for, not what you wish for.” – Anonymous

67. “A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” – Colin Powell

68. “Success doesn’t come to you, you have to work for it.” – Anonymous

69. “If a man is called a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

70. “Hard work works!” – Denzel Washington

71. “If you’ve got the confidence and the work ethic, you can make any dream come true.” – Bret Har

72. “No matter how hard you work, someone else is working harder.” – Elon Musk

73. “The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs…one step at a time.” – Joe Girard

74. “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

75. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t Quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a Champion.’” – Muhahmad Ali

76. “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

77. “Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.” – Conan O’brien

78. “Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.” – Arnold Palmer

79. “Through hard work, perseverance and a faith in God, you can live your dreams.” – Ben Carson

80. “Everybody wants the hack, be the person who does the work.” – Codie Sanchez

81. “Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” – Chuck Close

82. “Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing.” – William Arthur Ward

83. “Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” – Napoleon Hill

84. “Don’t work for recognition but do work worthy of recognition.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

85. “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

86. “Self-belief and hard work will always earn you success.” – Virat Kohil

87. “Work ethic is important because, unlike intelligence, athleticism, charisma, or any other natural attribute, it’s a choice.” – Mike Rowe

88. “When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.” – George Bernard Shaw

89. “I have a work ethic. If I say I am going to do something, I do it.” – Viggo Mortensen

90. “I was willing to put in the work.” – Ray Lewis

91. “How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.” – Yvon Chouinard

92. “With hard work and effort, you can achieve anything.” – Antoine Griezmann

93. “Work harder than you think you did yesterday.” – Alex Elle

94. “Luck doesn’t exist, only hard work works.” – Serge Nubret

95. “Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds” – Gordon B. Hinckley

96. “I am grinding while your sleeping.”  –  Gary Vaynerchuk

97.  “Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.” – Kobe Bryant

98. “Hard work is an essential element in tracking down and perfecting a strategy or in executing it.” – Charlie Munger

99.  “Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.” – Mohandas Gandhi

100. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke

102. “Sometimes there’s not a better way. Sometimes there’s only the hard way.” – Mary E. Pearson

103. “There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time.” – Coco Chanel

104. “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

105. “My work ethic is the single most important factor in all of my accomplishments.” – David Goggins

106. “A lot of hard work is hidden behind nice things.” – Ralph Lauren

107. “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

108. “Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today.” – Tim Fargo

109. “To be a legend is easy, to become that legend takes hard work and dedication.” – Tyson Fury

110. “Hard work and determination equals success. Nothing comes easy. Put your mind to something.” – Kevin Hart

111. “Work hard, have fun, make history.” – Jeff Bezos

112. “Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers.” – Magic Johnson

113. “There’s no way around hard work. Embrace it.” – Roger Federer

114. “Hard work beats all the tonics and vitamins in the world.” – Colonel Sanders

115. “Talent without working hard, is nothing.” – Cristiano Ronaldo

116. “I am just an average man, but by God I work harder than the average man.” – Winston Churchill

117. “Hustle until your haters ask if you’re hiring.” – Anonymous

118. “Success doesn’t happen because you ‘re lucky — it happens because you worked for it!” – Robert Herjavec

119.“You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.” – Lionel Messi

120. “Hard work betrays none.” – Anonymous

121. “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” – Kevin Durant

122. “Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.” – Horace

123. “Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room.” – Dwayne Johnson

BONUS HARD WORK QUOTE

Bonus: Here’s one last bonus quote to ensure your work ethic is primed to be put to good use. If you’re a hard working nose to the grind kind of person, we know you’ll love this one. Enjoy:

“Work Hard In Silence, Let Success Be Your Noise.”

– Frank Ocean –

Work Ethic Quotes Won’t Work, Unless You DO

And that’s that friends!  The 100 best work ethic quotes you’ll find…anywhere.

If quotes move you like they move us, chances are high you are feeling some fire stirring within you right about now.  If this is the case for you, then great!  But, don’t just sit there.  Use the energy and motivation these work ethic related quotes just ignited within you to achieve something great.  And never forget….

So, let’s put this new fired-up work ethic to the test, and get to work!