Quotes & Notes

The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery.

Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of indefinite extension: there are not only those who give orders, but those who give advice as to what orders should be given. Usually two opposite kinds of advice are given simultaneously by two organized bodies of men; this is called politics. The skill required for this kind of work is not knowledge of the subjects as to which advice is given, but knowledge of the art of persuasive speaking and writing, i.e. of advertising.

I want to say, in all seriousness, that a great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of work, and that the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organized diminution of work.

There is nothing necessarily dignified about manual labour at all, and most of it is absolutely degrading. It is mentally and morally injurious to man to do anything in which he does not find pleasure, and many forms of labour are quite pleasureless activities, and should be regarded as such. To sweep a slushy crossing for eight hours, on a day when the east wind is blowing is a disgusting occupation. To sweep it with mental, moral, or physical dignity seems to me to be impossible. To sweep it with joy would be appalling.  Man is made for something better than disturbing dirt.  All work of that kind should be done by a machine.

Site editor's additional note:
As a specification, all labour which is routine work -whether it is predominantly mental or predominantly physical- is degrading. Say all work which requires approximately more than two hours a day.

'Approximately', as the criteria of 'too much' consists of the measuring of two factors:

One: the amount of energy the labour consumes, the loss of energy, as that energy will not be available for other occupations, both mentally and physically.

Two: the amount of consolidation which the repeated tasks of the labour bring about physically and mentally, consolidation in terms of deep pattern engraving, which brings about an overall decrease of the ability of fluid flow and change in relation to other occupations and the competences they require.

I said to you some time ago that it was far more difficult to talk about a thing than to do it.  Let me say to you now that to do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.