Compensation Quotes

“If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.”
― Henry David Thoreau, I to Myself: An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau

“What we seek is some kind of compensation for what we put up with.”
― Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance

“Vengeance, retaliation, retribution, revenge are deceitful brothers—vile, beguiling demons promising justifiable compensation to a pained soul for his losses. Yet in truth they craftily fester away all else of worth remaining.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, The Tarishe Curse

“And as a few strokes on the nose will make a puppy head shy, so a few rebuffs will make a boy shy all over. But whereas a puppy will cringe away or roll on its back, groveling, a little boy may cover his shyness with nonchalance, with bravado, or with secrecy. And once a boy has suffered rejection, he will find rejection even where it does not exist—or, worse, will draw it forth from people simply by expecting it.”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

“Effective board governance hinges on designing management compensation structures that align with long-term goals.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr., Board Room Blitz: Mastering the Art of Corporate Governance

“Managers receiving hundreds of thousands a year—and setting their compensation for themselves—are not being paid wages, they are appropriating surplus value in the guise of wages. ”
― Michael Harrington

“Time wasted can never be compensated”
― Sunday Adelaja

“You don’t want to be in a situation where you can’t justify your compensation.”
― Ronald Harris, Concepts of Managing: A Road Map for Avoiding Career Hazards

“Time spent effectively can be compensated”
― Sunday Adelaja

“For everything you have missed you have gained something else, and for everything you gain you lose something else.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We have a lot more opportunities in Singapore now compared to the 1960s and 1970s. We have access to the same careers, receive the same education and compensation. Many also venture into industries that were formerly “men’s fields”. The last I checked we were ranked #55 out of 150 odd countries in terms of gender equality, according to World Economic Forum. We are still lagging behind Scandinavia and some European countries, but we are way above all the Asian countries. We are quite fortunate to be women in Singapore.”
― Fanny Lai

“Money is only one form of compensation.”
― Frank Sonnenberg, The Path to a Meaningful Life

“The music industry is a great case study for how value can ripple out through an economic ecosystem and how compensation for that value ripples back to the originators of that value.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr

“There are good and bad days. A bad day is not necessarily evil, and a good day is a compensation given to stop you from going crazy.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Stamerenophobia

“We live in a society where a basic income is necessary to live, but Disability and Workers Compensation routinely deny it to disabled workers.”
― Steven Magee

“I have many pre-existing conditions.”
― Steven Magee

“Occupational sickness may entitle you to compensation, even if the sickness took decades to be correctly diagnosed.”
― Steven Magee, Hypoxia, Mental Illness & Chronic Fatigue

“The USA government is completely okay with sending you into poverty.”
― Steven Magee, Hypoxia, Mental Illness & Chronic Fatigue

“Instead of a 'just transition' [compensation packages for those whose livelihoods will be affected by climate policy], we need to offer a new compact.
A compact between a Labor Government and those who feel they are being left behind.
And the compact is this: we won't shirk the challenges facing Australia, but we will invest in every single Australian to make sure they are not left behind as we do face them. (p.118)”
― Chris Bowen, On Charlatans

“If a prospective employer tells you your compensation is above their budget, it’s not your problem. Your above-average pay is a validation that you are an above-average performer. Don’t apologize for being the best talent. You have reached there with hard work and determination. Don’t undersell. Mediocre salaries will only get them mediocre talent.”
― Pavithra Urs

“I marveled at the power of a soul's truest story to staunch life's cruelest ones.”
― Lynda Rutledge, West With Giraffes

“Do not negotiate compensation based on needs, fairness, living conditions, inflation, or even cost of living. Instead, negotiate based on the revenue you generate.”
― Dr. Mansur Hasib

“Total Rewards is a strategy to align people to organizational objectives.”
― Harjeet Khanduja, HR Mastermind

“Salary structure should be creatively crafted to make employees feel good.”
― Harjeet Khanduja, HR Mastermind

“You need more than hygiene factors to motivate people.”
― Harjeet Khanduja, HR Mastermind

“Creative Compensation structure has immense power to retain and motivate.”
― Harjeet Khanduja, HR Mastermind

“Compensation is more about motivation than money.”
― Harjeet Khanduja, HR Mastermind

“Quran: Chapter 2, Verse 178
You who believe, compensation for the murdered victim has been prescribed for you: the freeman for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. Anyone who is pardoned in any way for it by his brother should follow this up appropriately, and handsomely make amends with him; that means a lightening as well as mercy from your Lord. Anyone who exceeds the limit after that shall have painful torment. You will find life in such compensation, O prudent persons, so that you may do your duty.”
― T.B. Irving, A Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Quran : The First American Version

“- a Madonna and child - was famous. It had been in the family for over two hundred years, bought with some of the compensation the Miltons received after the Abolition of Slavery Act when they had to give up their plantation in the Caribbean (and you definitely didn't talk about THAT).”
― Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook

“The pay strategy for those at the top is to find a way to pay them as much as possible. In larger organizations there is a special section or person in charge of executive compensation. Their task is to design pay packages that will retain top executives. They work with the full menu of pay options. Special tax-deferred retirement plans, stock options, corporate living arrangements, low-interest loans, termination guarantees, plus bonus plans where 30 to 50 percent bonuses are feasible. In contrast, there is a separate compensation unit that is responsible for non-executive pay practices. Their focus is on pay strategies for people at the middle and bottom. The goal there is to attract and retain good people, but to do it by paying them as little as possible. The common way of talking about it is to say that we need to work hard at controlling labor costs. When we say that, though, we are only thinking of low-power people.

It is this class distinction that results in the incongruence of massive layoffs and record profits and executive bonuses all in the same year. Our beliefs about pay systems reinforce the inequitable distribution of wealth and sanction the belief that Wall Street is our primary customer and it is fine with us if our leaders are more interested in building a career and personal wealth than in building a human organization.”
― Peter Block, Stewardship: Choosing Service over Self-Interest