February 19

It is a sin not to work just because you have the means to live without working.

1

Nothing ennobles a human being like work. Without work, a human being cannot maintain his human dignity. This is why idle people care so much about superficial grandeur: they know that without it they would be despised.

2

It is physically impossible for true religious understanding and pure morality to exist in the classes that do not earn their bread by the labor of their hands.

— John Ruskin

3

One has only to fully accept the truth and to fully repent to understand that in the business of life no one has and cannot have any rights, advantages or specialities, whereas one’s duties have neither end nor limit, and that the human being’s first and unquestionable duty is his participation in the struggle with nature for his and other people’s lives.

4

One of the most certain and purest of joys is the joy of rest after labor.

— Kant

5

Rich or poor, strong or weak, every idle person is a scoundrel. Everyone should learn a craft, a real manual labor. Only through labor can one discover one of the best and purest joys. The more difficult the labor, the greater the joy of rest that follows.

— After Rousseau

6

Work always, do not regard work as a curse, and do not expect to be praised for it.

— Marcus Aurelius

7

The most outstanding talents are ruined by idleness.

— Montaigne

Justice demands that you take from others no more than you give to them. But there is no way to weigh your labor and the labor of others that you use; moreover, you can lose your ability to work at any moment and become dependent on the labor of others. Therefore, to avoid being unjust, you should try to give more than you take.