My post last week was about meaning in the workplace.*
Together with joy and prosperity, meaning is one of the three benefits servant leadership brings to work.**
Here (in alphabetical order by author) are 15 great quotes about meaning, especially at work:
- “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.” – Maya Angelou
- “There is a profound difference between information and meaning.” – Warren Bennis
- “And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work.” – Jim Collins
- “Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- “Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.” – Viktor E. Frankl
- “Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.” – Stephen Hawking
- “I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.” – Hermann Hesse
- “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.” – Steve Jobs
- “The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.” – Carl Jung
- “If you make money, you might not make meaning.” – Guy Kawasaki***
- “Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” – C. S. Lewis
- “Life is an accomplishment and each moment has a meaning and you must use it.” – Jeanne Moreau
- “Man: a being in search of meaning.” – Plato
- “Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.” – John Ruskin
- “No finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
Let me add one more to entertain any of you who may be familiar with legendary actress Mae West:
“If I asked for a cup of coffee, someone would search for the double meaning.” – Mae West
Do you like any of these quotes in particular? Do you have a favorite quote about meaning you would add to the list?
Let us know.
As always, we appreciate your views.
Thanks!
_________________
* From last week: “3 Things that Make the Workplace Meaningful”
** See what you think of this post: “Want More Meaning, Joy and Prosperity?”
*** Guy said more about this subject in a speech about innovation he gave at the ‘Iolani School in 2013:
“Great Innovation is motivated by the desire to make meaning (that is to change the world). If you look at the huge changes in innovation, it is typically not motivated by the desire to make money; it is motivated by the desire to make meaning. One of the natural consequences of making meaning is you make money, but if you start off with the goal of making money, you very seldom succeed”.