Quote of the Day (Josh Tyrangiel, on AI and Irresponsible American Elites)

“America would be better off if its elites could act responsibly without being terrified. If CEOs remembered that citizens are a kind of shareholder, too. If economists tried to model the future before it arrives in their rearview mirror. If politicians chose their constituents' jobs over their own. None of this requires revolution. It requires everyone to do the jobs they already have, just better.”—American journalist Josh Tyrangiel, “What’s the Worst That Could Happen? AI and the Future of Work,” The Atlantic, March 2026

Quote of the Day (Charles Lamb, on ‘The Only True Time’)

“I have indeed lived nominally fifty years, but deduct out of them the hours which I have lived to other people, and not to myself, and you will find me still a young fellow. For that is the only true Time, which a man can properly call his own—that which he has all to himself; the rest, though in some sense he may be said to live it, is other people's Time, not his.”—English essayist, critic, poet, and playwright Charles Lamb (1775-1834), “The Superannuated Man,” in Charles Lamb's Essays (1900)

I first encountered Charles Lamb—born 250 years ago today in London—through the children’s book Tales From Shakespeare, written with his older sister Mary. I wasn’t too impressed with it—and, consequently, him—at the time.

Then I found out that, like his friend William Hazlitt (whose picture of him accompanies this post), he was a talented practitioner of the personal essay—in a sense, the creative ancestor of bloggers like me.

Friends delighted in Lamb’s conversation, and it’s certainly the case that, with a few exceptions, what you see is what you get with him: a droll writer who liked to poke fun at himself, often using pseudonyms (including one for himself: “Elia,” taken from the last name of an Italian friend and fellow clerk).

I highlighted the quote above because, even with the vast changes in business and society that have taken place since the Romantic Era when Lamb wrote, the issues he raised in “The Superannuated Man”—working in a job that doesn’t always satisfy one’s deepest needs, and the proper use of time when employment comes to a definitive end—are ones that aging baby boomers like me are increasingly facing.

Lamb confronted these concerns himself because, family poverty forced him, at age 14, to quit school and start working as a clerk, his principal occupation until, 36 years later, he took his firm’s generous pension offer and retired.

Only a decade remained to the writer before his death. Much of that time was darkened by the growing mental instability of Mary, who had been under his care for three decades following her fit of temporary insanity that led her to fatally stab the Lambs’ mother and wound their father.

Lamb’s life underscores the predicament that so many writers who never achieve strong sales deal with: doing what you must versus what you want. We should all confront these challenges with the same perseverance, equanimity, and grace that Lamb summoned for so long.

Quote of the Day (William Dean Howells, on the Uncertainty of Work)

“No one is sure of finding work; no one is sure of not losing it. I may have my work taken away from me at any moment by the caprice, the mood, the indigestion of a man who has not the qualification for knowing whether I do it well, or ill. At my time of life—at every time of life—a man ought to feel that if he will keep on doing his duty he shall not suffer in himself or in those who are dear to him, except through natural causes. But no man can feel this as things are now; and so we go on, pushing and pulling, climbing and crawling, thrusting aside and trampling underfoot; lying, cheating, stealing; and then we get to the end, covered with blood and dirt and sin and shame, and look back over the way we've come to a palace of our own, or the poor-house, which is about the only possession we can claim in common with our brother-men, I don't think the retrospect can be pleasing."—American novelist, critic, and editor William Dean Howells (1837-1920), A Hazard of New Fortunes (1889)

It was true 135 years ago when Howells wrote these words, and maybe more so now, about how “caprice” can end employment, for either individuals or mass numbers of employees.

 Executives screaming for less regulation may well end up playing casino with their employees’ futures. A multinational conglomerate thousands of miles away may abruptly terminate workers who’ve given the best part of their careers to a company.

All of this feeds into worker anger. Many may well accept the nearest explanation at hand that they can understand, even if they involve the creation of scapegoats. 

TV Quote of the Day (‘The Honeymooners,’ With Ralph on How ‘The Squeeze Play’ Works in Salary Negotiations)

Ralph Kramden [played by Jackie Gleason]: “I go right over to see Mr. Marshall, my boss. I tell Mr. Marshall that I have this other offer and that it offers me 40, maybe 50 dollars a day. Therefore, I'll have to leave the bus company, otherwise he'll have to give me my promotion and raise. And that's what you call ‘the squeeze play.’ You know he's not gonna get rid of me.”

Alice Kramden [played by Audrey Meadows]: “It's not gonna work, Ralph.”

Ralph: “What do you mean, it's not gonna work? I'm going to squeeze Mr. Marshall. He's in no position to squeeze me.”

