Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

The saying contrasts extrinsic motivation (working chiefly for pay) with intrinsic motivation (working from genuine interest or devotion). It suggests that the best work—especially work requiring care, judgment, or creativity—comes from people who find meaning in the task itself, not merely in its compensation. Read as advice to employers, it elevates vocation and craftsmanship over mere labor-for-wages; read more broadly, it reflects a moral ideal associated with Thoreau: aligning one’s livelihood with one’s principles and passions. The line also implies a critique of a market culture that can reduce human effort to a commodity, overlooking the quality and integrity that love of the work can produce.