--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Honest work is much better than a mansion." description: "\"Honest work is much better than a mansion.\" — Leo Tolstoy" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/leo-tolstoy-55_honest_honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansio_2799718.png" --- # Honest work is much better than a mansion. ![“Honest work is much better than a mansion.” quote by Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/leo-tolstoy-55_honest_honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansio_2799718.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/leo-tolstoy-55_honest_honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansio_2799718.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/leo-tolstoy-55_honest_honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansio_2799718.png) > “Honest work is much better than a mansion.” [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. True fulfillment comes from honest labor, not material wealth. **In simple terms:** Work honestly, not chase mansions. Key Takeaway Value integrity over status. Themes work honesty materialism Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career - personal finance - social status - life satisfaction Key Concepts ethics philosophy Questions to Reflect On - Do you prioritize honesty over wealth? - What defines success for you? A Different Perspective Hard work may not guarantee wealth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Honest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/honest/) [Honest work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/honest-work/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [Out of the ruined lodge and forgotten mansion, bowers that are trodden under foot, and pleasure-houses that are dust, the poet calls up a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-de-quincey/out-of-the-ruined-lodge-and-forgotten-mansion-bowers-that-are-trodden/) [Thomas de Quincey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-de-quincey/) > [Each thought is a nail that is driven In structures that cannot decay; And the mansion at last will be given To us as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/each-thought-is-a-nail-that-is-driven-in-structures-that-cannot-decay/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [The worst of a modern stylish mansion is that it has no place for ghosts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-worst-of-a-modern-stylish-mansion-is-that-it-has-no-place-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Umlaut snaps around and we cut to a blond apparition in her early twenties, clearly descended from Olympus by way of Hugh Hefner's mansion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/umlaut-snaps-around-and-we-cut-to-a-blond-apparition-in-her-early/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [My mansion is, where those immortal shapes Of bright aerial spirits live insphered In regions mild of calm and serene air, Above the smoke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/my-mansion-is-where-those-immortal-shapes-of-bright-aerial-spirits/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [I live in the same house I’ve lived in for 25 years. I haven’t gone off and bought mansions, you know, even though my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-stewart/i-live-in-the-same-house-i-ve-lived-in-for-25-years-i-haven-t-gone/) [Martha Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-stewart/) > [I don't drive an Escalade; I've never lived on a mansion; I live in a townhouse. Even with my internet business, when I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/romany-malco/i-don-t-drive-an-escalade-i-ve-never-lived-on-a-mansion-i-live-in-a/) [Romany Malco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/romany-malco/) > [If we have a giant mansion and we don't keep it as well as that room, then our yoga isn't good and our attention…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/if-we-have-a-giant-mansion-and-we-don-t-keep-it-as-well-as-that-room/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Language is a spiritual mansion in which you live and nobody has the right to evict you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/language-is-a-spiritual-mansion-in-which-you-live-and-nobody-has-the/) [Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/) > [If you are a plumber, you can work on a shed, or you can work on a mansion. It's just scale.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-freeman/if-you-are-a-plumber-you-can-work-on-a-shed-or-you-can-work-on-a/) [Martin Freeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-freeman/) > [O thou that dost inhabit in my breast, leave not the mansion so long tenantless; lest, growing ruinous, the building fall and leave no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/o-thou-that-dost-inhabit-in-my-breast-leave-not-the-mansion-so-long/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [But Love has pitched his mansion in the place of excrement. For nothing can be sole or whole that has not been rent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/but-love-has-pitched-his-mansion-in-the-place-of-excrement-for/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [For intellect is a mansion where waste is without drain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-tate/for-intellect-is-a-mansion-where-waste-is-without-drain/) [Allen Tate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-tate/) > [I don't like mansions. They depress me. In fact, I even feel sorry for a rich husband and wife living in a forty-room mansion.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-bugliosi/i-don-t-like-mansions-they-depress-me-in-fact-i-even-feel-sorry-for-a/) [Vincent Bugliosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-bugliosi/) > [Goresthorpe Grange is a feudal mansion - or so it was termed in the advertisement which originally brought it under my notice. Its right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/goresthorpe-grange-is-a-feudal-mansion-or-so-it-was-termed-in-the/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) ## More by Leo Tolstoy > [These joys were so trifling as to be as imperceptible as grains of gold among the sand, and in moments of depression she saw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/these-joys-were-so-trifling-as-to-be-as-imperceptible-as-grains-of/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The only significance of life consists in helping to establish the kingdom of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/the-only-significance-of-life-consists-in-helping-to-establish-the/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-already-love-in-you-your-beauty-but-i-am-only-beginning-to-love-in/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Energy rests upon love; and come as it will, there's no forcing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/energy-rests-upon-love-and-come-as-it-will-there-s-no-forcing-it/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“If you only knew what those society women are, and women in general! My father is right. Selfish, vain, stupid, trivial in everything—that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/if-you-only-knew-what-those-society-women-are-and-women-in-general-my/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [To speak of it would be giving importance to that which has none.