Work & Career: Quitting Job Quotes

Explore a curated collection of quotes about quitting a job, capturing the courage, clarity, and planning behind a thoughtful exit. These voices reflect on timing, self-worth, and the tradeoffs of change, helping you weigh options with perspective. Find concise lines that validate difficult decisions, highlight boundaries, and inspire professional pivots. Whether preparing for a transition, recovering after a resignation, or simply seeking motivation to chart a new direction, these quotes offer grounded encouragement for choosing growth without regret.

Similar topics:Career New Job Work Work Ethic Work-Life Balance

"People may take a job for more money, but they often leave it for more recognition"

Bob Nelson, Writer

"That's why I had to leave Hair on Broadway, because I did it for about a year, and one night I was doing the show, and I realized, well, this is not real. I told the director. He says, man, it was a killer show tonight"

Barry McGuire, Musician

"Actually, I only left twice. I left then, and then rejoined literally two years later for Going For The One"

Rick Wakeman, Musician

"Larry Crowne is about as bummed out a human being as one can be when he loses his job. What he is able to enjoy is something that may not be available to everybody. But it's about the value of being willing to get and willing to give good advice"

Tom Hanks, Actor

Small: Tom Hanks

"If your company has a clean-desk policy, the company is nuts and you're nuts to stay there"

Tom Peters, Businessman

Small: Tom Peters

"I wrote several articles criticizing psychoanalysis, but the analysts weren't listening to my objections. So I finally quit after practicing it for six years"

Albert Ellis, Psychologist

"I quit my job just to quit. I didn't quit my job to write fiction. I just didn't want to work anymore"

Don DeLillo, Novelist

"No, when I worked as an accountant I was falling asleep waiting for 5 o'clock"

Heston Blumenthal, Chef

Small: Heston Blumenthal

"I decided to retire from show business at the age of 17, because I didn't like it a bit"

Shirley Bassey, Musician

"I could finally quit my job as a bartender and stop dreaming that I might be Superman and know that I was. Then I started thinking about how cool it was"

Brandon Routh, Actor

"A month after the scandal broke, I tried to go back to work at the pharmaceutical company after a leave of absence. But because of all the publicity and resulting pressure and stress, I finally resigned"

Donna Rice, Celebrity

"Iron Maiden is an institution, and I'm delighted that I'm involved in it, but there was a time that I wasn't delighted so I quit"

Bruce Dickinson, Musician

"If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work"

Kahlil Gibran, Poet

Small: Kahlil Gibran

"I like the job. That's what I'll miss the most... I'm not sure anybody ever liked this as much as I've liked it"

William J. Clinton, President

"If you don't like what you're doing, then don't do it"

Ray Bradbury, Writer

Small: Ray Bradbury

"Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance"

Donald Rumsfeld, Politician

"Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined"

Johnny Carson, Comedian

Small: Johnny Carson

"Many psychoanalysts refused to let me speak at their meetings. They were exceptionally vigorous because I had previously been an analyst and they were very angry at my flying the coop"

Albert Ellis, Psychologist

"It may be, however, that I am too much wedded to my own views in the matter, and as I have spent nearly eight years of the hardest work of my life in this department, I respectfully request that I may now be relieved from its command"

George Crook, Soldier

"I stopped working a few years ago because I just lost a spark that I'd had before. I thought I'd just try writing, and maybe start directing, but I did it very quietly"

Dustin Hoffman, Actor

"Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life. Quitting acting, that's the sign of maturity"

Marlon Brando, Actor

"Like what you do, if you don't like it, do something else"

Paul Harvey, Journalist

"If you join government, calmly make your contribution and move on. Don't go along to get along; do your best and when you have to - and you will - leave, and be something else"

Peggy Noonan, Writer

Small: Peggy Noonan

"We're still here trying to get the word out that 330 farmers are quitting every week"

Willie Nelson, Musician

"When I was 19, I made my first good week's pay as a club musician. It was enough money for me to quit my job at the factory and still pay the rent and buy some food. I freaked"

Billy Joel, Musician

"One reason I left local news was that I was tired of the constant musical chairs among news directors"

Jessica Savitch, Journalist

"I enjoyed the Hee Haw people, but from 1980 on I didn't enjoy it and thought about leavin', and thought, hell, it's an easy job and pays wonderful. I kinda just prostituted myself for their money"

Buck Owens, Musician

"I quit my job, and went ashore to become a writer"

Theodore Sturgeon, Writer

"Since the Puffy Combs case in New York, I will not try any more criminal cases"

Johnnie Cochran, Lawyer

"When I left 20th Century-Fox to freelance, my agent believed that getting big money was the way to establish real importance in our industry"

Loretta Young, Actress

"I've worked in television long enough to know that when you stop enjoying that type of thing you go home and do something else"

Mark Haddon, Novelist

"There are absolutely no problems that had anything to do with Jeff's departure"

Kenneth Lay, Businessman

"I quit after my seven-year contract with Universal was up. I quit for 33 years"

Gloria Stuart, Actress

"Technically, at this point we're no longer with the label; we've fulfilled our contract"

Peter Steele, Musician

Small: Peter Steele

"This sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House - and for the good of all, he should step aside and address those things that should be most important - his and his family's well-being"

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Politician

"I hate the Communists and have for many years and don't feel right about giving up my career to defend them. I will give up my film career if it is in the interests of defending something I believe in, but not this"

Elia Kazan, Director

Small: Elia Kazan

"After leaving law school, I intentionally said that I never wanted to hold a job more than six years"

Alphonso Jackson, Public Servant

"I submit to you, Mr. President of Congress, my formal resignation as president of the republic"

Alberto Fujimori, Statesman

"I sort of kept my hand in writing and went to work for the Sierra Club in '52, walked the plank there in '69, founded Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters after that"

David R. Brower, Environmentalist

"A great deal of pressure was then built up to remove me from the club and my resignation was, finally, a forced one"

David R. Brower, Environmentalist

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