100+ Excellence Quotes | InspiringQuotes.us

source: "Bill Gross reportedly earns $290m bonus even as investors withdrew billions from Pimco funds" by Heidi Moore, www.theguardian.com. November 14, 2014.

topic: Years, Track, Excellence, Track Record

Personally, I always felt times aren't so excellent as are performances.

- Bill Rodgers

topic: Excellence, Excellent, Performances

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.

- Bill Russell

topic: Father, Excellence, Dollars

Do more than you're supposed to do and you can have or be or do anything you want.

- Bill Sands

topic: Excellence, Want

As far as I'm concerned, the sheriff's department has done an excellent job in Savoy. The department has responded to the needs of our citizens, so I don't want to mess with a system that is working well for us.

- Bill Smith

topic: Jobs, Excellence, Needs, Sheriffs

Design can be both a manifestation of a company's design ethic and an outward communication of a company's design ethic and drive for excellence.

- Bob Lutz

topic: Communication, Design, Excellence

It is only through raising expectations and striving for excellence that our children can reach their full potential.

- Brad Henry

topic: Children, Expectations, Excellence, Striving For Excellence

Aspire greatly; anything less than a commitment to excellence becomes an acceptance of mediocrity.

- Brian Tracy

topic: Commitment, Acceptance, Excellence, Aspire, Commitment To Excellence

Personal development is your springboard to personal excellence. Ongoing, continuous, non-stop personal development literally assures you that there is no limit to what you can accomplish.

- Brian Tracy

topic: Achievement, Excellence, Ongoing, Springboards, Personal Achievement

Set excellent performance as your standard and strive to achieve it each day

- Brian Tracy

topic: Excellence, Each Day, Strive, Excellent Performance

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

- Brian Tracy

topic: Self Esteem, Self Confidence, Excellence

Excellence is not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never ends.

- Brian Tracy

topic: Journey, Greatness, Excellence, Achieve Greatness

Your earning ability is largely determined by the perception of excellence, quality, and value that others have of you and what you do. The market only pays excellent rewards for excellent performance. It pays average rewards for average performance, and it pays below average rewards or unemployment for below average performance.

- Brian Tracy

topic: Average, Excellence, Perception, Excellent Performance

There's an entire flight simulator hidden in every copy of Microsoft Excel 97.

- Bruce Schneier

topic: Excellence, Microsoft, Flight

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.

- C. P. Scott

topic: Promise, Excellence, News

Perfection belongs to the Gods; the most we can hope for is excellence.

- Carl Jung

topic: Perfection, Excellence

Life is teleology par excellence; it is the intrinsic striving towards a goal, and the living organism is a system of directed aims which seek to fulfill themselves.

- Carl Jung

topic: Goal, Psychology, Excellence

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value

- Charles Dudley Warner

source: Charles Dudley Warner (1871). “My Summer in a Garden”

topic: Christmas, Lying, Excellence, Merry Christmas Inspirational, Merry Christmas Wishes

The method of doubt must be applied to civilization; we must doubt its necessity, its excellence, and its permanence.

- Charles Fourier

topic: Civilization, Doubt, Excellence

The fact is, the difference between peak performers and everybody else are much smaller than everybody else thinks.

- Charles Garfield

topic: Thinking, Differences, Excellence

To be in Christ is the source of the Christian life; to be like Christ is the sum of his excellence; to be with Christ is the fullness of his joy.

- Charles Hodge

source: Charles Hodge (2013). “Romans”, p.160, Ravenio Books

topic: Christian, Joy, Excellence, Christian Life

No student ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him: it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required, that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.

- Charles Kendall Adams

topic: Success, Greatness, Excellence, Ultimate Success, Personal Success

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.

- Charles Kingsley

source: Charles Kingsley (2008). “Town and Country Sermons: Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition”, p.162, ReadHowYouWant.com

topic: Self, Excellence, Virtue, Thanksgiving Christian, Thanksgiving Thoughts

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.

- Charles R. Swindoll

source: Colin L. Powell, Joseph E. Persico (2010). “My American Journey”, p.198, Ballantine Books

topic: Excellence, Littles, Matter, Striving For Perfection, Striving For Excellence

Moral excellence is the bright consummate flower of all progress.

