These livelihood quotes will inspire you. A person’s livelihood refers to their “means of securing the basic necessities of life”.
Below you will find a collection of motivating, happy, and encouraging livelihood quotes, livelihood sayings, and livelihood proverbs.
Best Livelihood Quotes
- “But if you can create an honorable livelihood, where you take your skills and use them and you earn a living from it, it gives you a sense of freedom and allows you to balance your life the way you want.” ~ Anita Roddick
- “Money is never more important than your body and mind, but you must work and support yourself. Never depend on others for your livelihood.” ~ Ming-Dao Deng
- “It is more important to find out what you are giving to society than to ask what is the right means of livelihood.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
- “Lifestyle and livelihood are pivotal moral issues.” ~ Stephanie Mills
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“Without a constant livelihood, there will be no constant heart.” ~ Ueda Akinari
- “Earning of livelihood by following some profession is better than living on charity.” ~ Umar
- “Through job creation, quality public services, and better working conditions, people, communities, and countries can lift themselves out of poverty, improve livelihoods, engage in local development, and live together in peace. This happens only when work is decent – environmentally sound and productive – provides fair wages, and is underpinned by rights” ~ Sharan Burrow
- “There is nothing so degrading as the constant anxiety about one’s means of livelihood.” ~ W. Somerset Maugham
- “To gain a livelihood at the expense of all that makes life worth the having.” ~ Juvenal , Life and livelihood quotes
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“We feel that we are fighting for our lives and our livelihoods.” ~ Patrick Ewing
- “So, the important thing for us to remember when we’re searching for right livelihood, is to stop looking for something to do and start looking for something to be. And to get in touch with that part that resides deep inside of you that knows who you really are. And see what it would take to call that forth in a BEINGNESS way.” ~ Neale Donald Walsch
- “I am also convinced that one gains the purest joy from spirited things only when they are not tied in with earning one’s livelihood.” ~ Albert Einstein
- “We must not rest until right livelihood is within reach of every human being upon this earth we love and cherish. We all have a role to play in achieving this goal.” ~ Agnivesh
- “We must enable farmers to feed India and the world, and earn a good livelihood.” ~ Narendra Modi
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“Our moods and insights are transitory. This current is a flow of grace moving us to our right livelihood, companions, destiny.” ~ Julia Cameron
- “My goal was livelihood. We don’t use that word often enough. If I could give one piece of advice to anyone it’s don’t obsess with this notion that you have to turn everything you do into a business, because that ends up being a small version of a large company. But if you can create an honorable livelihood, where you take your skills and use them and you earn a living from it, it gives you a sense of freedom and allows you to balance your life the way you want.” ~ Anita Roddick
- “Anticipate charity by preventing poverty; assist the reduced fellow man, either by a considerable gift or a sum of money or by teaching him a trade or by putting him in the way of business so that he may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding out his hand for charity. This is the highest step and summit of charity’s golden ladder.” ~ Maimonides
- “The function of our Government is to ensure to all its citizens, now and hereafter, their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If we of this generation destroy the resources from which our children would otherwise derive their livelihood, we reduce the capacity of our land to support a population, and so either degrade the standard of living or deprive the coming generations of their fight to life on this continent.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
- “Truth is not only a man’s ornament but his instrument; it is the great man’s glory, and the poor man’s stock: a man’s truth is his livelihood, his recommendation, his letters of credit.” ~ Benjamin Whichcote
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“The natural resources we’ve depended on, if the places where they exist are not stable, our own livelihood and our health is put at risk.” ~ Jeff Corwin
- “Young people need compassion and guidance, not obscure mysticism. Here are some guidelines for young people: Remember that you are always your own person. Do not surrender your mind, heart, or body to any person. Never compromise your dignity for any reason. Maintain your health with sound diet, hygiene, exercise, and clean living. Don’t engage in drugs or drinking. Money is never more important than your body and mind, but you must work and support yourself. Never depend on others for your livelihood.” ~ Ming-Dao Deng
- “I have always found that my view of success has been iconoclastic: success to me is not about money or status or fame, its about finding a livelihood that brings me joy and self-sufficiency and a sense of contributing to the world.” ~ Anita Roddick
- “Fear plays an interesting role in our lives. How dare we let it motivate us. How dare we let it into our decision-making, into our livelihoods, into our relationships. It’s funny, isn’t it? We take a day a year to dress up in costumes and celebrate fear.” ~ James Spader
- “The act of consciousness is central; otherwise we are overrun by the complexes.
The hero in each of us is required to answer the call of individuation.
We must turn away from the cacophony of the outer world to hear the inner voice.
When we can dare to live its promptings, then we achieve personhood.
