---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I plowed fields with horses and worked as…"
description: "\"I plowed fields with horses and worked as a hired hand in high school for 50 cents a day.\" — Stewart Udall"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a6/stewart-udall-12055_cents_i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-a_1245692.png"
---

#  I plowed fields with horses and worked as a hired hand in…

![“I plowed fields with horses and worked as a hired hand in high school for 50 cents a day.” quote by Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a6/stewart-udall-12055_cents_i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-a_1245692.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a6/stewart-udall-12055_cents_i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-a_1245692.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a6/stewart-udall-12055_cents_i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-a_1245692.png)

> “I plowed fields with horses and worked as a hired hand in high school for 50 cents a day.”

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Early labor work taught humility and appreciation for simple rewards.

**In simple terms:** Hard work in youth builds humility.

Key Takeaway

Respect and value modest beginnings.

Themes

hard work humility gratitude

Mood

reflective grateful

Type

personal historical

When to use this quote

- career reflection
- public service
- education

Key Concepts

labor history personal growth economic struggle

Questions to Reflect On

- What lessons from early work influence your decisions today?
- How can society better support low‑wage youth?

A Different Perspective

Hardship can also cause lasting socioeconomic challenges.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day/) [High school](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/high-school/) [Horse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horse/) [School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school/)

## Related quotes

> [You could buy my book in a paperback edition for a dollar, and in hard covers for $3.50. And for fifty cents extra, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hope/you-could-buy-my-book-in-a-paperback-edition-for-a-dollar-and-in-hard/)

[Bob Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hope/)

> [I'll mix a lot of things. I'll wear a Temperley dress with flip flops, or I might be in head-to-toe Gucci and have on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-blakely/i-ll-mix-a-lot-of-things-i-ll-wear-a-temperley-dress-with-flip-flops/)

[Sara Blakely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-blakely/)

> [I saw soda pop for $1.20 a six pack. That price messes with your head. You start thinking you're gonna sell soda pop. Suddenly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-hedberg/i-saw-soda-pop-for-1-20-a-six-pack-that-price-messes-with-your-head/)

[Mitch Hedberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-hedberg/)

> [I make 50 cents for showing up... and the other 50 cents is based on my performance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/i-make-50-cents-for-showing-up-and-the-other-50-cents-is-based-on-my/)

[Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/)

> [Like now what Urban Outfitters has become is very much how I always dressed in high school by going to garage sales and getting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-lee/like-now-what-urban-outfitters-has-become-is-very-much-how-i-always/)

[Amy Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-lee/)

> [America has a terrible educational problem in the sense that we have too many youngsters not finishing school. A third of our kids don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/america-has-a-terrible-educational-problem-in-the-sense-that-we-have/)

[Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/)

> [I grew up in Dutch Harbor, Alaska - a place so tiny, we got only one channel on TV. The high school and middle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darby-stanchfield/i-grew-up-in-dutch-harbor-alaska-a-place-so-tiny-we-got-only-one/)

[Darby Stanchfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darby-stanchfield/)

> [History celebrates the battlefields whereon we meet our death, but scorns to speak of the plowed fields whereby we thrive. It knows the names…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-henri-fabre/history-celebrates-the-battlefields-whereon-we-meet-our-death-but/)

[Jean-Henri Fabre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-henri-fabre/)

> [“Spring had come early that year, with warm quick rains and sudden frothing of pink peach blossoms and dogwood dappling with white stars the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mitchell/spring-had-come-early-that-year-with-warm-quick-rains-and-sudden/)

[Margaret Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mitchell/)

> [“By what peculiar twist of perception, I wondered, had I managed to see the plowed fields and second-growth forests of southern Wisconsin—a landscape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-cronon/by-what-peculiar-twist-of-perception-i-wondered-had-i-managed-to-see/)

[William Cronon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-cronon/)

> [“For all those landscapes, those flowers and those plowed fields, the oldest of lands, show you every spring that there are things you cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/for-all-those-landscapes-those-flowers-and-those-plowed-fields-the/)

[Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/)

> [Find me playing till sunrise for 50 cents and a sandwich.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muddy-waters/find-me-playing-till-sunrise-for-50-cents-and-a-sandwich/)

[Muddy Waters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muddy-waters/)

> [I came to New York with $500. That was a lot of money because my allowance was 50 cents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-reinking/i-came-to-new-york-with-500-that-was-a-lot-of-money-because-my/)

[Ann Reinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-reinking/)

> [This is the debate we have every time we talk about the minimum wage, that if we raise it even 50 cents, that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-cutter/this-is-the-debate-we-have-every-time-we-talk-about-the-minimum-wage/)

[Stephanie Cutter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-cutter/)

> [“Normally I charge 60 cents on the dollar for stolen merchandise. But since it was my mother-in-law, and I stole it from her, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/normally-i-charge-60-cents-on-the-dollar-for-stolen-merchandise-but/)

[Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/)

## More by Stewart Udall

> [I like the story about Henry David Thoreau, who, when he was on his death bed, his family sent for a minister. The minister…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/i-like-the-story-about-henry-david-thoreau-who-when-he-was-on-his/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [The most common trait of all primitive peoples is a reverence for the life-giving earth, and the Native American shared this elemental ethic: The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/the-most-common-trait-of-all-primitive-peoples-is-a-reverence-for-the/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [The atomic weapons race and the secrecy surrounding it crushed American democracy. It induced us to conduct government according to lies. It distorted justice.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/the-atomic-weapons-race-and-the-secrecy-surrounding-it-crushed/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [Nature will take precedence over the needs of the modern man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/nature-will-take-precedence-over-the-needs-of-the-modern-man/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [In a region with a growing population, if you're doing nothing, you're losing ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/in-a-region-with-a-growing-population-if-you-re-doing-nothing-you-re/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [A limit on the automobile population of the United States would be the best of news for our cities. The end of automania would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/a-limit-on-the-automobile-population-of-the-united-states-would-be/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/we-have-i-fear-confused-power-with-greatness/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [Lady Bird Johnson did more than plant flowers in public places. She served the country superbly by planting environmental values in the minds of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/lady-bird-johnson-did-more-than-plant-flowers-in-public-places-she/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [I don't remember a big fight between the Republicans and Democrats in the Nixon administration or President Gerald Ford and so on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/i-don-t-remember-a-big-fight-between-the-republicans-and-democrats-in/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [The most common trait of all primitive peoples is a reverence for the life-giving earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/the-most-common-trait-of-all-primitive-peoples-is-a-reverence-for-the-2/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/plans-to-protect-air-and-water-wilderness-and-wildlife-are-in-fact/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [Cherish sunsets, wild creatures, and wild places. Have a love affair with the wonder and beauty of the earth!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/cherish-sunsets-wild-creatures-and-wild-places-have-a-love-affair/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [It induced us to conduct government according to lies. It distorted justice. It undermined American morality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/it-induced-us-to-conduct-government-according-to-lies-it-distorted/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [America today stands poised on a pinnacle of wealth and power, yet we live in a land of vanishing beauty, of increasing ugliness, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/america-today-stands-poised-on-a-pinnacle-of-wealth-and-power-yet-we/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

> [Over the long haul of life on this planet, it is the ecologists, and not the bookkeepers of business, who are the ultimate accountants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/over-the-long-haul-of-life-on-this-planet-it-is-the-ecologists-and/)

[Stewart Udall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

[Explore all 56 Stewart Udall quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/)

## More Cents quotes

> [Popular culture as a whole is popular, but in today's fragmented market it's a jostle of competing unpopular popular cultures. As the critic Stanley…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-steyn/popular-culture-as-a-whole-is-popular-but-in-today-s-fragmented/)

[Mark Steyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-steyn/)

> [I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-never-write-metropolis-for-seven-cents-because-i-can-get-the-same/)

[Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/)

> [Only two to three per cent of an audience is interested in words and pays attention to lyrics; most of the rest of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-stewart/only-two-to-three-per-cent-of-an-audience-is-interested-in-words-and/)

[Al Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-stewart/)

> [Ninety nine per cent of the time, for anyone who wins or makes money, it makes them happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-blessed/ninety-nine-per-cent-of-the-time-for-anyone-who-wins-or-makes-money/)

[Brian Blessed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-blessed/)

> [The Pink Panther wasn't shown to the press for reasons that soon became apparent when I saw it at a public performance. Two people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-french/the-pink-panther-wasn-t-shown-to-the-press-for-reasons-that-soon/)

[Philip French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-french/)

> [It cost about 75 cents to kill a man in Ceasar's time. The price rose to about $3,000 per man during the Napoleonic wars;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer-bone/it-cost-about-75-cents-to-kill-a-man-in-ceasar-s-time-the-price-rose/)

Homer Bone

> [The Bell curve is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85 per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-kuan-yew/the-bell-curve-is-a-fact-of-life-the-blacks-on-average-score-85-per/)

[Lee Kuan Yew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-kuan-yew/)

> [...that in spite of living in a mansion an American is not above wearing a pair of secondhand pants, bought for fifty cents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhumpa-lahiri/that-in-spite-of-living-in-a-mansion-an-american-is-not-above-wearing/)

[Jhumpa Lahiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhumpa-lahiri/)

> [I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life I have never obstructed justice,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-m-nixon/i-have-earned-every-cent-and-in-all-of-my-years-of-public-life-i-have/)

[Richard M. Nixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-m-nixon/)

> [If every country committed to spending 0.05 per cent of GDP on researching non-carbon-emitting energy technologies, that would cost $25 billion a year, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bjorn-lomborg/if-every-country-committed-to-spending-0-05-per-cent-of-gdp-on/)

[Bjorn Lomborg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bjorn-lomborg/)

> [You could pay a fair market price for a barrel of oil and cut 50 cents a barrel or a dollar barrel off what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-bolling/you-could-pay-a-fair-market-price-for-a-barrel-of-oil-and-cut-50/)

[Eric Bolling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-bolling/)

> [In market research I did at Microsoft Corp. in the early 1990s, I estimated that the 'Wall Street Journal' took in about 75 cents…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-myhrvold/in-market-research-i-did-at-microsoft-corp-in-the-early-1990s-i/)

[Nathan Myhrvold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-myhrvold/)

> [Shooting is 99 per cent luck and one per cent training](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhinav-bindra/shooting-is-99-per-cent-luck-and-one-per-cent-training/)

[Abhinav Bindra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhinav-bindra/)

> [In 1985, the top five percent of the households - the wealthiest five percent - had net worth of $8 trillion - which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-stockman/in-1985-the-top-five-percent-of-the-households-the-wealthiest-five/)

[David Stockman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-stockman/)

> [For chat-room tyros who expect to make their first million day-trading by age 27, paging through the Sunday newspaper with a pair of scissors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-berenson/for-chat-room-tyros-who-expect-to-make-their-first-million-day/)

[Alex Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-berenson/)

Browse all 772 Cents quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "I plowed fields with horses and worked as a hired hand in high school for 50 cents a day.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Stewart Udall"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-as-a-hired-hand-in-high-school/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Cents"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-as-a-hired-hand-in-high-school/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a6/stewart-udall-12055_cents_i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-a_1245692.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a6/stewart-udall-12055_cents_i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-a_1245692.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a6/stewart-udall-12055_cents_i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-a_1245692.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“I plowed fields with horses and worked as a hired hand in high school for 50 cents a day.” — Stewart Udall",
                "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": "Stewart Udall",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stewart-udall/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "I plowed fields with horses and...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-as-a-hired-hand-in-high-school/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stewart-udall/i-plowed-fields-with-horses-and-worked-as-a-hired-hand-in-high-school/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