- Charles Sumner

source: Charles Sumner (2016). “The Complete Works of Charles Sumner”, p.517, Library of Alexandria

topic: Flower, Excellence, Progress, Moral Excellence

Excellence is about fighting and pursuing something diligently, with a strict and determined approach to doing it right. It's okay if there are flaws in the process - it makes it more interesting.

- Charlie Trotter

topic: Fighting, Interesting, Excellence

I never considered Miles Davis a perfectionist; I always considered him as an excellence-ist, where deviation is actually kind of cool.

- Charlie Trotter

topic: Excellence, Kind, Perfectionist, Deviation

Find something that you're really interested in doing in your life. Pursue it, set goals, and commit yourself to excellence. Do the best you can.

- Chris Evert

topic: Sports, Goal, Excellence

The quality of racing continues to excel with starters increasing to 1496,.

- Christopher Nolan

topic: Racing, Excellence, Quality

The secret of architectural excellence is to translate the proportions of a dachshund into bricks, mortar and marble.

- Christopher Wren

topic: Secret, Excellence, Dachshunds

I've spent my life pursuing excellence as an artist, which is what I always wanted to do anyhow.

- Claire Bloom

topic: Artist, Excellence, Wanted

Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude

- Colin Powell

topic: Attitude, Excellence, Prevailing

Hunger for excellence. Continuously seek inspiration to make your work better.

- Cory Trepanier

topic: Inspiration, Excellence, Hunger

It seems that more people today have a greater desire to live long than they do to live well.

- Croft M. Pentz

topic: Long, People, Excellence, Desire To Live

Perfectionism is not as much the desire for excellence, as it is the fear of failure couched in procrastination .

- Dan Miller

source: Dan Miller (2015). “48 Days to the Work You Love: Preparing for the New Normal”, p.86, B&H Publishing Group

topic: Procrastination, Excellence, Desire, Perfectionism

How sad that we often diminish our best gifts by struggling valiantly to develop in someone else's area of ability. It is better to focus on your uniqueness and do that with excellence than to end up with mediocrity in several areas.

- Dan Miller

topic: Struggle, Focus, Excellence, Best Gift

Aim not to win or succeed, but for excellence in the moment.

- Dan Millman

topic: Winning, Excellence, Succeed

The power of excellence is overwhelming. It is always in demand, and nobody cares about its color.

- Daniel James, Jr.

topic: Military, Color, Excellence, Nobody Cares

Trying to compromise EXCELLENCE, is like trying to let a little bit of air out of a balloon with a hat pin.

- Daniel R. Scoggin

topic: Air, Excellence, Trying

Set out to do three or four things this year with gusto and excellence, rather than doing a dozen things just sufficiently. Trust me on this.

- Danielle LaPorte

source: Danielle LaPorte (2014). “The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul”, p.206, Sounds True

topic: Years, Excellence, Three, Gusto

But, I don't want to assume that our tradition of excellence is a guarantee of future excellence.

- Dave Heineman

topic: Excellence, Guarantees, Want

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.

- David Halberstam

source: David Halberstam (2012). “The Powers That Be”, p.538, Open Road Media

topic: America, Excellence, Quality

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.

- David Maister

topic: Believe, Excellence, Compromise, Standards And Values, Professionalism

Don't bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.

- David Ogilvy

topic: Design, Excellence, Balls, Marketers, Advertising And Marketing

The pursuit of excellence is less profitable than the pursuit of bigness, but it can be more satisfying.

- David Ogilvy

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Planning, Business Growth, Pursuit Of Excellence

Excellence is the best weapon against prejudice.

- David Oyelowo

source: "David Oyelowo creates a tortured soul in HBO's 'Nightingale'". Interview with Lynn Elber, www.sandiegouniontribune.com. May 28, 2015.

topic: Excellence, Prejudice, Weapons

whenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what excellence feels like.

- David Sedaris

topic: Moving, Excellence, Diaries

There is no real excellence in all this world which can be separated from right living.

- David Starr Jordan

source: "The Voice of the Scholar". Book by David Starr Jordan, 1903.

topic: Real, Excellence, World

The Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport, and maybe in life itself.

- Dawn Fraser

source: Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

topic: Sports, Excellence, Olympics, Olympic Games, Olympics Games

Being an Olympian, I always have this strong belief in excellence.

- Debi Thomas

topic: Strong, Excellence, Belief

Pursue excellence and ignore success. If you are excellent you will be successful

- Deepak Chopra

topic: Successful, Excellence, Excellent

By persistent labor man may attain to all excellence.

