„Wishing, of all employments, is the worst.“

„…a fate I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy…“

—  Paul DiLascia American software developer 1959 - 2008

on being someone who is writing a C++ compiler, 1993/2
About language

„God is a kind Father. He sets us all in the place where He wishes us to be employed; and that employment is truly "our Father's business."“

—  John Ruskin English writer and art critic 1819 - 1900

He chooses work for every creature which will be delightful to them, if they do it simply and humbly. He gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for what He wants us to do; if we either tire ourselves, or puzzle ourselves, it is our own fault. And we may always be sure, whatever we are doing, that we cannot be pleasing Him, if we are not happy ourselves.

P. 123
Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

„Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.“

—  Sophocles, Electra

Electra, 1007.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

„You wonder about her crime. She was condemned
to death for stealing clothes from her employer, from
the wife of her employer. She wished to make herself
more beautiful. This desire in servants was not legal.“

—  Margaret Atwood Canadian writer 1939

Selected Poems 1976-1986 (1987), Marrying the Hangman

„The manifesto had a paragraph on a wish and an aspiration, acknowledging that the Reserve Bank is independent and that there is no intention whatsoever to tamper or tinker with the independence of the central bank. The wish that is expressed is, that as it goes ahead with monetary policy machinations, it will keep an eye on employment.“

—  Cyril Ramaphosa 5th President of South Africa 1952

Answering a question by JSE chairperson Nyembezi-Heita in Rosebank, on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos, as quoted by Carien du Plessis in Ramaphosa and Magashule contradict each other on Reserve Bank nationalisation https://www.msn.com/en-za/money/politics/ramaphosa-and-magashule-contradict-each-other-on-reserve-bank-nationalisation/ar-BBSjJd5?ocid=spartanntp, Daily Maverick (17 January 2019)

„Work is the best and worst of all things; the best of it is voluntary, the worst of it is servile.“

—  Alain French philosopher 1868 - 1951

Happy Farmers
Alain On Happiness (1928)

„This is the worst president ever. He is the worst president in all of American history.“

—  Helen Thomas American author and journalist 1920 - 2013

About George W. Bush, said in Los Angeles while at a Society for Professional Journalism banquet event.
Published in an article by John Bogert in the Torrance, California Daily Breeze (19 January 2003).
According to Thomas this was supposed to be off the record. The reporter (assumedly Bogert) asked for her autograph after she spoke at the event. As she signed his copy of her book, he said to her, "You look sad?" She responded by saying "Well I am. I'm covering the worst president..."
Interview by Adam Holdorf for Real Change News, (18 March 2004).

„Remorse is a terrible thing to bear, Pam, one of the worst of all punishments in this life. To wish undone something you have done, to wish you could look back on kindness to someone you love, instead of on unkindness - that is a very terrible thing.“

—  Enid Blyton author 1897 - 1968

Zdroj: House at the Corner

„What is the whole problem as it effects the working classes of this country? It is all contained in one word—employment. Cheap food, a higher standard of living, higher wages—all these things, important as they are, are contained in the word employment. If this policy will give you more employment, all the others would be added unto you. If you lose your employment, all the others put together will not compensate you for that loss.“

—  Joseph Chamberlain British businessman, politician, and statesman 1836 - 1914

Speech in Liverpool (27 October 1903), quoted in The Times (28 October 1903), p. 6.
1900s

„The worst of all fears is the fear of living“

—  Theodore Roosevelt, kniha Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography

Zdroj: Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography

„Welcome to the worst nightmare of all, reality!“

—  Clive Barker author, film director and visual artist 1952

„The worst of all states is the people's state.“

—  Pierre Corneille, Cinna

Le pire des États, c'est l'État populaire.
Cinna, act II, scene i.
Cinna (1641)

„Prudery is a kind of avarice, the worst of all.“

—  Stendhal French writer 1783 - 1842

Fragments
De L'Amour (On Love) (1822)

„Do I wish I didn't say a few things nine years ago? Yes. But if that's the worst thing I ever did, I can live with it.“

—  Chris Berman American sportscaster 1955

On Sports Media: 'Big Brother' watches, listens, Barry Jackson, 2008-02-22, 2008-03-27, MiamiHerald.com, http://web.archive.org/web/20070811065546/http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/428521.html, 2007-08-11 http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/428521.html,

„Spiritual pride is the worst of all pride, if it is not the worst snare of the devil. The heart is peculiarly deceitful on just this one thing.“

—  Ichabod Spencer American minister 1798 - 1854

Zdroj: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 485.

„Train any population rationally, and they will be rational. Furnish honest and useful employments to those so trained, and such employments they will greatly prefer to dishonest or injurious occupations. It is beyond all calculation the interest of every government to provide that training and that employment; and to provide both is easily practicable.“

—  Robert Owen Welsh social reformer 1771 - 1858

A New View of Society (1813-1816)

„As to pay, Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it.“

—  George Washington first President of the United States 1732 - 1799

Acceptance speech after being "elected" by the Continental Congress as commander of the yet-to-be-created Continental Army http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/amrev/contarmy/accepts.html (15 June 1775)
1770s

„Of all ghosts the ghosts of our old loves are the worst.“

—  Arthur Conan Doyle Scottish physician and author 1859 - 1930

Zdroj: The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes

„If you plan for the worst, all surprises are pleasant.“

—  Robert Jordan, The Shadow Rising

Gaul
(15 September 1992)
Varianta: Always plan for the worst, that way all your surprises will be pleasant ones.
Zdroj: The Shadow Rising