Those indeed who attain any excellence commonly spend life in one pursuit, for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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.
—Charles M. Schwab (1862–1939) American Businessperson
No one rises to low expectations.
—Jesse Jackson (b.1941) American Baptist Civil Rights Activist, Minister
If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.
—Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874–1956) American Business Executive
Wealth does not bring excellence, but that wealth comes from excellence.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
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.
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) American Abolitionist, Author
As long as I can conceive something better than myself I cannot be easy unless I am striving to bring it into existence or clearing the way for it.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
The great law of culture is: Let each become all that he was created capable of being.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
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.
—Jesse Owens (1913–80) American Track-and-Field Athlete
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.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
The foundation of lasting self-confidence and self-esteem is excellence, mastery of our work.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.
—Unknown
There ought to be so many who are excellent, there are so few.
—Janet Erskine Stuart (1857–1914) English Catholic Nun, Educationalist
If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
Excellent things are rare.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.
—George Washington Carver (1864–1943) American Scientist, Botanist, Educator, Inventor
It is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are.
—Wendell Berry (b.1934) American Poet, Novelist, Environmentalist
Great men are but common men more fully developed and ripened.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Your best changes from moment to moment, sick or well, tired or rested. Remember that you are an imperfect human being. There is no value to judging yourself for
—Miguel Angel Ruiz (b.1952) Mexican Spiritualist Author
Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
—John W. Gardner (1912–2002) American Activist
If you want enemies, excel others; if you want friends, let others excel you.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
There is one single thread binding my way together…the way of the Master consists in doing one’s best…that is all.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
To the Master’s honor all must turn, each in its track, without a sound, forever tracing Newton’s ground.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
You must be resolutely determined that whatever you do shall always be the best of which you are capable.
—Charles E. Popplestone
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.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
Each excellent thing, once learned, serves for a measure of all other knowledge.
—Philip Sidney (1554–86) English Soldier Poet, Courtier
Excellence is not an act but a habit. The things you do the most are the things you will do the best.
—Marva Collins (b.1936) American Educator
Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence—only in constant improvement and constant change.
—Tom Peters (b.1942) American Management Consultant, Author
Before the gates of excellence the high gods have placed sweat; long is the road thereto and rough and steep at first; but when the heights are reached, then there is ease, though grievously hard in the winning.
—Hesiod (f.700 BCE) Greek Poet
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 (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
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!
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
Next to excellence, comes the appreciation of it.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
The most splendid achievement of all is the constant striving to surpass yourself and to be worthy of your own approval.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
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.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Our goal, simply stated, is to be the best.
—James Harvey Robinson (1863–1936) American Historian
If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just.
—Anita Roddick (1942–2007) English Businessperson, Activist, Environmentalist
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.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
Joy exists only in self-acceptance. Seek perfect acceptance, not a perfect life.
—Anonymous
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.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
Whoever I am, or whatever I am doing, some kind of excellence is within my reach.
—John W. Gardner (1912–2002) American Activist
If you don’t do it with excellence, don’t do it at all! Because if it’s not excellent, it won’t be profitable or fun, and if you’re not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing there?
—Robert C. Townsend (1920–98) American Businessman
Persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.
—Unknown
If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
The best is the enemy of the good.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labor in it, but they labor in it because they excel.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
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.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Excellence is rarely found, more rarely valued.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of the immortals.
—David Ogilvy (1911–99) British-American Advertising Executive