We may become strangers to those who thought they knew us, but at least we are no longer strangers to ourselves.” ~ James Hollis -
“Be suspicious of your sincerity when you are the advocate of that upon which your livelihood depends.” ~ John Lancaster Spalding
- “The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get “a good job,” but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as for a livelihood merely, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
- “Don’t get a job in an abattoir. Don’t be a butcher. The idea that people have to do these jobs for a livelihood is ridiculous. They can get other jobs. Shoplift, man. Better to be a prostitute than cut an animal’s head off for a living.” ~ Chrissie Hynde
- “If the world is made to furnish each individual with the means of livelihood and the instruments for his growth and progress, each man has, therefore, the right to find in the world what is necessary for himself. The recent Council reminded us of this: “God intended the earth and all that it contains for the use of every human being and people. Thus, as all men follow justice and unite in charity, created goods should abound for them on a reasonable basis.”” ~ Pope Paul VI
- “The core strands of my involvement in public life are a belief in the need to strive wherever possible for equality of treatment and opportunity, to ensure all people have the means to a decent livelihood.” ~ Peter Garrett
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“The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life.” ~ Ayn Rand
- “The illegal wildlife trade threatens not only the survival of entire species, such as elephants and rhinos, but also the livelihoods and, often, the very lives of millions of people across Africa who depend on tourism for a living.” ~ Yaya Toure
- “Facts that challenge basic assumptions-and thereby threaten people’s livelihood and self-esteem-are simply not absorbed. The mind does not digest them.” ~ Daniel Kahneman
- “Almighty God, thee only have I; thou steerest my fate, I must give myself up to thee! Give me a livelihood! Give me a bride! My blood wants love, as my heart does!” ~ Hans Christian Andersen
- “Every businessman enjoying customer patronage, whether he be a baker, banker, or barber is conferring a public benefit, raising production, and reducing unemployment; businessmen earn their livelihood by producing products and rendering services where ever they are needed.” ~ Hans F. Sennholz
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“The other deals with my life and my livelihood and my family and all that I stand for.” ~ Rafael Palmeiro
- “I have thoroughly tried school-keeping and found that my expenses were in proportion, or rather out of proportion, to my income, for I was obliged to dress and train, not to say think and believe, accordingly, and I lost my time into the bargain. As I did not teach for the good of my fellow men, but simply for a livelihood, this was a failure. I have tried trade, but I found that it would take ten years to get underway in that and that then I should probably be on my way to the devil. I was actually afraid that I might by that time be doing what is called a good business.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
- “I am not fighting machinery as such, but the madness of thinking that machinery saves labor. Men save labor until thousands of them are without work and die of hunger on the streets. I want to secure employment and livelihood not only to part of the human race but for all. I will not have the enrichment of a few at the expense of the community. At present, the machine is helping a small minority to live on the exploitation of the masses. The motive force of this minority is not humanity or love of their kind, but greed and avarice.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
- “There’s so many people dependent on our work for their living or their livelihood. You do something whether it works or whether it doesn’t. Once you’re committed and you do it, it becomes a part of your life. I wouldn’t be sorry about it. I’d learn from it.” ~ Elliott Gould
- “The information age has been driven and dominated by technopreneurs. We now have to apply these technologies in saving lives, improving livelihoods, and lifting millions of people out of squalor, misery and suffering. In other words, our focus must now move from the geeks to the meek.” ~ Arthur C. Clarke
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“Science and its impact on a person’s livelihood is the common denominator.” ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson
- “So too, monks, I saw the ancient path, the ancient road traveled by the Perfectly Enlightened Ones of the past. And what is that ancient path, that ancient road? It is just this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.” ~ Gautama Buddha
- “Hip-hop is the streets. Hip-hop is a couple of elements that it comes from back in the days… that feel of music with urgency that speaks to you. It speaks to your livelihood and it’s not compromised. It’s blunt. It’s raw, straight off the street – from the beat to the voice to the words.” ~ Nas
- “Ultimately, I don’t know if love is an organizing principle we choose or if it’s innate. I’m not sure the distinction matters to me much anymore; I just care about how we can reduce unnecessary suffering. I think that means learning to love in both the micro and the macro; engaging in ethical action at the level of intimacy and friendship, but also at the vocational level through our chosen work in the world, our right livelihood.” ~ C.E. Morgan
- “The Noble Eight-Fold Path is the path of living in awareness. Mindfulness is the foundation. By practicing mindfulness, you can develop concentration, which enables you to attain understanding. Thanks to right concentration, you realize right awareness, thoughts, speech, action, livelihood and effort. The understanding which develops can liberate you from every shackle of suffering and give birth to true peace and joy.” ~ Nhat Hanh
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“Education for livelihood alone will never make our life full and complete.” ~ Mata Amritanandamayi