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-speak-of-it-would-be-giving-importance-to-that-which-has-none/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Once we're thrown off our habitual paths, we think all is lost, but it's only here that the new and the good begins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/once-we-re-thrown-off-our-habitual-paths-we-think-all-is-lost-but-it/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“He knew she was there by the rapture and the terror that seized on his heart. She was standing talking to a lady at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/he-knew-she-was-there-by-the-rapture-and-the-terror-that-seized-on/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Rest, nature, books, music...such is my idea of happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/rest-nature-books-music-such-is-my-idea-of-happiness/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“He was not to blame for being born with an irrepressible charachter and a mind some how constrained.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/he-was-not-to-blame-for-being-born-with-an-irrepressible-charachter/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [I ask one thing only: I ask for the right to hope, to suffer as I do. But if even that cannot be, command…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-ask-one-thing-only-i-ask-for-the-right-to-hope-to-suffer-as-i-do/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The idea shared by many that life is a vale of tears is just as false as the idea shared by the great majority,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/the-idea-shared-by-many-that-life-is-a-vale-of-tears-is-just-as-false/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [To say that a work of art is good, but incomprehensible to the majority of men, is the same as saying of some kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-say-that-a-work-of-art-is-good-but-incomprehensible-to-the/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [True life is lived when tiny changes occur.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/true-life-is-lived-when-tiny-changes-occur/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) [Explore all 1,754 Leo Tolstoy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) ## More Honest quotes > [How strong is a faith that can't stand up to a few honest questions?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-c-davis/how-strong-is-a-faith-that-can-t-stand-up-to-a-few-honest-questions/) [Kenneth C. Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-c-davis/) > [What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straghtforward men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/what-we-shall-need-is-not-geniuses-or-cynics-or-misanthropes-or/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [We have a fear of facing ourselves. That is the obstacle. Experiencing the innermost core of our existence is very embarrassing to a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/we-have-a-fear-of-facing-ourselves-that-is-the-obstacle-experiencing/) [Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/) > [Tobacco is the passion of honest men and he who lives without tobacco is not worthy of living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moliere/tobacco-is-the-passion-of-honest-men-and-he-who-lives-without-tobacco/) [Moliere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moliere/) > [It is worthwhile for anyone to have behind him a few generations of honest, hard-working ancestry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-worthwhile-for-anyone-to-have-behind-him-a-few-generations-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“RIGHT Do you do what feels right or what is seen right?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kitty-downer/right-do-you-do-what-feels-right-or-what-is-seen-right/) [Kitty Downer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kitty-downer/) > [One of the most basic principles for making and keeping peace within and between nations. . . is that in political, military, moral, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-carter/one-of-the-most-basic-principles-for-making-and-keeping-peace-within/) [Jimmy Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-carter/) > [I don't know - to be honest, I don't really model myself after anybody.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diego-klattenhoff/i-don-t-know-to-be-honest-i-don-t-really-model-myself-after-anybody/) [Diego Klattenhoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diego-klattenhoff/) > [There's a certain edge about cruelty. If you're honest about it, most people wince, but say it had to be said.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-waterman/there-s-a-certain-edge-about-cruelty-if-you-re-honest-about-it-most/) [Pete Waterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-waterman/) > [I have often spoken of integrity as the most important of these values, realizing that integrity – and personal integrity, at that – is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/verghese-kurien/i-have-often-spoken-of-integrity-as-the-most-important-of-these/) [Verghese Kurien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/verghese-kurien/) > [Honest people don't hide their deeds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/honest-people-don-t-hide-their-deeds/) [Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/) > [I used to not be really honest with girls and then I dropped a song called Starry Room and then I started turning over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaden-smith/i-used-to-not-be-really-honest-with-girls-and-then-i-dropped-a-song/) [Jaden Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaden-smith/) > [Fuck perfect, I want honest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/djsovviet/fuck-perfect-i-want-honest/) Djsovviet > [If I'm honest, I think everything is funny. You've just got to find the right way in. When I'm at my happiest and when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-mcintyre/if-i-m-honest-i-think-everything-is-funny-you-ve-just-got-to-find-the/) [Michael McIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-mcintyre/) > [I think managers see that I am honest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-lallana/i-think-managers-see-that-i-am-honest/) [Adam Lallana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-lallana/) [Browse all 7,016 Honest quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/honest/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Honest work is much better than a mansion.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leo Tolstoy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansion/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Honest" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansion/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/leo-tolstoy-55_honest_honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansio_2799718.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/leo-tolstoy-55_honest_honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansio_2799718.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cd/leo-tolstoy-55_honest_honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansio_2799718.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Honest work is much better than a mansion.” — Leo Tolstoy", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Leo Tolstoy", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Honest work is much better than...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansion/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/honest-work-is-much-better-than-a-mansion/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```