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An efficient and valuable man does what he can, whether the community pay him for it or not.
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“An efficient and valuable man does what he can, whether the community pay him for it or not.”

Henry David Thoreau

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Source
Life Without Principle
Date
1863
Meaning

Meaning of “An efficient and valuable man does what he…”

Thoreau defines useful activity independently of external payment, arguing that a person committed to meaningful work continues to exercise ability even when the community does not reward it.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Life Without Principle, The Atlantic Monthly, 1863; represented Wikisource text. The line follows Thoreau’s claim that a community cannot buy a wise person away from work that genuinely occupies him.

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BusinessDiscipline Quotes About Habits, Practice & ConsistencyEffortGrowthInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityIntegrityLeadershipMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistenceProductivityResponsibilitySelf ImprovementSelf-Control Quotes About Restraint & JudgmentShortSuccessCharacterMotivation For WorkWork Ethic
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No matter what the thing is, put your conscience into it; do your best.
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“No matter what the thing is, put your conscience into it; do your best.”

Booker T. Washington · Character Building · 1902
Meaning & context

Work gains moral weight when effort and conscience remain present even in tasks that seem small, routine, or unlikely to attract praise.

Source details

Character Building, “What Is To Be Our Future?”, Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington asks whether Tuskegee will remain worthy of public confidence and answers by requiring each student and worker to put conscience and full effort into every kind of work.

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work is only done well when it is done with a will
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“work is only done well when it is done with a will”

John Ruskin · The Crown of Wild Olive · 1866
Meaning & context

Ruskin links quality with willing engagement: merely being compelled to perform a task is not, in his argument, enough to produce work done with judgment and commitment.

Source details

The Crown of Wild Olive, lecture on Work; Project Gutenberg #26716. The sentence occurs in a discussion of how hard work should be organized and chosen; its period labor assumptions remain contextualized.

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My race will succeed in proportion as it learns to do a common thing in an uncommon manner.
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“My race will succeed in proportion as it learns to do a common thing in an uncommon manner.”

Booker T. Washington · Up from Slavery · 1901
Meaning & context

Distinctive success can come from doing ordinary work unusually well, emphasizing thoroughness and indispensable usefulness rather than status.

Source details

Up from Slavery, Chapter XVI, “Europe,” Project Gutenberg #2376. While discussing Henry O. Tanner and recognition for excellent work, Washington restates his Tuskegee principle that advancement depends on doing useful work so thoroughly that its value becomes difficult to ignore.

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Drive thy business, or it will drive thee.
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“Drive thy business, or it will drive thee.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack · 1740s
Meaning & context

Work becomes harder to control when it is left unmanaged; the maxim favors deliberate direction, priorities, and active stewardship over reactive pressure.

Source details

Poor Richard’s Almanack; a compact maxim about managing work before accumulated demands begin managing you.

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And let your self-respect forbid you to do imperfectly anything that you do at all.
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“And let your self-respect forbid you to do imperfectly anything that you do at all.”

Margaret Fuller · Woman in the Nineteenth Century · 1845
Meaning & context

Self-respect becomes a standard for workmanship: valuing oneself should appear not only in feeling but in the care brought to responsibilities and chosen work.

Source details

Woman in the Nineteenth Century and Kindred Papers; the sentence appears in advice about practical education, precision, and the development of the whole person.

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