Saturday Quotathon: Efficiency, Productivity and Work

So, I didn't have a particular theme in mind, so I scrolled down on my quotes list to the first "unused" quote and thought I'd cue in from that one. Here we go. Note that I reserve the right to be pretty sloppy with the characterization.

It's pretty hard to be efficient without being obnoxious.
--Kin Hubbard

Several excuses are always less convincing than one.
--Aldous Huxley

It has never been determined whether the early bird enjoys the worm as much as the late bird enjoys the extra sleep.
--Joe Moore

I read somewhere that 77 percent of all the mentally ill live in poverty. Actually, I'm more intrigued by the 23 per cent who are apparently doing quite well for themselves.
--Emo Phillips

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
-- Herm Albright

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
-- John A. Shedd

No thoroughly occupied man was ever yet very miserable.
-- Letitia E. Landon

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is the lightning that does the work.
-Mark Twain

And oftentimes excusing the fault
Doth make the fault the worse by excuse.
-King John, William Shakespeare

I wish I did not have to write the instruction manual on the uses of a new metal.
-The Instruction Manual, John Ashberry

When you get in situations where you cannot afford to make a mistake, it's very hard to do the right thing. So if you're trying to do the right thing, the right thing might be to eliminate the cost of making a mistake rather than try to guess what's right.
-Ward Cunningham

Kyo: Don't worry, I'll win next time just like I'll win against you.
Yuki: Wait, wait, I think I've heard this one.
Kyo: No joke, asshole. I'm going to beat you. That's a promise.
Yuki: I wish you'd stop making your inferiority complex my problem.
-From Fruits Basket anime

Tohru: (Admiringly) I’m surprised, Kyo. You don’t try to attack him when he’s asleep.
Kyo: Nah, he's even stronger when he's asleep.
Tohru: (Less admiringly) So you did try to attack him.
Kyo: Yea, I tried and I got beat worse than when he's awake, OK? Do you know what that means? It means that stupid dirty little sissy rat boy's always holding back on me!
-From Fruits Basket anime

"Do you want me to sit in a corner and rust or just fall apart where I'm standing?"
-From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Chief Karlin: What's your name?
Fletch: Fletch.
Chief Karlin: What's your full name?
Fletch: Fletch F. Fletch.
Chief Karlin: What do you do for a living, Mr. Fletch?
Fletch: I'm a shepherd.
-From Fletch

The more you strike (work) the steel, the more beautiful it becomes.
-Albanian Proverb

Dawn does not come twice to awaken a man.
-Arabic Proverb

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
- George Bernard Shaw

The most dangerous phrase in the language is, "We've always done it this way."
- Grace Hopper

One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching it.
- Knute Rockne

Sir William Osler, the father of modern medicine, said that when there are many treatments for a single condition, it is because none of them work.

The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well.
-William Osler, M.D.

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.
-Sandra Carey

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it but what they become by it.
-John Ruskin

Nothing makes a person more productive than the last minute.
-Unknown