"Like what you do, if you don't like it, do something else"
About this Quote
The second clause is the rhetorical sleight of hand. "Do something else" sounds liberating, but it's also a pressure valve that redirects frustration away from institutions and toward the self. Bad boss? Unsafe conditions? Dead-end wages? The quote offers a clean exit narrative, the kind that makes structural problems feel like mood problems. It's advice that works best for people with savings, mobility, and a labor market that will have them. For everyone else, it can land as a rebuke: if you're stuck, you chose stuck.
Harvey, a journalist and radio voice famous for genial certainties and "The Rest of the Story" Americana, specialized in compressing a worldview into a sentence you could nod along to between commutes. The subtext is civic as much as personal: don't complain; recalibrate. It's a line built to preserve social harmony by turning discontent into a private project, a bright, tidy ethos for a country that preferred its anxieties off-air.
Quote Details
| Topic | Quitting Job |
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| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Harvey, Paul. (2026, January 17). Like what you do, if you don't like it, do something else. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/like-what-you-do-if-you-dont-like-it-do-something-57997/
Chicago Style
Harvey, Paul. "Like what you do, if you don't like it, do something else." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/like-what-you-do-if-you-dont-like-it-do-something-57997/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Like what you do, if you don't like it, do something else." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/like-what-you-do-if-you-dont-like-it-do-something-57997/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.