- Demosthenes

topic: Men, Excellence, May

Identify with excellence, put your name on your work, and both your work and name will stand the test of time.

- Denis Waitley

topic: Names, Excellence, Tests, Test Of Time

I was made to be a perfectionist at everything I did. Everything was more important than what I wanted.

- Dennis Quaid

topic: Inspirational, Perfection, Excellence, Inspirational Celebrity

Its hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.

- Dolly Parton

topic: Greatness, Individuality, Excellence, Nonconformity, Academic Excellence

Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence.

- Don Shula

topic: Success, Perfection, Excellence

Perfection, fortunately, is not the only alternative to mediocrity. A more sensible alternative is excellence. Striving for excellence is stimulating and rewarding; striving for perfection--in practically anything--is both neurotic and futile.

- Ed Bliss

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Alternatives, Striving For Perfection, Striving For Excellence

The Greek temple is the creation, par excellence, of mind and spirit in equilibrium.

- Edith Hamilton

topic: Greek, Excellence, Mind

Poetry is an art, and chief of the fine art; the easiest to dabble in, the hardest in which to reach true excellence.

- Edmund Clarence Stedman

source: EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN (1875). “VICTORIAN POETS”, p.156

topic: Art, Excellence, Chiefs

I mentioned the non-competitive spirit explicitly, because these days, excellence is a fashionable concept. But excellence is a competitive notion, and that is not what we are heading for: we are heading for perfection.

- Edsger Dijkstra

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Spirit, Competitive Spirit

It is the growth of advertising in this country which, more than any single element, has brought the American magazine to its present enviable position in points of literary, illustrative and mechanical excellence.

- Edward Bok

topic: Country, Growth, Excellence

Be satisfied with nothing but your best.

- Edward Rowland Sill

topic: Success, Excellence, Classroom, Academic Excellence

The more we sympathize with excellence, the more we go out of self, the more we love, the broader and deeper is our personality.

- Edwin Hubbel Chapin

topic: Self, Personality, Excellence

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

- Edwin Louis Cole

topic: Men, Perfection, Excellence, Striving For Excellence

it is more to my personal happiness and advantage to indulge the love and admiration of excellence, than to cherish a secret envy of it.

- Elizabeth Montagu

topic: Envy, Secret, Excellence, Personal Happiness

We want our children to fit in and to stand out. We rarely address the conflict between these goals.

- Ellen Goodman

source: Ellen Goodman (1990). “Making Sense”, Penguin Group USA

topic: Children, Goal, Excellence

Love remains a relation with the Other that turns into need, transcendent exteriority of the other, of the beloved. But love goes beyond the beloved... The possibility of the Other appearing as an object of a need while retaining his alterity, or again,the possibility of enjoying the Other... this simultaneity of need and desire, or concupiscence and transcendence,... constitutes the originality of the erotic which, in this sense, is the equivocal par excellence.

- Emmanuel Levinas

topic: Excellence, Desire, Needs, Retaining, Transcendent

The readiness to praise others indicates a desire for excellence and perhaps an ability to realize it.

- Eric Hoffer

topic: Excellence, Desire, Realizing

The only way to get out of mediocrity is to keep shooting for excellence.

- Eric Thomas

topic: Excellence, Mediocrity, Shooting

To push for excellence today without continuing to push for access for less privileged students is to undermine the crucial but incomplete gains that have been made. Equity and excellence cannot be divided.

- Ernest L. Boyer

source: Ernest L. Boyer (1997). “Ernest L. Boyer, Selected Speeches, 1979-1995”, Jossey-Bass

topic: Education, Excellence, Today

The same man cannot well be skilled in everything; each has his special excellence.

- Euripides

source: Euripides (2013). “Euripides V: Bacchae, Iphigenia in Aulis, The Cyclops, Rhesus”, p.228, University of Chicago Press

topic: Success, Men, Excellence

Human excellence means nothing Unless it works with the consent of God.

- Euripides

topic: Mean, Excellence, Consent

Excellence has no sex.

- Eva Hesse

source: Vanessa Corby, Eva Hesse (2010). “Eva Hesse: Longing, Belonging and Displacement”, p.34, I.B. Tauris

topic: Sex, Excellence

She [Evelina] is not, indeed, like most modern young ladies; to be known in half an hour; her modest worth, and fearful excellence, require both time and encouragement to show themselves.

