Quote: Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. Author: Aristotle BC 384-322, Greek Philosopher
Quote: It is the mark of an instructed mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness when only an approximation of the truth is possible. Author: Aristotle BC 384-322, Greek Philosopher
Quote: Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. Author: Aristotle BC 384-322, Greek Philosopher
Quote: Whatever you do, don't do it halfway. Author: Bob Beamon 1946, American Track Athlete, Long Jump
Quote: Resolve to make each day the very best and don't let anyone get in your way. If they do, step on them. Author: Ivan Benson
Quote: It is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are. Author: Wendell Berry American Social Critic
Quote: People who produce good results feel good about themselves. Author: Ken Blanchard American Business Lecturer, Author
Quote: All you owe the public is a good performance. Author: Humphrey Bogart 1899-1957, American Film Actor
Quote: Do your work; not just your work and no more, but a little more for the lavishing's sake -- that little more which is worth all the rest. Author: Dean Briggs 1965-, American Drummer, ''Whitekaps''
Quote: Try to be the best of what you are, even if what you are is no good. Author: ª Ashleigh Brilliant 1933-, British-born American Humorist [Ashleigh Brilliant epigrams (BRILLIANT THOUGHTS ®) are individually protected by international copyright, and appear here by special permission. All rights reserved. Visit www.ashleighbrilliant.com]
Quote: A racehorse that consistently runs just a second faster than another horse is worth millions of dollars more. Be willing to give that extra effort that separates the winner from the one in second place. Author: H. Jackson Brown Jr. American Author of ''Life's Little Instruction Book'' Series
Quote: One of the most essential things you need to do for yourself is to choose a goal that is important to you. Perfection does not exist -- you can always do better and you can always grow. Author: Les Brown 1945-, American Speaker, Author, Trainer, Motivator Lecturer
Quote: Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars. Author: Les Brown 1945-, American Speaker, Author, Trainer, Motivator Lecturer
Quote: From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence, who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed a stupendous light. Like those extraordinary stars of whose origins we are ignorant, and of whose fate, once they have vanished, we know even less, such men have neither forebears nor descendants: they are the whole of their race. Author: Jean De La BruyFre 1645-1696, French Classical Writer
Quote: Let each become all that he was created capable of being. Author: Thomas Carlyle 1795-1881, Scottish Philosopher, Author
Quote: Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best. Author: Andrew Carnegie 1835-1919, American Industrialist, Philanthropist
Quote: I can do small things in a great way. Author: James Freeman Clarke 1810-1888, American Minister, Theologian
Quote: I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have. Author: Leonardo Da Vinci 1452-1519, Italian Inventor, Architect, Painter, Scientist, Sculptor
Quote: There seems to be one quality of mind which seems to be of special and extreme advantage in leading him to make discoveries. It was the power of never letting exceptions go unnoticed. Author: Francis Darwin
Quote: It is a wretched taste to be gratified with mediocrity when the excellent lies before us. Author: Isaac Disraeli
Quote: I start where the last man left off. Author: Thomas A. Edison 1847-1931, American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Founder of GE
Quote: There's a way to do better... find it. Author: Thomas A. Edison 1847-1931, American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Founder of GE
Quote: Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world. Author: George Eliot 1819-1880, British Novelist
Quote: There is always a best way of doing everything. Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
Quote: He who has put a good finish to his undertaking is said to have placed a golden crown to the whole. Author: Eustachius
Quote: You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. Author: Dianne Feinstein American Senator
Quote: Good enough never is. Author: Debbi Field American Businesswoman, Founder of Mrs. Field's Cookies
Quote: I use nothing but the best ingredients. My cookies are always baked fresh. I price cookies so that you cannot make them at home for any less. And I still give cookies away. Author: Debbie Fields American Businesswoman, Founder, Mrs. Fields Cookies
Quote: You get the best out of others when you get the best out of yourself. Author: Harvey S. Firestone 1868-1938, American Industrialist
Quote: If something is exceptionally well done it has embedded in it's very existence the aim of lifting the common denominator rather than catering to it. Author: Edward Fischer
Quote: If I play my best, I can win anywhere in the world against anybody. Author: Ray Floyd American Golfer
Quote: The best we can do is size up the chances, calculate the risks involved, estimate our ability to deal with them, and then make our plans with confidence. Author: Henry Ford 1863-1947, American Industrialist, Founder of Ford Motor Company
