Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle’s “Know Thy Work” is a very inspiring and motivational writing. The passage taken from “Labour” is about the power and good that comes from a working man. In the opening lines of the writing Carlyle writes the following.

“For there is a perennial nobleness, and even sacredness, in Work. Were he never so benighted, forgetful of his calling, there is always hope in a man that actually and earnestly works:” (ln 1-3)

I like how Carlyle empowers the act of working with nobleness and sacredness. It really expresses the weight that is contained within a self-motivated, industrious man. Throughout the selection Carlyle talks about how it is vitally important to be motivated to work. “In Idleness alone is there perpetual despair.”, this quote embodies a very true fact, idle hands accomplish nothing, idle hands are a waste of time and energy. In the reading Carlyle preaches that one must find work that he truly enjoys or he will not work as vigorously at his work. This is very true, if you don’t enjoy what you do, you won’t look forward to doing it, and therefore, put it off.

This passage reminds me a lot of my own life. When I was younger I was always taught to be a hard worker and to finish the task at hand so that I could move on to the next task in line. My dad would wake me up early on the weekends to get stuff done around the house, because he would say “You are wasting the day away in bed.” When I was younger I just didn’t care as much, but looking back on this, he was right, as long as you get enough sleep, there is no point to sleeping in and “wasting away the daylight” as he put it. I think that is now why when I do a project I do it all at once until completion. It is very hard for me to start a project and come back to it later and finish it, I just want to finish it and get it done.

In the last paragraph of the selection Carlyle says

“Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.”

The key word here is his, he found his work, not just work. This reminds me of what my mother is always telling me, “You need to find a job that you will enjoy or you won’t have a hapy life.” She speaks from experience and speaks truth, she knows that if you are not happy at your job, then you will not be happy outside of your job; after all, isn’t quality of life better than quantity of work completed? I think that is what Carlyle is getting at here, he wants everyone to find their calling and their “life’s work” and pursue it, pursue it will one hundred percent of their energy. Carlyle wants us to live for our work, not work to live. We need to live everyday to the fullest, and as my high school principal would say at every school assembly “Carpe Diem.”