- Fanny Burney

topic: Encouragement, Excellence, Half

Always define your area of excellence. Establish the area where you will be the best.

- Farrah Gray

topic: Excellence, Being The Best

A woman who places a high priority on performance and excellence is seen as imperial. A man is seen as demanding and tough.

- Faye Wattleton

topic: Men, Priorities, Excellence

When once the mind has raised itself to grasp and to delight in excellence, those who love most will be found to love most wisely.

- Francis Turner Palgrave

source: Francis Turner Palgrave (1861). “The Golden treasury of the best songs and lyrical poems in the English language”, p.320

topic: Life, Mind, Excellence

We need excellence in public education and if the teachers can't do it, we'll send in a couple of policemen.

- Frank Rizzo

topic: Teacher, Couple, Excellence

This is excellence - the following of anything for its own sake and with its own integrity ...

- Freya Stark

topic: Integrity, Excellence, Sake

Everything you say; every thought you entertain; and everything you do has a direction, which serves as an advance or a retreat in respect to your pursuit of excellence. Everything, regardless of size or intent, has bottom-line consequences; therefore, everything counts - this is the golden rule of excellence.

- Gary Ryan

topic: Excellence, Lines, Golden, Pursuit Of Excellence

The expectation level is high at the University of Alabama and it should be. What's wrong with people expecting excellence?

- Gene Stallings

topic: People, Expectations, Excellence, Alabama Football

A combination of the qualities of the scholar, the master cook, the painter, the gastronomer, the sportsman and the pantologist, assisted by the skill of the bookmaker and etcher, will be required to compose the cookbook par excellence.

- George Ellwanger

topic: Skills, Cooking, Excellence, Bookmakers

The envy of excellence leads to perdition; the love of it leads to the light.

- George Gilder

topic: Light, Envy, Excellence, Perdition

You see, we'll never be able to compete in the 21st century unless we have an education system that doesn't quit on children, an education system that raises standards, an education that makes sure there's excellence in every classroom.

- George W. Bush

topic: Education, Children, Excellence, Education System, Educational System

Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.

- George Will

topic: Sports, Athlete, Excellence

It's a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride in order to do so.

- Georges Bernanos

source: Georges Bernanos, Rémy Rougeau (2002). “The Diary of a Country Priest”, p.224, Da Capo Press

topic: Pride, Order, Excellence, Fine Things

It seems then that it is not the excellence of any two things (or more) in themselves, but those two things as viewed by the light of each other, that makes beauty.

- Gerard Manley Hopkins

topic: Light, Two, Excellence

God is infinite, so His universe must be too. Thus is the excellence of God magnified and the greatness of His kingdom made manifest; He is glorified not in one, but in countless suns; not in a single earth, a single world, but in a thousand thousand, I say in an infinity of worlds.

- Giordano Bruno

source: "On the Infinite Universe and Worlds". Book by Giordano Bruno, 1584.

topic: Greatness, Excellence, World, Infinite Universe, Astronomy And Universe

Because of its independence of surface limitations and its superior speed the airplane is the offensive weapon par excellence.

- Giulio Douhet

source: General Giulio Douhet (2014). “Command Of The Air”, p.32, Pickle Partners Publishing

topic: Airplane, Independence, Excellence, Air Power, Airpower

Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better.

- Gordon B. Hinckley

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Mediocrity

Do your best, and be a little better than you are.

- Gordon B. Hinckley

topic: Persistence, Excellence, Self Improvement, Striving To Be The Best

I know most of the black players who preceded and followed me at Duke. They all contribute to our tradition of excellence on the court.

- Grant Hill

topic: Player, Black, Excellence

I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle, it's not going to be satisfying.

- Greg LeMond

topic: Struggle, Cycling, Excellence, Bicycle

You are what you do repeatedly every day. If excellence is something you're striving for, then it's not an accident. It's a habit.

- Greg Plitt

topic: Motivational, Excellence, Habit

Strictly excel in what is excellence with grace

- GZA

source: Song: Breaker, Breaker, Album: Beneath the Surface

topic: Grace, Excellence

Strive for excellence, not perfection.

- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

topic: Life Lesson, Perfection, Excellence, Striving For Perfection, Striving For Excellence

You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.

- H. L. Mencken

topic: Life, Ocean, Excellence, Length Of Life, Can Do Something

The Age of Aquarius is the age of excellence in which personal purity shall absolutely matter.