Alice: “Of course not. He couldn't even get his arms around you!”—The Honeymooners, Season 1, Episode 35, “Mind Your Own Business,” original air date May 26, 1956, teleplay by Leonard Stern, Sydney Zelinka and Jackie Gleason (uncredited), directed by Frank Satenstein

Quote of the Day (Garry Wills, on a Summer Lesson in Work and Leadership)

“I had a chip on my shoulder, since my father had left my mother to marry a (much younger) Hollywood model. While I was in California for a high school contest, he asked me to work at his nascent business for the rest of the summer. But for that offer, I would not have stayed—I needed a job in any event. He knew that the way to recruit a resisting son-employee was to give me independence—not only in things like deliveries, but in sales and purchasing of household equipment. If I failed, that might break down my resistance. If I didn't, pride in the work might renew a bond that had been broken. Paradoxically, by giving me independence he got me to do his will. That is the way leadership works—reciprocally engaging two wills, one leading (often in disguised ways), the other following (often while resisting). Leadership is always a struggle, often a feud.”—Historian-journalist Garry Wills, “What Makes a Good Leader,” The Atlantic Monthly, April 1994

Happy Labor Day, friends—and remember the inherent value of work (even, God help us, Judge Reinhold's job at Captain Hook Fish and Chips in Fast Times at Ridgemont High).

(Photo of Garry Wills by Lauren Gerson, taken on March 10, 2015 at the LBJ Presidential Library, where he was joining the Friends of the LBJ Library to discuss his book, The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis.)

Quote of the Day (Joe Queenan, Imagining an Unusual Example of ‘The Great Resignation’)

“The Great Resignation has now begun to spread to some unusual sectors of the economy.

“Members of tribute bands, for instance, are folding their tents for good. ‘I couldn't play Hotel California even one more time,’ says Cheyenne Foucault-Giordano, lead guitarist in No, Not the Philadelphia Eagles, an Omaha group that’s been playing exclusively the music of the Eagles since 1983. ‘Now, with what I can pick up as an Uber driver, I'll never have to play Life in the Fast Lane again. Talk about a peaceful, easy feeling—this is it.’”—Columnist Joe Queenan, “Moving Targets: Some Jobs Are Just Made to Resign From,” The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 5-6, 2022

TV Quote of the Day (‘The Office,’ Seeking a ‘Golden Ticket’ Out of the Latest Snafu)

Michael Scott [played by Steve Carell]: “Okay, we need a golden-ticket idea to get us out of this mess." [Pam has her hand raised] "Yes?”

Pam Beesly [played by Jenna Fischer]: “Does that mean an idea that blows up in our faces later?”

Jim Halpert [played by John Krasinski]: “Good one.”— The Office, Season 5, Episode 17, “Golden Ticket,” original air date Mar. 12, 2009, teleplay by Mindy Kaling, directed by Randall Einhorn    

Quote of the Day (Eric Idle, on Why ‘Hard Work is the Only Recipe for Success’)

“Hard work is the only recipe for success. My Cambridge comedy club, The Footlights, had a motto: Ars est Celare artem, the art is in concealing the art—whilst the RAF motto was Per ardua ad astrem: through hard work to the stars. I think of writing as like fishing: if you’re not at the riverbank first thing in the morning you’re not going to catch a fish. What size of fish you haul out is a different matter. The river of the unconscious is a wonderful and devious companion.”— Monty Python member Eric Idle quoted in Alex Bleth, “Eric Idle on Not Taking Yourself Seriously,” part of story “Sane Advice for Crazy Times,” Esquire, October 2018

(Photo of Eric Idle was taken at a meet-and-greet after his show at the Paramount Theatre in Rutland, Vermont, Oct. 3, 2003, by VTscapes - Tom E. Canavan.)

Quote of the Day (Robert Benchley, on ‘The Secret of My Incredible Energy and Efficiency’)

“The secret of my incredible energy and efficiency in getting work done is a simple one. I have based it very deliberately on a well-known psychological principle and have refined it so that it is now almost too refined. I shall have to begin coarsening it up again pretty soon.

“The psychological principle is this: anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.”—American humorist and actor Robert Benchley (1889-1945), Chips Off the Old Benchley (1949)

Quote of the Day (Josh Cohen, on How AI and Robotics Subvert Work’s Value)

“The rise of robotics and AI raises the urgent question of how to live without work. What makes this prospect so daunting is that we've come to equate our humanity with the capability for productivity and purposeful motion. The concept that the value and which means of our existence is barely validated by what we obtain is what makes it so troublesome to expertise an actual sense of peace. We really feel embarrassed and self-conscious to be seen doing nothing.” —Psychoanalyst Josh Cohen, “How to Avoid Burnout Over Christmas,” The Financial Times, Dec. 22-23, 2018

Quote of the Day (Bertrand Russell, on the Two Kinds of Work)

“Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of indefinite extension: there are not only those who give orders, but those who give advice as to what orders should be given.”—British logician, philosopher and Nobel Literature laureate Lord Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), “In Praise of Idleness” (1932)

Quote of the Day (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, on Work and the Human Race)

"The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it." — German man of letters Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe died at age 82 in Weimar, in what was then known as the German Confederation, on this date in 1832, of apparent heart failure. His range of interests and talents was astonishing—not only was he a poet, playwright (Faust), novelist (The Sorrows of Young Werther),critic and memoirist, but also a civil servant and even botanist.  His influence on modern culture—especially Germany’s—was enormous.