#Professionalism Quotes

“I hate nobody except Hitler--and that is professional.”

“When should a college athlete turn pro? Not until he has earned all he can in college as an amateur.”

“The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.”

“When I was a teenager, my biggest lessons came from Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley. I learned so much from opening up for those artists, and it also taught me how to treat your opening acts and make them feel like they're part of a family, not just a tour.”

“There are times when you get frustrated, but the one thing you always focus on is treating people well. You just cannot storm off and freak out.”

“So as an amateur Olympic competitor I loved criticism, because it made me better. But now as a professional I don't really know how to channel it or where to take it, so I don't take it quite as well.”

“When you turn professional, you become an entertainer, and like every other entertainer, you don't want to get a bad review.”

“Such is professional jealousy; a scientist will never show any kindness for a theory which he did not start himself.”

“If you're a professional, you'll make it work. You can be like, 'I'm not going to do that, I'm going to do it where I'm satisfied.' But I'm very comfortable being uncomfortable so I just go for it.”

“My main objective is to be professional but to kill him.”

“Boxing is an ego-driven sport. The idea is to not get too personal or emotional with it. You just know when it's over, it's over, and that's it.”

“I show up ready to play, so I normally try and fit the situation.”

“There are no personal sympathies in politics.”

“I've always felt toward the slightest scene, even if all I had to do in a scene was just to come in and say, 'Hi,' that the people ought to get their money's worth and that this is an obligation of mine, to give them the best you can get from me.”

“Foreign diplomats could have modeled their conduct on the way the Negro postmen, Pullman porters, and dining car waiters of Roxbury [Massachusetts] acted, striding around as if they were wearing top hats and cutaways.”

“I am always on the job.”

“To create a market for your writing you have to be consistent, professional, a continuing writer - not just a one-article or a one-story or a one-book man.”

“We're grown ass men, you don't need to be falling all over the place.”

“You have to be able to separate business from the love of the game. There were a lot of decisions made business-wise that I wasn't happy with, and I took a lot of blame over the years. But you have to be able to separate that from the love you have for the game.”

“A business tip, you never know who's having "pillow talk" with one another. Watch what u say, who u say it to, & WHO u talk about.”

“Ego & Hype have no place in business.”

“If you don't feel well, tell your doctor, but not the marketplace.”

“We were really professional by the time we got to the States; we had learned the whole game. When we arrived here we knew how to handle the press; the British press were the toughest in the world and we could handle anything. We were all right.”

“Don't bring your need to the marketplace, bring your skill.”

“Learn to hide your need and show your skill.”

“Every doctor will allow a colleague to decimate a whole countryside sooner than violate the bond of professional etiquette by giving him away.”

“All professional men are handicapped by not being allowed to ignore things which are useless.”

“I've always considered writing the most hateful kind of work. I suspect it's a bit like fucking - which is fun only for amateurs. Old whores don't do much giggling.”

“If we do not like our work, and do not try to get happiness out of it, we are a menace to our profession as well as to ourselves.”

“There's only one way for a professional soldier to die. That's from the last bullet of the last battle of the last war.”

“The only way you get on in this profession is to have the reputation of doing what you are told as thoroughly as possible.”

“You've got to be on the ball from the minute you step out into that spotlight. You gotta know exactly what you're doing every second on that stage, otherwise the act goes right into the bathroom. It's all over. Good night.”

“If you work for a man, in heaven's name work for him, speak well of him, and stand by the institution he represents. Remember, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. If you must growl, condemn, and eternally find fault - resign your position, and when you are outside, damn to your heart's content - but as long as you are part of the institution, do not condemn it. If you do, the first high wind that comes along will blow you away, and probably you will never know why.”

“If you work for a man, in heavens name work for him! If he pays you wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for him speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and stand by the institution he represents. I think if I worked for a man I would work for him. I would not work for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time work against him. I would give an undivided service or none. If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.”

“If you work for a man, in Heavens name work for him! If he pays you wages that supply your bread and butter, work for him, stand by him, and stand by the institution he represents.”

“The hundred-point man is one who is true to every trust; who keeps his word; who is loyal to the firm that employs him; who does not listen for insults nor look for slights; who carries a civil tongue in his head; who is polite to strangers without being fresh; who is considerate toward servants; who is moderate in his eating and drinking; who is willing to learn; who is cautious and yet courageous.”

“We are professionals and, if the boss chooses eleven players to enter the field, these are the ones who have to work.”

“That's where you can find things and modulate your performance and give the other actors something fresh to respond to. We've probably all worked with actors who when it's suddenly your close up, they get sleepy. I don't like that. It's selfish acting, and I won't tolerate it.”

“Another rule I have is: Don't let your ego get tied up in a policy dispute. Otherwise, if things don't go your way, you can end up breaking a relationship with somebody with whom you can't afford to break.”

“There is not a manufacturer or tradesman in existence, who would not employ a man who takes a reasonable degree of pride in the appearance of himself and those about him, in preference to a sullen, slovenly fellow, who works doggedly on, regardless of his own clothing and that of his wife and children, and seeming to take pleasure or pride in nothing.”

“I had the kid [on "Fences" ] who understudied me so I could stand back and think about shots so he had to learn the blocking and everything. I'd come in early sometimes, and they 'd be in there rehearsing and working on their stuff. I didn't want them to feel like, "Oh these are people who can't be touched." We're all working actors; we're all trying to get better.”

“Don't let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn't go with it.”

“If the director's a communist, whatever, he's a communist. All I care is that he directs. For the actor, the same thing. All you really care is that he comes in and performs.”

“There is a common perception that compassion is, if not actually an impediment, at least irrelevant to professional life. Personally, I would argue that not only is it relevant, but that when compassion is lacking, our activities are in danger of becoming destructive. This is because when we ignore the question of the impact our actions have on others' well-being, inevitably we end up hurting them.”

“Take your work seriously, but don't take yourself seriously”

“Everybody makes bad decisions. I am sure I have made my share of them over 40 years of service. Or I have made good decisions and have been overruled. The real challenge, when you are overruled, is to remember who the boss is and don't take it personally.”

“I know I'm a good professional, I know that no one's harder on me than myself and that's never going to change, under any circumstances.”

“I do my profession, my job, I give me all for my club...the rest doesn't matter to me. I don't care what happens on the outside.”

“I have my flaws too, but I am a professional who doesn't like to miss or lose.”

“The people I work with have a very good impression of me for sure, because of how I am.”