- Harbhajan Singh Yogi

topic: Inspirational, Aquarius, Excellence

Perfection. Excellence. What a passionate lover. But once having tasted the lips of excellence, once having given oneself to its perfection, how dreary and burdensome and filled with anomie are the remainder of one's waking hours trapped in the shackled lock-step of the merely ordinary, the barely acceptable, the just okay and not a stroke better.

- Harlan Ellison

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Ordinary, Passionate Lovers, Passionate Love

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.

- Harriet B. Braiker

topic: Acceptance, Perfection, Excellence, Demoralizing, Striving For Perfection

Moral excellence has no regard to classes and professions.

- Harriet Martineau

source: Harriet Martineau (1838). “How to Observe: Morals and Manners”, p.85, Transaction Publishers

topic: Class, Excellence, Moral, Moral Excellence

When we talk about Oscars, it's almost as a symbol of excellence, and the American public and the worldwide public accept that symbol.

- Harvey Weinstein

source: "Harvey Weinstein On Hollywood's Heated Oscar Race". Interview with Steve Inskeep, www.wbaa.org. December 2, 2011.

topic: Excellence, Oscars, Accepting, Goliath

When we talk about Oscars, it's almost as a symbol of excellence, and the American public and the worldwide public accept that symbol. So, a movie like 'The Artist' that costs $14 million, has to go out and compete with movies that cost $140 million. How does David deal with Goliath?

- Harvey Weinstein

topic: Artist, Excellence, Oscars

You're only as good as your last story.

- Helen Thomas

topic: Excellence, Stories, Lasts

The price of excellence is labor, and time that of immortality.

- Henry Fuseli

topic: Excellence, Immortality, Labor

Excellence does not require perfection.

- Henry James

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Doe

Certainly, envy is no monopoly of the poor; it makes itself felt in all sections of society; it haunts the court, the library, the barrack-room, even the sanctuary; it is provoked in some unhappy souls by the near neighbourhood of any superior rank or excellence whatever.

- Henry Parry Liddon

topic: Envy, Soul, Excellence

Strive for perfection in everything. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn't exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough

- Henry Royce

source: "Transforming the Organization". P. 85. Book by Francis J. Gouillart, 1996.

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Good Enough, Civil Engineer, Civil Engineering

An oyster, that marvel of delicacy, that concentration of sapid excellence, that mouthful bwefore all other mouthfuls, who first had faith to believe it, and courage to execute? The exterior is not persuasive.

- Henry Ward Beecher

topic: Believe, Oysters, Excellence

When a man has no longer any conception of excellence above his own, his voyage is done, he is dead,--dead in trespasses and sin of blear-eyed vanity.

- Henry Ward Beecher

topic: Men, Vanity, Excellence

Egypt is coming back - is becoming - is going to become, you know, a center of excellence for the region and maybe for the rest of the world.

- Hesham Qandil

topic: Egypt, Excellence, World

Excellence when concealed, differs but little from buried worthlessness. [Lat., Paullum sepultae distat inertiae Celata virtus.]

- Horace

topic: Character, Excellence, Littles, Worthlessness

No man ever reached to excellence in any one art or profession without having passed through the slow and painful process of study and preparation.

- Horace

topic: Art, Men, Excellence

It is only Christianity, the great bond of love and duty to God, that makes any existence valuable or even tolerable.

- Horace Bushnell

topic: Love, Excellence, Religion, Duty To God, Great Bond

Universal violence compels the language to be mute . . . . Silence is not only a metaphor of Hemingway's work; it is also the source of its formal excellence, its integrity.

- Ihab Hassan

topic: Integrity, Silence, Excellence

Yet Aristotle's excellence of substance, so far from being associated with the grand style, is associated with something that at times comes perilously near jargon.

- Irving Babbitt

topic: Style, Excellence, Substance

We should allow others' excellences, to preserve a modest opinion of our own.

- Isaac Barrow

topic: Appreciation, Excellence, Opinion

Fish is held out to be one of the greatest luxuries of the table and not only necessary, but even indispensable at all dinners where there is any pretence of excellence or fashion.

- Isabella Beeton

topic: Fashion, Luxury, Excellence

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.

- J. Paul Getty

topic: Mean, Men, Excellence, Fingertips

If you want excellence, you must aim at perfection. It has its drawbacks but being finicky is essential.

