Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Occupation
I hold every man a debtor to his profession; from the which as men of course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavor themselves, by way of amends, to be a help and ornament thereunto.
Bacon—Maxims of the Law. Preface.
Quam quisque novit artem, in hac se exerceat.
Let a man practise the profession which he best knows.
Cicero—Tusculanarum Disputationum. I. 18.
The ugliest of trades have their moments of pleasure. Now, if I were a grave-digger, or even a hangman, there are some people I could work for with a great deal of enjoyment.
Douglas Jerrold—Jerrold’s Wit. Ugly Trades.
And sure the Eternal Master found
The single talent well employ’d.
Samuel Johnson—On the Death of Robert Levet. St. 7.
The hand of little employment hath the daintier sense.
Hamlet. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 77.
Thus Nero went up and down Greece and challenged the fiddlers at their trade. Æropus, a Macedonian king, made lanterns; Harcatius, the king of Parthia, was a mole-catcher; and Biantes, the Lydian, filed needles.
Jeremy Taylor—Holy Living. Ch. I. Sec. I. Rides far Employing Our Time.