"No man ever got very high by pulling other people down. The intelligent merchant does not knock his competitors. The sensible worker does not work those who work with him. Don't knock your friends. Don't knock your enemies. Don't knock yourself."

Work

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Work as articulated by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Work provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson was an English poet. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Some critics described Tennyson as overly sentimental. However, his poems proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

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More by Alfred Lord Tennyson

"There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds."

— Alfred Lord Tennyson
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"My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure."

— Alfred Lord Tennyson
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"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'"

— Alfred Lord Tennyson
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"Guard your roving thoughts with a jealous care, for speech is but the dialer of thoughts, and every fool can plainly read in your words what is the hour of your thoughts."

— Alfred Lord Tennyson
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More about Work

"I've never written a movie, I'm not in the movie business. I go out to L.A. and I'm like everyone else wandering around in a daze hoping I see movie stars. I write the novels that the movies are based on, and that feels like enough of a job for me."

— Justin Cronin
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"You can have the best vaccines for a woman or her child, but if you can't get her to come and get them then they won't work."

— Melinda Gates
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"You're basing your laws and your whole outlook on natural life on mythology. It won't work. That's why you have all these problems in the world. Name them: India, Pakistan, Ireland. Name them-all these problems. They're all religious problems."

— Jack Kevorkian
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"A lot of dreams can turn to nightmares... if you don't really work them."

— Dolly Parton
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