- J. R. D. Tata

source: "JRD Tata — A retrospective". tata.com. July 29, 2004.

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Essentials

I know that aiming at perfection has its drawbacks. It makes you go into details that you can avoid but that is the only way you can achieve excellence. So, in that case, being finicky is essential.

- J. R. D. Tata

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Essentials

Always aim at perfection for only then will you achieve excellence

- J. R. D. Tata

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Achieve

It's the little things that make the big things possible. Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class.

- J. Willard Marriott

topic: Class, Excellence, Firsts, Big Things, First Class

Everybody keeps calling for Excellence excellence not just in schooling, throughout society. But as soon as somebody or something stands out as Excellent, the other shout goes up: "Elitism!" And whatever produced that thing, whoever praises that result, is promptly put down. "Standing out" is undemocratic.

- Jacques Barzun

source: "Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning" by Jacques Barzun, ("Schooling No Mystery"), 1991.

topic: Excellence, Calling, Praise, Elitism

There is one act par excellence which profanes money by going directly against the law of money, an act for which money is not made. That act is giving.

- Jacques Ellul

topic: Law, Giving, Excellence

Each honest calling, each walk of life, has its own elite, its own aristocracy based on excellence.

- James Bryant Conant

source: James Bryant Conant (1942). “Our Fighting Faith: Five Addresses to College Students”, Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press

topic: Excellence, Aristocracy, Calling, Snobbery

Good is the enemy of great. That's why so few things become great.

- James C. Collins

topic: Enemy, Excellence

You've just got to focus on excellence and try not to be distracted by the news and the rumors and the absurdities of the stories that were coming out.

- James Daly

topic: Focus, Excellence, Trying

Our goal, simply stated, is to be the best.

- James Harvey Robinson

topic: Goal, Excellence, Being The Best

Quality doesn't mean we have to be 100 percent better in any one thing; it means we strive to be 1 percent better in 100 things.

- Jan Carlzon

topic: Mean, Excellence, Quality

I believe excellence is being able to perform at a high level over and over.

- Jay-Z

topic: Believe, Excellence, Levels

At what point did we begin to think excellence is offensive to God?

- Jeff Henderson

topic: Thinking, Excellence, Offensive

I wished that my job was baking muffins in a muffin shop, where all I'd have to do was crack eggs and measure flour and make change, and nobody could abuse me, and where they'd even expect me to be fat. Every flab roll and cellulite crinkle would serve as testimony to the excellence of my baked goods

- Jennifer Weiner

topic: Jobs, Eggs, Excellence, Cellulite, Baked Goods

People in theatre work harder than anyone in the world - as far as I'm concerned - as far as sheer output of energy and the rigor and excellence that they maintain doing something every day, or twice a day.

- Jennifer Westfeldt

source: Source: www.broadwayworld.com

topic: Hard Work, People, Excellence

To be well skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory and excellence of a Christian.

- Jeremiah Burroughs

source: Jeremiah Burroughs, Rev Terry Kulakowski, Editor (2015). “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment”, p.15, Lulu.com

topic: Christian, Excellence, Contentment

As we all learned from the sorry experience of state-sanctioned bureaucracies in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, decentralization [in education] is crucial to both freedom and excellence.

- Jerry Brown

topic: Sorry, Europe, Excellence, Eastern Europe, Decentralization

Perfection has to do with the end product, but excellence has to do with the process.

- Jerry Moran

topic: Perfection, Excellence, Ends

The hallmark of excellence, the test of greatness, is consistency.

- Jim Tressel

source: Jim Tressel (2010). “The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life”, p.100, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

topic: Greatness, Consistency, Excellence

Success and excellence are not the same. Excellence grows within a person, is largely within that person's control, and its meaning lasts. Success is measured externally, by comparison to others, is often outside our control, and is perishable.

- Joe Paterno

topic: Sports, Excellence, Lasts, Success Is Measured

Once you understand what excellence is all about... you see how that excellence manifests itself in any discipline.

- Joe Rogan

topic: Mma, Discipline, Excellence

God has destined you to soar. You have victory, freedom and excellence on the inside.

- Joel Osteen

topic: Excellence, Victory, Soar, Instruments Of God, Greatness Of God

When you have a spirit of excellence, you do the right thing not because somebody is watching or making you do it; you do it because it's the right thing to do.

