Mike Rowe

“Happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs.”

“Spend a few hours every week studying American history, human nature, and economic theory. Start with “Economics in One Lesson.” Then try Keynes. Then Hayek. Then Marx. Then Hegel. Develop a...”

“For me, what's the old expression, 'Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,' that's really what religion is good at when it is done right. And the truth is, so is television.”

“We've waged war on work. We have collectively agreed, stupidly, that work is the enemy.”

“Every bad joke, every endorsement deal, all of the things that a typical host would normally get creamed for, people don't mind, because they know I don't cheat when it comes to the work I a...”

“Work ethic is important because, unlike intelligence, athleticism, charisma, or any other natural attribute, it's a choice.”

“It's funny; it's a real balancing act. In TV, everybody's talking about authenticity. In order to make 'Dirty Jobs' authentic, I really can't be overly informed. The minute I am, I become a...”

“Dirt used to be a badge of honor. Dirt used to look like work. But we've scrubbed the dirt off the face of work, and consequently we've created this suspicion of anything that's too dirty.”

“I'm from Baltimore.”

“I've got one of those over-stuffed leather chairs from the Pottery Barn. It faces north. I live in San Francisco, so there's the Golden Gate Bridge off to the left, and there's Alcatraz off...”

“Happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value and behaving in a way that's consistent with those beliefs.”

“We need to tell better stories of men and women who master a trade. We have to stop telling kids to blindly follow their passion and show them the opportunities that exist. That was the big,...”

“'Bloody do-gooders' is my expression for people who are nicer than me, who are better than me.”

“My mother's dad dropped out of the eighth grade to work. He had to. By the time he was 30, he was a master electrician, plumber, carpenter, mason, mechanic. That guy was, to me, a magician....”

“If you're trying to raise a son, it gives you a chance to say things like, 'Chop your own wood; it will warm you twice.'”

“I come from a blue collar family, but my personal life isn't. I didn't get the gene that my grandfather had in spades. He was a local hero. Built the church that I went to. Built the house I...”

“One of the things that continually surprised people with the kind of shows I do, is that we try and find people who aren't doing jobs that are traditionally aspirational but who have neverth...”

“There is a lot of stuff we can't control, but it is completely in our power to decide what the definition of what a good job is. That's up to us.”

“To me, we're living in a non-linear world... But the truth is we are linear creatures. Everything unfolds one after the next. And that's the thing we've become disconnected from.”

“I'm not disinterested in the rest of the world, but studies show the rest of the world is really freaking far away.”