- “How good it is to work in the invigorating fresh air under the life-giving sun amid the inspiring beauty of nature. There are many who recognize this… How good it is to earn you livelihood by contributing constructively to the society in which you live – everyone should, of course, and in a healthy society everyone would.” ~ Peace Pilgrim
- “Jesus never mentions abortion. But I think that Jesus did care for the unborn child, I think that Jesus did care for people who were completely helpless, who depend on others for their life and livelihood. I just believe that this should be minimized if possible.” ~ Jimmy Carter
- “Low-income people everywhere will be at risk of food insecurity due to loss of assets, absence of alternative livelihood options and lack of adequate insurance coverage from extreme weather events.” ~ Jacques Diouf
- “Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile; technology is almost magical; and ambition for a better life is now universal. We earn our livelihood in peaceful competition with people all across the earth. Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.” ~ William J. Clinton
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“[Hillary Clinton] is going to decide war, peace, and health, education, livelihood for my kids. I want the best person.” ~ Michael Bloomberg
- “Don’t be misled into believing that somehow the world owes you a living. The boy who believes that his parents, or the government, or any one else owes him his livelihood and that he can collect it without labor will wake up one day and find himself working for another boy who did not have that belief and, therefore, earned the right to have others work for him.” ~ David Sarnoff
- “There is no easy formula for determining right and wrong livelihood, but it is essential to keep the question alive. To return the sense of dignity and honor to manhood, we have to stop pretending that we can make a living at something that is trivial or destructive and still have sense of legitimate self-worth. A society in which vocation and job are separated for most people gradually creates an economy that is often devoid of spirit, one that frequently fills our pocketbooks at the cost of emptying our souls.” ~ Sam Keen
- “In every Indigenous community I’ve been in, they absolutely do want community infrastructure and they do want development, but they want it on their own terms. They want to be able to use their national resources and their assets in a way that protects and sustains them. Our territories are our wealth, the major assets we have. And Indigenous people use and steward this property so that they can achieve and maintain a livelihood, and achieve and maintain that same livelihood for future generations.” ~ Rebecca Adamson , Sustainable livelihood quotes
- “Instead of inflicting these horrible punishments, it would be far more to the point to provide everyone with some means of livelihood, so that nobody’s under the frightful necessity of becoming, first a thief, and then a corpse.” ~ Thomas More
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“Don’t just be in the business and have fun ’cause you’re a kid. You’ve gotta learn; this is your livelihood.” ~ Tameka Cottle
- “Leadership has to be focused on some very radical ideas that only we as 21st Century people can talk about: making sure people have a livelihood, making sure people receive a living wage, making sure the environment, the Mother Earth, is embraced and cherished and not destroyed. Making sure people are healthy in what they eat, making sure we hold people and corporations accountable for the damage they do not only to our environment but to our institutions.” ~ Danny Glover
- “All our contemporary philosophers perhaps without knowing it are looking through eyeglasses that Baruch Spinoza polished. Spinoza was a philosopher who earned his livelihood by grinding lenses.” ~ Heinrich Heine
- “We can’t continue to look on, when there are entire sectors where there are wages that don’t provide a secure livelihood.” ~ Matthias Platzeck
- “Therefore the dignity of the human person normally demands the right to the use of earthly goods as the natural foundation for a livelihood; and to that right corresponds the fundamental obligation to grant private property, as far as possible, to all.” ~ Pope Pius XI
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“Boxing is good for the livelihood but mainly, money don’t really mean nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali
- “If one looks closely one sees that there is no essential difference between a beggar’s livelihood and that of numberless respectable people. Beggars do not work, it is said; but then, what is work? A navvy works by swinging a pick. An accountant works by adding up figures. A beggar works by standing out of doors in all weathers and getting varicose veins, chronic bronchitis, etc. It is a trade like any other; quite useless, of course – but then, many reputable trades are quite useless.” ~ George Orwell
- “It’s risky to allow radiation to constantly go up into the atmosphere. The main criticism of this approach of entombing it is that it would cost too much, involve too many resources and people. But think of the cost of having all the crops impounded by the government, all the milk being thrown into the river, people’s livelihoods destroyed.” ~ Michio Kaku
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“Magazines and advertising are flogging the idea that you have to keep changing things and get something new. I think that’s balls – evil. But obviously, that’s your livelihood.” ~ Robin Day
- “As a population, if a large number of people make even small moves to eat less meat and more plant-based foods, the livestock industry will shrink. Over time, farmers will find other crops to support their livelihoods. Through such collective awakening, we can make a difference in our world.” ~ Nhat Hanh
- “I grew up down in the hills of Virginia. I can be in Kentucky in 20 minutes, Tennessee in 20 minutes, or in the state of West Virginia in 20 minutes. And it’s down in the Appalachian Mountains, down there. And it’s sort of a poorer country. Most of the livelihood is coal mining and logging, working in the woods, and things like that. Most people has a hard life down that way.” ~ Ralph Stanley
