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14 Hilarious Quotes About the Workplace

The workplace is a curious ecosystem. Whether it’s a bustling corporate office, a factory floor, or a retail stockroom, each workplace offers a unique cross-section of characters and circumstances.

Take The Office, for instance: The beloved satire of modern office life resonated with so many viewers because of its relatability. It hilariously touches on themes of ambition, camaraderie, and the never-ending quest for meaning in the 9-to-5 grind.

But just like in any real-life workplace, it’s the people and the relationships they form that determine the office’s atmosphere. There’s plenty of humor to be found among office politics and the daily mundanity, and The Office capitalized on exactly that.

Considering how much time we spend at our jobs, it’s no wonder our workplaces often end up weaving themselves into the fabric of our lives. Colleagues become confidants and mentors. We share our dramas and dilemmas over countless cups of coffee with our work friends.

It's in the everyday routines — the lunch breaks, the recurring meetings, the small talk — that we find a peculiar brand of beauty, and, in some cases, absurdity. We hope this collection of funny quotes about the workplace helps lighten the load of those ceaseless deadlines and meetings.

No man goes before his time — unless the boss leaves early.
Groucho Marx

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If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings.”
Dave Barry

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I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.
Jerome K. Jerome

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What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.
Phyllis Diller

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Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.
Doug Larson

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I guess I've been working so hard, I forgot what it's like to be hardly working.
Michael Scott (Steve Carell) in “The Office”

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Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.
Robert Benchley

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The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.
Robert Frost

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Oh, you hate your job? … There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar.
Drew Carey (Drew Carey) in “The Drew Carey Show”

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I have a theory that the truth is never told across a desk. Or during the nine-to-five hours.
Hunter S. Thompson

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Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work.
Earl Nightingale

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I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.
Douglas Adams

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I would rather work for an upturned broom with a bucket for a head than work for somebody else in this office besides myself.
Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) in “The Office”

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I always arrive late to the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.
Charles Lamb

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Featured image credit: RGR Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo

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About the Author
Nicole Villeneuve
Nicole is a writer, thrift store lover, and group-chat meme spammer based in Ontario, Canada.
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