Mike Rowe Quotes & Sayings

Innovation without imitation is a complete waste of time. — Mike Rowe

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 actually try. I'm a lab rat. I'm a perpetual apprentice. The joke is on me if there is one. — Mike Rowe

The flaw in our character is our insistence on separating blue-collar jobs from white-collar jobs, and encouraging one form of education over another. — Mike Rowe

Not all knowledge comes from college. — Mike Rowe

I'm looking forward to the future, and feeling grateful for the past. — Mike Rowe

Why worry about doing something you love? Figure out what the opportunity is. Find a thing, get good at it, learn to love it later. — 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. — Mike Rowe

The skills gap is a reflection of what we value. To close the gap, we need to change the way the country feels about work. — Mike Rowe

'Dirty Jobs' is maybe the simplest show in the history of TV, with the possible exception of 'The Gong Show'. I go around the country; we've shot in every state. And we spend a day with people who do jobs that are dirty or dangerous or ridiculous or difficult. — Mike Rowe

Im a B-list celebrity trying to give it an honest look. They see me do actual work ... I try to be the viewer with a microphone. — Mike Rowe

Anything worth doing hurts a little. — Mike Rowe

I always complain because I'm old now and everything hurts. — Mike Rowe

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. Anything that was broken, he could fix. Anybody anywhere in our community knew that if there was a problem, Carl was there to fix it. — Mike Rowe

People like to cherry-pick the parts of their career that they're either in the midst of or that they're the most proud of, but the truth is careers and lives are tapestries. — Mike Rowe

Most of the things I do brand wise are both missionary and mercenary in their position, and that's really important to me; that's one of the first things I look at when I say, 'does it make sense to do a deal?' — Mike Rowe

I think a trillion dollars of student loans and a massive skills gap are precisely what happens to a society that actively promotes one form of education as the best course for the most people. I think the stigmas and stereotypes that keep so many people from pursuing a truly useful skill, begin with the mistaken belief that a four-year degree is somehow superior to all other forms of learning. — Mike Rowe

I wouldn't wish any specific thing for any specific person - it's none of my business. But the idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane. It's insane. — Mike Rowe

If we are lending money that ostensibly we don't have to kids who have no hope of making it back in order to train them for jobs that clearly don't exist, I might suggest that we've gone around the bend a little bit, — Mike Rowe

Short-cuts lead to long delays. — Mike Rowe

The thing that makes 'Dirty Jobs' different is that it's one of the few shows that portrays work in a way that doesn't highlight the drudgery. Instead, it highlights the humor. — Mike Rowe

People with dirty jobs are happier than you think. As a group, they're the happiest people I know. — Mike Rowe

Michael Brown and Eric Garner died because they got into a confrontation that could have been easily avoided. That's what made their deaths so tragic. — Mike Rowe

You've got a lot of very, very smart people standing by waiting for somebody else to do the work. Not a recipe for long-term solvency in my opinion. — Mike Rowe

Nobody makes a turd like that and lives. — Mike Rowe

Don't follow your passion, but always bring it with you. — Mike Rowe

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. — Mike Rowe

Some jobs are just too hideous to contemplate, — Mike Rowe

I rarely do anything on the show by myself. I dont want it to be about me. Squatting in the sewer in San Francisco, its really hot, were up to our knees in a river of crap. Rats and cockroaches are all over. I would never, ever walk into that environment, except for the fact that the guy who does it every day is squatting next to me. — Mike Rowe

We are lending money we don't have to kids who can't pay it back to train them for jobs that no longer exist. — Mike Rowe

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 host ... It's a very tricky business paying a tribute to work, because TV is very bad at it. — Mike Rowe

Work hard AND smart. — Mike Rowe

'Dirty Jobs' is a fun, simple little show with huge themes under it. For me, it's penance, it's redemption, it's a sweaty mess. — Mike Rowe

What you do, who you're with, and how you feel about the world around you, is completely up to you. — Mike Rowe

The one thing that TV is bad at doing is preaching. There are two extremes, you either turn the people into a punchline or turn them into hero, and both of those things suck, because most people are neither in real life. — Mike Rowe

Why does a chicken coop only have two doors? ... Because if it had four doors, it would be a chicken sedan. — Mike Rowe

There's really not a difference between an octopus and, like, a giant pile of snot. — Mike Rowe

Always flat front. You've got to be deeply suspicious of a man who consciously goes with pleats. Why would you do that? — Mike Rowe

The search for truth in cyberspace will take you through the wormhole, and there's nothing on the other side but pedants and nitpickers and bottomless ambiguity. If you're not careful, you'll spend all your time proving everything and understanding nothing. — Mike Rowe

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 worldview that you can articulate as well as defend. Test your theory with people who disagree with you. Debate. Argue. Adjust your philosophy as necessary. — Mike Rowe

I'm allergic to rocks hitting me in the face. — Mike Rowe

Opportunity usually shows up in overalls and looking like work. — Mike Rowe

So you're saying that after I take a disappointing shower I should get in bed and lay there and weep? — Mike Rowe

Good jobs look a lot like kids playing and adults working. — Mike Rowe

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 grew up in. Steamfitter, pipefitter, electrician, mechanic and plumber. I wanted to do those things. But it just didn't come easy. — Mike Rowe

We've waged war on work. We have collectively agreed, stupidly, that work is the enemy. — Mike Rowe

It's about, when did it make sense to say one size fits everybody? It never ever ever made sense to do that, and yet we're still selling education the same way we sold it when you and I were in high school. — Mike Rowe

Some jobs pay better, some jobs smell better, and some jobs have no business being treated like careers. But work is never the enemy, regardless of the wage. Because somewhere between the job and the paycheck, there's still a thing called opportunity, and that's what people need to pursue. — Mike Rowe

I can say the willingness to get dirty has always defined us as an nation, and it's a hallmark of hard work and a hallmark of fun, and dirt is not the enemy. — Mike Rowe