- Joel Osteen

topic: Excellence, Spirit, Right Thing, Commitment To God

People of excellence go the extra mile to do what's right.

- Joel Osteen

topic: People, Excellence, Giving Back, Extra Mile

Excellence is rarely found, more rarely valued.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

topic: Excellence, Found

As its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we cant predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe. Poised between intransigent scepticism and uncritical credulity, it is par excellence the literature of the open mind.

- John Brunner

topic: Mind, Excellence, Different, Scepticism

Diligent follow-up and follow-through will set you apart from the crowd and communicate excellence.

- John C. Maxwell

topic: Leadership, Excellence, Crowds, Diligent, Follow Through

The excellence of the Church does not consist in multitude but in purity.

- John Calvin

topic: Excellence, Church, Doe

Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. ... The accumulation of capital, or the acquisition of money, are endeavors par excellence which establish a quantifiable goal: hence they are directly amenable to maximization formulae.

- John Carroll

source: John Carroll (2010). “Break-Out from the Crystal Palace: The Anarcho-Psychological Critique: Stirner, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky”, p.120, Taylor & Francis

topic: Goal, Excellence, Acquisition, Amenable, Utilitarianism

To enjoy enduring success we should travel a little in advance of the world.

- John D. MacDonald

topic: Excellence, World, Littles

And he, who servilely creeps after sense, Is safe, but ne'er will reach an excellence.

- John Dryden

topic: Excellence, Safe, Creeps

Criticism is now become mere hangman's work, and meddles only with the faults of authors ; nay, the critic is disgusted less with their absurdities than excellence ; and you cannot displease him more than in leaving him little room for his malice.

- John Dryden

topic: Leaving, Excellence, Criticism, Leaving Him, Hangman

The excellence of every art is its intensity, capable of making all disagreeables evaporate, from their being in close relationship with beauty and truth.

- John Keats

topic: Art, Excellence, Intensity, Close Relationship

My philosophy all my life has been the pursuit of excellence.

- John Kluge

topic: Philosophy, Perfection, Excellence, Pursuit Of Excellence

Consider first, that great or bright infers not excellence.

- John Milton

topic: Excellence, Firsts

Remember always, in painting as in eloquence, the greater your strength, the quieter will be your manner, and the fewer your words; and in painting, as in all the arts and acts of life the secret of high success will be found, not in a fretful and various excellence, but in a quiet singleness of justly chosen aim.

- John Ruskin

topic: Art, Secret, Excellence, Singleness

We measure the excellency of other men by some excellency we conceive to be in ourselves.

- John Selden

topic: Men, Excellence

In any democracy, there is always a tug-of-war between policies to achieve equality and policies to promote excellence. I am certain that Canada can achieve both equality and excellence.

- John Turner

source: John Turner's speech at Liberal Party Leadership convention at Ottawa Civic Centre in Ontario, April 5, 1968.

topic: War, Excellence, Democracy, Tug Of War

All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose.

- John W. Gardner

topic: Discipline, Excellence, Purpose

Whoever I am, or whatever I am doing, some kind of excellence is within my reach.

- John W. Gardner

topic: Stars, Perfection, Excellence

We cannot have islands of excellence in a sea of slovenly indifference to standards.

- John W. Gardner

topic: Islands, Sea, Excellence

Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every phase of life.

- John W. Gardner

topic: Excellence, Phases, Strive

Tis a meaner part of sense to find a fault than taste an excellence.

- John Wilmot

source: John Wilmot, John Adlard (2002). “The Debt to Pleasure: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, in the Eyes of His Contemporaries and in His Own Poetry and Prose”, p.125, Taylor & Francis

topic: Excellence, Taste, Faults

It takes time to create excellence. If it could be done quickly, more people would do it.

- John Wooden

topic: Sports, People, Excellence, It Takes Time

Excellence means when a man or woman asks of himself more than others do.

- Jose Ortega y Gasset

topic: Mean, Men, Excellence

The banker, therefore, is not so much primarily a middleman in the commodity "purchasing power" as a producer of this commodity. However, since all reserve funds and savings today usually flow to him, and the total demand for free purchasing power, whether existing or to be created, concentrates on him, he has either replaced private capitalists or become their agent; he has himself become the capitalist par excellence.

- Joseph A. Schumpeter

topic: Excellence, Flow, Bankers, Purchasing Power, Reserves

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.

- Joseph Addison