Why do men delight in work? Fundamentally, I suppose, because there is a sense of relief and pleasure in getting something done - a kind of satisfaction not unlike that which a hen enjoys on laying an egg.
Interpretation
Men find joy and satisfaction in completing tasks, similar to the pleasure a hen feels when laying an egg.
In this quote, H. L. Mencken expresses the intrinsic pleasure that individuals experience from accomplishing work. The metaphor of a hen laying an egg highlights the natural satisfaction of creation and productivity, suggesting that work is not just a necessity but also a source of fulfillment and joy.
In practice
During a motivational speech about finding joy in our careers.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
The truth is, if we have our own reasons for doing something - reasons that we endorse - we're more likely to do it; we're more likely to stick with it.
Make specific appointments with yourself to work on goals, and treat an appointment with yourself as you'd treat an appointment with anybody else.
Don't lose heart if it's very difficult at times, everything will come out all right and nobody can in the beginning do as he wishes.
If some people are so hungry for a feeling of importance that they actually go insane to get it, imagine what miracle you and I can achieve by giving people honest appreciation this side of insanity.
Most blacks will argue that they excel because of hard work, because of intellect, determination, sweat, blood, tears and risk.
You have to get out of your comfort zone in order to grow. And as an actor, you don't become Meryl Streep by doing the same type of comedy. You get there by being challenged. And unfortunately, there's a lack of roles for women of color, so you actually have to be the engineer creating some of those roles.
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