105 Famous Work Ethic Quotes to Boost Employee Morale

Looking for work ethic quotes to encourage and inspire your employees? If that's the case, you've come to the right place!

But first, what does having work ethics mean?

Work ethic is the set of moral values and principles people use in their jobs. People that have strong work ethics are more productive and consistent in their careers. That, in turn, aids in personal as well as company growth.

Success and hard work go hand in hand. If you want to see a lot of hard work by your team, you’ll need to motivate them.

In addition, having a good work ethic helps employees reach their needs and goals. Thus, it becomes a source of satisfaction and fulfilment for them.

In my earlier blog, "10 Ways To Develop Strong Work Ethics Among Employees," I discussed how managers could develop a strong work ethic among employees. The blog discusses how you can encourage team members to practice strong work ethics by:

• Setting a Good Example
• Clear Goal-Setting and Objectives
• Professionalism
• Right Work Environment
• Discipline
• Proper Mentoring
• Eliminate Obstacles

Here are the finest 105 Work Ethic Quotes, sorted by diverse categories.

Quotes on Work Ethic

If you've got the confidence and the work ethic, you can make any dream come true.
~ Bret Har

The best way to learn is by doing. The only way to build a strong work ethic is getting your hands dirty.
~ Alex Spanos

Ethics is not definable, is not implementable, because it is not conscious; it involves not only our thinking but also our feeling.
~ Valdemar W. Setzer

Developing a good work ethic is a key to success. Apply yourself at whatever you do, whether you’re a janitor or taking your first summer job, because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.
~ Tyler Perry

Keep working even when no one is watching.
~ Alex Morgan

Our deep respect for the land and its harvest is the legacy of generations of farmers who put food on our tables, preserved our landscape, and inspired us with a powerful work ethic.
~ James H. Douglas, Jr.

I never feared about my skills because I put in the work. Work ethic eliminates fear. So if you put forth the work, what are you fearing? You know what you're capable of doing and what you're not.
~ Michael Jordan

Everyone talks about age, but it's not about age. It's about work ethic. Winning never gets old.
~ Lisa Leslie

If you're going to preach dedication, work ethic, teamwork, unselfishness, and being part of a team to accomplish a common goal, you have to live it ~ you can't just talk about it.
~ Chris Mullin

If you can’t outplay them, outwork them.
~ Ben Hogan

Choices and decisions must be supported by your passion, resolve, and a productive work ethic. If these meet opportunity ~ your success has finally come!
~ Archibald Marwizi

You might well remember that nothing can bring you success but yourself.
~ Napoleon Hill

Quotes to Set a Good Example

If you set a good example, you need not to worry about setting rules.
~ Lee Iacocca

A lot about this industry is about who you know. If you set a really good example for yourself, and someone likes that, then they might recommend you to someone else. It doesn't matter what job you're in, any profession, it's always the same.
~ Tom Holland

Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means.
~ Albert Einstein

The professionals must set a good example.
~ A. Bartlett Giamatti

Change starts with YOU. When you step up, you invite others to step up, too.
~ Mandy Hale

Trying hard and working hard is its own reward. It feeds the soul. It affirms your will and your power. And it radiates from you, lighting the way for all those who see you.
~ Charles M. Blow

A good example has twice the value of good advice
~ Albert Schweitzer

Work miracles by setting a good example. Others will catch your spirit! The power of a good example is the greatest miracle~working power of all.
~ Wilferd Peterson

Setting a good example is truly the most effective means of communication ~ and setting a poor one is disastrous!
~ Jan Carlzon

A good example is the best sermon.
~ Benjamin Franklin

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
~ John Quincy Adams

A good example is far better than a good precept.
~ Dwight L. Moody

A true leader is a person whose influence inspires people to do what is expected of them to do. You cease to be a leader when you manipulate with your egos instead of convincing by your inspirations.
~ Israelmore Ayivor

Work miracles by setting a good example. Others will catch your spirit! The power of a good example is the greatest miracle-working power of all.
~ Wilferd Peterson

Quotes on Goals

Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there.
~ Bo Jackson

Setting goals are the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.
~ Tony Robbins

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
~ Zig Ziglar

Set realistic goals, keep re-evaluating, and be consistent.
~ Venus Williams

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
~ Henry David Thoreau

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
~ Louisa May Alcott

Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.
~ Paulo Coelho

If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.
~ Seneca the Younger

Reach high, for stars lie hidden in you. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
~ Rabindranath Tagore

If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.
~ Yogi Berra

To dream of success is to set a goal of where you want to be; to wake up, take action, and achieve it is what true success is all about.
~ Idowu Koyenikan

I think that your mind can create almost everything, and that is true for you. Your mind and imagination are fact.
~ BJORK

What the mind can conceive and believe, and the heart desire, you can achieve.
~ Norman Vincent Peale

Great goals make great people. People cannot hit what they do not aim for.
~ Roy T. Bennett

Also read: Top 80 Motivational Quotes For Work (2021 Edition)

Quotes on Professionalism

If you want to be a true professional, do something outside yourself.
~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Professionalism is knowing how to do it, when to do it, and doing it.
~ Frank Tyger

The essence of professionalism is the focus upon the work and its demands, while we are doing it, to the exclusion of all else.
~ Steven Pressfield

I am inspired by the professionalism of others. I believe there is an obligation to strive for excellence in what one is asked to do. No pains are too great, no revisions too tedious no matter how small the result. But I also believe that while humility should not be overdone, excellence should never be taken for granted, otherwise we stop reaching for it.
~ Densey Clyne

