Excellence Quotes

Whatever your discipline, become a student of excellence in all things. Take every opportunity to observe people who manifest the qualities of mastery.

Excellence does not begin in Washington.

No publisher in America improved a paper so quickly on so grand a scale, took a paper that was marginal in qualities and brought it to excellence as Otis Chandler did.

Let America first praise mediocrity even, in her children, before she praises... the best excellence in the children of any other land.

Minds are of three kinds: one is capable of thinking for itself; another is able to understand the thinking of others; and a third can neither think for itself nor understand the thinking of others. The first is of the highest excellence, the second is excellent, and the third is worthless.

Consider first, that great or bright infers not excellence.

Real excellence does not come cheaply. A certain price must be paid in terms of practice, patience, and persistence - natural ability notwithstanding.

Mediocre men work at their best; men seeking excellence strive to do better.

The sad truth is that excellence makes people nervous.

Excellence is not an act but a habit. The things you do the most are the things you will do best.

My father once told me that anyone who worked for three dollars an hour owed it to himself to put in four dollars' worth of work.

My theory of self-made men is, then, simply this; that they are men of work. Whether or not such men have acquired material, moral or intellectual excellence, honest labor faithfully, steadily and persistently pursued, is the best, if not the only, explanation of their success... All human experience proves over and over again, that any success which comes through meanness, trickery, fraud and dishonour, is but emptiness and will only be a torment to its possessor.

Since the birth of our nation, the steady performance of the Marine Corps in fighting America's battles has made it the very symbol of military excellence. The Corps has come to be recognized worldwide as an elite force of fighting men, renowned for their physical endurance, for their high level of obedience, and for the fierce pride they take, as individuals, in the capacity for self discipline.

The foundation of lasting self-confidence and self esteem is excellence, mastery of your work.

In order to deal with the chaos that exists in the world today, you need some grounding. That grounding best comes from knowing who you are.

The more efficient causes of progress seem to consist of a good education during youth whilst the brain is impressible, and of a high standard of excellence, inculcated by the ablest and best men, embodied in the laws, customs and traditions of the nation, and enforced by public opinion.

It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision does.

Believe passionately in what you do, and never knowingly compromise your standards and values. Act like a true professional, aiming for true excellence, and the money will follow.

The companies that survive longest are the one's that work out what they uniquely can give to the world-not just growth or money but their excellence, their respect for others, or their ability to make people happy. Some call those things a soul.

Nobody I know is as committed to excellence as Donald Palmisano. He symbolizes everything that is good about our country. If Horatio Alger were alive today, heʼd want to be just like Dr. Palmisano, one of the true Renaissance men Iʼve had the privilege and pleasure of knowing! On Leadership continues in his tradition of excellence.

A total commitment is paramount to reaching the ultimate in performance.

A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.

Human excellence, parted from God, is like a fable flower, which, according to Rabbis, Eve plucked when passing out of paradise--severed from its native root, it is only the touching memorial of a lost Eden; sad, while charming--beautiful, but dead.

No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

Excellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change.

There is only one boss. The customer.

winning is not everything it is the only thing

Naturally, grown-up citizens are concerned about the beatniks and delinquents. ... The question is why the grownups do not, more soberly, draw the same conclusions as the youth. Or, since no doubt many people are quite clear about the connection that the structure of society that has becoming increasingly dominant in our country is disastrous to the growth of excellence and manliness, why don't more people speak up and say so?

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.

The best way to overcome the world is not with morality or self-discipline. Christians overcome the world by seeing the beauty and excellence of Christ. They overcome the world by seeing something more attractive than the world: Christ

Love floods our nervous system with positive energy, making us far more attractive to prospective employers, clients, and creative partners... Love leads us to act with impeccability, integrity, and excellence... Those things are the opposite of a poverty consciousness; they're the stuff of spiritual wealth creation.

Cities force growth and make men talkative and entertaining, but they make them artificial. What possesses interest for us is thenatural of each, his constitutional excellence. This is forever a surprise, engaging and lovely; we cannot be satiated with knowing it, and about it; and it is this which the conversation with Nature cherishes and guards.

Mistakes are a natural part of growing up. They're to be expected and made light of. But children bloom like spring flowers under praise. They want so much to be noticed and appreciated, to excel and have that excellence noticed.

We usually get what we anticipate.

I work hard and I have a standard of excellence - and I expect everyone at the Interior Department to meet that same standard. I delegate a lot. I might appear to be doing a lot of different things, but there's a strong team helping me. I believe we're going to have the strongest team of any agency in the Obama administration.

Genius is supposed to be a power of producing excellences which are put of the reach of the rules of art: a power which no precepts can teach, and which no industry can acquire.

One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.

Let each become all that he was created capable of being.

We are what we do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act,  but a habit.

Celebrate what you've accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed.

True success is one of the greatest needs. Success is not something you stumble onto or come to by accident. It is something you must sincerely prepare for. Take a good look at successes, and you'll see he same consistent qualities all the time - qualities of one's character that make one strive for a goal with a standard of unmatched excellence.

Excellence is never an accident.

Any thought that is passed on to the subconscious often enough and convincingly enough is finally accepted.

What must it be like to live in Rush Limbaughs world? A world where when anyone other than conservative, white men attempts to do anything or enter any profession, be it business, politics, art or sports, the only reason theyre allowed entry or, incredibly, attain excellence is because the standard was lowered. Be they liberals, people of color, women, the poor or anyone with an accent.... Edgy, controversial, brilliant. What a way to shake up intelligent sports commentary. Hitler would have killed in talk radio. He was edgy, too.

A good taste in art feels the presence or the absence of merit; a just taste discriminates the degree--the poco piu and the poco meno. A good taste rejects faults; a just taste selects excellences. A good taste is often unconscious; a just taste is always conscious. A good taste may be lowered or spoilt; a just taste can only go on refining more and more.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.

Strive for excellence, not perfection.