Labor Day is a good time to think about the role work plays in your life.

The author Henry Thoreau said, “The mass of men spend their lives in quiet desperation.” For some, work is part of that desperation. For others, it’s part of what makes life worth living. Finding the right job is as difficult as finding the right mate and it’s just as important.

People who love their work get more out of their lives. President Teddy Roosevelt said, “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” The French writer George Sand put it another way: “Work is not a punishment; it’s a reward.”

According to poet W. H. Auden, three things are needed if people are to be happy in their work: “They must be fit for it, they must not do too much of it and they must have a sense of success in it.” Elbert Hubbard told his readers, “Get happiness out of your work or you may never know what happiness is.”

In summing up his life, comedian Johnny Carson said, “Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace and more success than you could possibly have imagined.”

Where does work fit into a balanced life? Some live for their work. If their work is truly meaningful and gratifying that may make sense, but Harold Kushner points out, “I’ve never met anyone on their deathbed who said, ‘I wish I spent more time at the office.’”

Work is, of course, a common subject of cynical observations such as “Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties” (columnist Doug Larson) or “Many people quit looking for work when they find a job.”

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

Michael Josephson is founder and president of the Westside-based, non-profit Josephson Institute of Ethics. See charactercounts.org.