Quote: The real contest is always between what you've done and what you're capable of doing. You measure yourself against yourself and nobody else. Author: Geoffrey Gaberino
Quote: You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do. Author: Jerry Garcia 1945-1995, American Rock Musician, ''Grateful Dead''
Quote: Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. Author: John W. Gardner 1912-, American Educator, Social Activist
Quote: The idea for which this nation stands will not survive if the highest goal free man can set themselves is an amiable mediocrity. Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every phase of life. Author: John W. Gardner 1912-, American Educator, Social Activist
Quote: Whoever I am, or whatever I am doing, some kind of excellence is within my reach. Author: John W. Gardner 1912-, American Educator, Social Activist
Quote: The fact is, the difference between peak performers and everybody else are much smaller than everybody else thinks. Author: Charles A. Garfield American Peak Performance Expert, Researcher, Trainer
Quote: Excellence means when a man or woman asks of himself more than others do. Author: Jose Ortega Y Gasset 1883-1955, Spanish Essayist, Philosopher
Quote: We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself. Author: Jose Ortega y Gasset 1883-1955, Spanish Essayist, Philosopher
Quote: The man who comes up with a means for doing or producing almost anything better, faster or more economically has his future and his fortune at his fingertips. Author: J. Paul Getty 1892-1976, American Oil Tycoon, Billionaire
Quote: The quality of expectations determines the quality of our action. Author: Andre Godin
Quote: Excellence is rarely found, more rarely valued. Author: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe 1749-1832, German Poet, Dramatist, Novelist
Quote: To aim at excellence, our reputation, and friends, and all must be ventured; to aim at the average we run no risk and provide little service. Author: Oliver Goldsmith 1728-1774, Anglo-Irish Author, Poet, Playwright
Quote: You're probably not a member of a major league baseball team, your errors, unless they are truly spectacular, don't show up in the morning paper. Author: Jane Goodsell
Quote: There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent but he is excelled. Author: Baltasar Gracian 1601-1658, Spanish Philosopher, Writer
Quote: Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more. Author: Edward H. Harriman 1848-1909, American Financier, Railroad Executive
Quote: One shining quality lends a luster to another, or hides some glaring defect. Author: William Hazlitt 1778-1830, British Essayist
Quote: There is no top. There are always further heights to reach. Author: Jascha Heifetz 1901-1987, Lithuanian Violinist
Quote: It's enough for you to do it once for a few men to remember you. But if you do it year after year, then many people remember you and they tell it to their children, and their children and grandchildren remember and, if it concerns books, they can read them. And if it's good enough, it will last as long as there are human beings. Author: Ernest Hemingway 1898-1961, American Writer
Quote: Badness you can get easily, in quantity; the road is smooth, and it lies close by, But in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steer is the way to it. Author: Hesiod 8th century BC, Greek Poet
Quote: If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way. Author: Napoleon Hill 1883-1970, American Speaker, Motivational Writer, ''Think and Grow Rich''
Quote: It has always been my belief that a man should do his best, regardless of how much he receives for his services, or the number of people he may be serving or the class of people served. Author: Napoleon Hill 1883-1970, American Speaker, Motivational Writer, ''Think and Grow Rich''
Quote: You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service than you are now being paid for. Author: Napoleon Hill 1883-1970, American Speaker, Motivational Writer, ''Think and Grow Rich''
Quote: You have to create a track record of breaking your own mold, or at least other people's idea of that mold. Author: William Hurt 1950-, American Actor
Quote: The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they're expected to do -- they always reach. Author: Lee Iacocca 1924-, American Businessman, Former CEO of Chrysler
Quote: The noblest search is the search for excellence. Author: Lyndon B. Johnson 1908-1973, Thirty-sixth President of the USA
Quote: We do not do well except when we know where the best is and when we are assured that we have touched it and hold its power within us. Author: Joseph Joubert 1754-1824, French Moralist
Quote: The excellency of every art is its intensity, capable of making all disagreeable evaporate. Author: John Keats 1795-1821, British Poet
Quote: If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. Author: Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968, American Black Leader, Nobel Prize Winner, 1964
Quote: Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know. Author: Charles Kingsley 1819-1875, British Author, Clergyman