If you want to feel secure, do what you already know how to do. If you want to be a true professional and continue to grow... Go to the cutting edge of your competency, which means a temporary loss of security. So whenever you don't quite know what you're doing, know you're growing.
~ Madeline Hunter

Without professionalism I'd be an amateur, and the clients I want don't hire amateurs.
~ David Airey

Professionalism is nothing but a crude insistence on the mechanization of mankind.
~ Kedar Joshi

Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them.
~ Julius Irving

Professional: A person willing to play the game with every intention to win and willing to accept defeat.
~ Chinmai Swamy

Your profession is only as noble as your attitude and intent towards it.
~ Jonas Caino

Professionalism is not about what work you do, it is about how well you do the work.
~ Amit Kalantri

You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That’s the mark of a true professional. Professionalism has nothing to do with getting paid for your services.
~ Joe Paterno

Believe passionately in what you do, and never knowingly compromise your standards and values. Act like a true professional, aiming for true excellence, and the money will follow.
~ David Maister

Quotes on the Right Work Environment

A disorganized workspace means disorganized work habits. A sloppy work environment equals sloppy results.
~ Larry Winget

I believe that working with good people matters because then the work environment is good. If there is a sense of respect and belief among the people you work with, that is when good work is done.
~ Ranbir Kapoor

People who work in an environment where doing their best is recognized have a better chance of feeling good about their work.
~ Marilyn Suttle

I just feel like you should be able to have a respectful work environment because if you do, you'll be your best self.
~ Peggy Johnson

It’s about getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment & helping to find a way to innovate.
~ Marissa Mayer

When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.
~ Simon Sinek

There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you would like to be treated.
~ Richard Branson

A good work culture and work environment is very crucial in helping your employees to put their best foot forward.
~ Pooja Agnihotri

The work environment can bring out the 'best' or the 'worst' in you.
~ Abhishek Ratna

Man can work anywhere and under any condition, but working in a very beautiful place under very beautiful conditions will surely create superior things!
~ Mehmet Murat ildan

Empathic, emotionally intelligent work environments have a good track record of increasing creativity, improving problem solving and raising productivity.
~ Daniel Goleman

The best innovation comes from inclusive work environments that foster diverse ideas, nurture people with diverse talent and backgrounds, and create strong relationships with diverse communities.
~ Mark Parker

Quotes on Discipline

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.
~ Jim Rohn

Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up go to work.
~ Stephen King

Without hard work and discipline, it is difficult to be a top professional.
~ Jahangir Khan

There is no magic wand that can resolve our problems. The solution rests with our work and discipline.
~ Jose Eduardo dos Santos

Discipline is wisdom and vice versa.
~ M. Scott Peck

What lies in our power to do, lies in our power not to do.
~ Aristotle

Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
~ Frank Herbert

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
~ Vince Lombardi

Self-discipline is the ability to organize your behavior over time in the service of specific goals.
~ Nathaniel Branden

Once you bid farewell to discipline you say goodbye to success
~ Alex Ferguson

Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they’re making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as a punishment. And that’s the difference.
~ Lou Holtz

Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.
~ Roy L. Smith

The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.
~ William Arthur Ward

Confidence comes from discipline and training.
~ Robert Kiyosaki

For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.
~ Plato

Quotes on Mentorship

A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.
~ Oprah Winfrey

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
~ Buddha

The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.
~ Steven Spielberg

Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I learn.
~ Benjamin Franklin

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
~ Winston Churchill

The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.
~ Steven Spielberg

A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you, than you see in yourself, and helps bring it out of you.
~ Bob Proctor

Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.
~ John Crosby

Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn’t go to hell if you take a day off
~ Jeffrey Pfeffer

You cannot transit wisdom and insight to another person. The seed is already there. A good teacher touches the seed, allowing it to wake up, to sprout, and to grow.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

It is the mentor’s responsibility to create a safe and trusting space that enables a mentee to stretch and step outside their comfort zone, take risks, and show up authentically.
~ Lisa Fain

Blaze a trail that will help others begin their journey and it will never be lonely at the top.
~ Carlos Wallace

Quotes on Eliminating Obstacles

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Any idiot can point out a problem. A leader is willing to do something about it! Leaders solve problems.
~ Tony Robbins

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.
~ Anne Frank

If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead you anywhere.
~ Frank A.Clark

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
~ Henry Ford

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.
~ Molière

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
~ Michael Jordan

Our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Worry never accomplishes anything. When you have a problem, it is best to concentrate on the solution to that problem, not the problem itself.
~ Thomas D. Willhite

Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember - the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.
~ Zig Ziglar

Well, if it can be thought, it can be done, a problem can be overcome
~ E.A. Bucchianeri

Take a limitation and turn it into an opportunity. Take an opportunity and turn it into an adventure by dreaming BIG
~ Jo Franz

Some fish love to swim upstream. Some people love to overcome challenges.
~ Amit Ray

Critics are loud, but success is louder.
~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
~ Robert F. Kennedy

Before you go

This was a compilation of all the famous quotes on Work ethics. Share this with your team and encourage ethical values. We hope great work and ethics will be reflected in your team’s success soon!

This article is co-authored by Braja and Bhaswati, who are part of the marketing team at Vantage Circle. For any queries reach out to editor@vantagecircle.com.