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About this quote

What does it mean?
Most people look worn down by futile labor, like ploughed land.
In plain terms
Many feel exhausted by pointless work.
What can you take from it?
Notice the cost of unproductive effort.

Where it applies

  • workplace
  • poverty
  • daily routine

Putting it to work

  • audit time spent
  • seek purposeful tasks
  • support worker rights

Questions to consider

  • What feels pointless in your day?
  • Who benefits from your work?

Another view

Not all hard work is futile; some labor builds value.

More from Bertolt Brecht

  1. How long Do works endure? As long As they are not completed.

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  2. People will observe you to see How well you have observed. The man who only observes himself however never gains Knowledge of men. He is too anxious To hide hi…

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  3. Of all the works of man I like best Those which have been used. The copper pots with their dents and flattened edges The knives and forks whose wooden handles …

    Permalink to quote #50

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