Quote: Anybody who accepts mediocrity -- in school, on the job, in life -- is a person who compromises, and when the leader compromises, the whole organization compromises. Author: Charles Knight
Quote: I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day. Author: Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865, Sixteenth President of the USA
Quote: If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives. Author: Vince Lombardi 1913-1970, American Football Coach
Quote: When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace. Author: Sir John Lubbock 1834-1913, British Statesman, Banker, Naturalist
Quote: There is a canyon of difference between doing your best to glorify God and doing whatever it takes to glorify yourself. The quest for excellence is a mark of maturity. The quest for power is childish. Author: Max L. Lucado American Author of ''The Eye of the Storm''
Quote: You always have to give 100 percent, because if you don't, someone, someplace, will give 100 percent and will beat you when you meet. Author: Ed Macauley
Quote: It isn't by size that you win or fail -- be the best of whatever you are. Author: Douglas Malloch
Quote: Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later. Author: Og Mandino 1923-1996, American Motivational Author, Speaker
Quote: Deliver more than you are getting paid to do. The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting out more than is expected in all that you do. Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become indispensable. Author: Og Mandino 1923-1996, American Motivational Author, Speaker
Quote: One of the great undiscovered joys of life comes from doing everything one attempts to the best of one's ability. There is a special sense of satisfaction, a pride in surveying such a work, a work which is rounded, full, exact, complete in its parts, which the superficial person who leaves his or her work in a slovenly, slipshod, half-finished condition, can never know. It is this conscientious completeness which turns any work into art. The smallest task, well done, becomes a miracle of achievement. Author: Og Mandino 1923-1996, American Motivational Author, Speaker
Quote: The person who knows one thing and does it better than anyone else, even if it only be the art of raising lentils, receives the crown he merits. If he raises all his energy to that end, he is a benefactor of mankind and its rewarded as such. Author: Og Mandino 1923-1996, American Motivational Author, Speaker
Quote: Today, and every day, deliver more than you are getting paid to do. The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting out more than is expected in all that you do. Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become indispensable. Exercise your privilege to go the extra mile, and enjoy all the rewards you receive. You deserve them! Author: Og Mandino 1923-1996, American Motivational Author, Speaker
Quote: I want to be all that I am capable of becoming. Author: Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923, New Zealand-born British Author
Quote: Doing common things uncommonly well. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: Great men are but common men more fully developed and ripened. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: It is just the little difference between the good and the best that makes the difference between the artist and the artisan. It is just the little touches after the average man would quit that makes the master's fame. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: It is those who have this imperative demand for the best in their natures, and who will accept nothing short of it, that holds the banners of progress, that set the standards, the ideals, for others. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: Just make up your mind at the very outset that your work is going to stand for quality... that you are going to stamp a superior quality upon everything that goes out of your hands, that whatever you do shall bear the hall-mark of excellence. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: Make it a life-rule to give your best to whatever passes through your hands. Stamp it with your manhood. Let superiority be your trademark... Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: People who have accomplished work worthwhile have had a very high sense of the way to do things. They have not been content with mediocrity. They have not confined themselves to the beaten tracks; they have never been satisfied to do things just as others so them, but always a little better. They always pushed things that came to their hands a little higher up, this little farther on, that counts in the quality of life's work. It is constant effort to be first-class in everything one attempts that conquers the heights of excellence. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: Put the uncommon effort into the common task... make it large by doing it in a great way. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: Superiority -- doing things a little better than anybody else can do them. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: The greatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible out of the stuff that has been given him. This is success, and there is no other. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: There is an infinite difference between a little wrong and just right, between fairly good and the best, between mediocrity and superiority... Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: There is only one thing for us to do, and that is to do our level best right where we are every day of our lives; To use our best judgment, and then to trust the rest to that Power which holds the forces of the universe in his hands. Author: Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924, American Author, Founder of Success Magazine
Quote: To do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way; to do some things better than they were ever done before; to eliminate errors; to know both sides of the question; to be courteous; to be an example; to work for the love of work; to anticipate requirements; to develop resources; to recognize no impediments; to master circumstances; to act from reason rather than rule; to be satisfied with nothing short of perfection. Author: Marshall Field & Company American Company
Quote: Only a mediocre person is always at his best. Author: W. Somerset Maugham 1874-1965, British Novelist, Playwright
Quote: To enjoy enduring success we should travel a little in advance of the world. Author: John Mcdonald
Quote: Become all that you are capable of becoming! Author: Robert J. Mckain
Quote: If we want to make something really superb on this planet, there is nothing whatever that can stop us. Author: Shepherd Mead
Quote: Do a little bit more than average and from that point on our progress multiplies itself out of all proportion to the effort put in. Author: Paul J. Meyer American Businessman, Author, Motivator
Quote: The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both. Author: James A. Michener 1907-, American Writer
Quote: There is one plain rule of life. Try thyself unweariedly till thou findest the highest thing thou art capable of doing, faculties and outward circumstances being both duly considered, and then do it. Author: John Stuart Mill 1806-1873, British Philosopher, Economist
Quote: Determine to become one of the best. Sufficient money will almost automatically follow if you get to be one of the ''best'' in your chosen field, whatever it is. Author: Don G. Mitchell
Quote: People forget how fast you did a job, but they remember how well you did it. Author: Howard W. Newton
Quote: To do great things is difficult, but to command great things is more difficult. Author: Friedrich Nietzsche 1844-1900, German Philosopher
Quote: There is no finish line. Author: Nike Corporation American Shoe Company
Quote: I am a writer because writing is the thing I do best. Author: Flannery O'Connor 1925-1964, American Author
Quote: Set exorbitant standards, and give your people hell when they don't live up to them. There is nothing so demoralizing as a boss who tolerates second rate work. Author: David Ogilvy 1911-, American Businessman, Advertising Expert
Quote: Don't waste your time striving for perfection, instead, strive for excellence -- doing your best. Author: Sir Lawrence Olivier 1907-1989, British Actor, Producer, Director
Quote: People come out to see you perform and you've got to give them the best you have within you. The lives of most men are patchwork quilts. Or at best one matching outfit with a closet and laundry bag full of incongruous accumulations. A lifetime of training for just ten seconds. Author: Jesse Owens 1913-1980, American Olympic Track Athlete
Quote: Excellent firms don't believe in excellence -- only in constant improvement and constant change. Author: Thomas J. Peters 1942-, American Management Consultant, Author, Trainer
Quote: Great men are little men expanded; great lives are ordinary lives intensified. Author: Wilferd A. Peterson
Quote: No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may soon become the step that will lead us to better things. Author: Channing Pollock American Actor
Quote: You must be resolutely determined that whatever you do shall always be the best of which you are capable. Author: Charles E. Popplestone
Quote: The uncommon man is merely the common man thinking and dreaming of success in larger terms and in more fruitful areas. Author: Melvin Powers American Businessman, Author
Quote: Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better. Author: Pat Riley 1945, American Basketball Coach
Quote: Our goal, simply stated, is to be the best. Author: James H. Robinson American Businessman, Chairman of American Express
Quote: If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just. Author: Anita Roddick British Entrepreneur, Founder of The Body Shop
Quote: Always strive to excel, but only on weekends. Author: Richard Rorty 1931-, American Philosopher
Quote: I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know. Author: Col. Harland Sanders 1890-1980, American Businessman, Founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken
Quote: Do more than you're supposed to do and you can have or be or do anything you want. Author: Bill Sands
Quote: All successful employers are stalking men who will do the unusual, men who think, men who attract attention by performing more than is expected of them. Author: Charles M. Schwab 1862-1939, American Industrialist, Businessman
Quote: The success combination in business is: Do what you do better... and: Do more of what you do... Author: David J. Schwartz American Trainer, Author of ''The Magic of Thinking Big''
Quote: When you say you'll meet someone at 11:00 AM, be there at 10:45. When you promise a check on the 30th, send it on the 28th. Whatever you agree to do, do it a bit more. Start with your employees, then extend it to everyone you deal with. News will soon get around that you are a person of your word. Author: Charles Prestwich Scott 1846-1932, British Newspaper Editor
Quote: There never will exist anything permanently noble and excellent in the character which is a stranger to resolute self-denial. Author: Sir Walter Scott 1771-1832, British Novelist, Poet
Quote: It is quality rather than quantity that matters. Author: Seneca 4 B.C. – 65 A.D., Spanish-born Roman Statesman, philosopher
Quote: Then to Silvia let us sing that Silvia is excelling. She excels each mortal thing upon the dull earth dwelling. Author: William Shakespeare 1564-1616, British Poet, Playwright, Actor
Quote: When workmen strive to do better than well, they do confound their skill in covetousness. Author: William Shakespeare 1564-1616, British Poet, Playwright, Actor
Quote: We must do the best we can with what we have. Author: Edward Rowland Sill
Quote: True greatness consists in being great in little things. Author: Charles Simmons
Quote: To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization. Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811-1896, American Novelist, Antislavery Campaigner
Quote: Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can. Author: Lowell Thomas American Politician, Author
Quote: You can become an even more excellent person by constantly setting higher and higher standards for yourself and then by doing everything possible to live up to those standards. Author: Brian Tracy American Trainer, Speaker, Author, Businessman
Quote: There is no such thing as natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls. Author: Lee Trevino 1939-, American Golfer
Quote: I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: ''Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.'' I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have. Author: Harry S. Truman 1884-1972, Thirty-third President of the USA
Quote: Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can reach. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries and predecessors; try to be better than yourself. Author: Source Unknown
Quote: Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.'' Author: Source Unknown
Quote: Excellence is best described as doing the right things right -- selecting the most important things to be done and then accomplishing them 100% correctly. Author: Source Unknown
Quote: Let each day be your masterpiece. Author: Source Unknown
Quote: The road to excellence is always under construction Author: Source Unknown
Quote: Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more. Author: A. Lou Vickery
Quote: The best is the enemy of the good. Author: Voltaire 1694-1778, French Historian, Writer
Quote: The most splendid achievement of all is the constant striving to surpass yourself and to be worthy of your own approval. Author: Denis Waitley 1933-, American Author, Speaker, Trainer, Peak Performance Expert
Quote: Winners have the ability to step back from the canvas of their lives like an artist gaining perspective. They make their lives a work of art -- an individual masterpiece. Author: Denis Waitley 1933-, American Author, Speaker, Trainer, Peak Performance Expert
Quote: Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way. Author: Booker T. Washington 1856-1915, American Black Leader and Educator
Quote: If you aren't playing well, the game isn't as much fun. When that happens I tell myself just to go out and play as I did when I was a kid. Author: Thomas J. Watson 18?-1956, American Businessman, Founder of IBM
Quote: If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work. Author: Thomas J. Watson 18?-1956, American Businessman, Founder of IBM
Quote: I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best. Author: Oscar Wilde 1856-1900, British Author, Wit
Quote: Surely a man has come to himself only when he has found the best that is in him, and has satisfied his heart with the highest achievement he is fit for. Author: Woodrow T. Wilson 1856-1924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA
Quote: I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism and sexism. Author: Oprah Winfrey 1954-, American TV Personality, Producer, Actress, Author
Quote: My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment. Author: Oprah Winfrey 1954-, American TV Personality, Producer, Actress, Author
Quote: It isn't what you do, but how you do it. Author: John Wooden 1910-, American Basketball Coach
Quote: A masterpiece is something said once and for all, stated, finished, so that it's there complete in the mind, if only at the back. Author: Virginia Woolf 1882-1941, British Novelist, Essayist
Quote: The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self improvement, about being better than you were the day before. Author: Steve Young American Football Player