Performance is your reality. Forget everything else.
—Harold S. Geneen (1910–1997) British-American Businessman
Make no small plans for they have no power to stir the soul.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
People say to me, “You were a roaring success. How did you do it?” I go back to what my parents taught me. Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don’t just stand there, make something happen.
—Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) American Businessperson
The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
It is hard to go beyond your public. If they are satisfied with cheap performance, you will not easily arrive at better. If they know what is good, and require it. you will aspire and burn until you achieve it. But from time to time, in history, men are born a whole age too soon.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Great works are done when one is not calculating and thinking.
—D. T. Suzuki (1870–1966) Japanese Buddhist Philosopher
Life has no rehearsals, only performances.
—Unknown
You don’t concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done.
—Chuck Yeager (1923–2020) American Test Pilot, Air Force Officer
The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
Perform good deeds; you will not regret them.
—Moroccan Proverb
Let your performance do the thinking.
—Charlotte Bronte (1816–1855) English Novelist, Poet
Everything depends upon execution; having just a vision is no solution.
—Stephen Sondheim (b.1930) American Musician, Composer, Songwriter
If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Wise to resolve, patient to perform.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Don’t waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours or ages that follow it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Each honest calling, each walk of life, has its own elite, its own aristocracy based on excellence of performance.
—James Bryant Conant (1893–1978) American Chemist, Educator
Being relaxed, at peace with yourself, confident, emotionally neutral, loose, and free-floating – these are the keys to successful performance in almost everything.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
There is nothing in all the world so satisfying as a task well done. There is no reward so pleasing as that which comes with the mastery of a difficult problem.
—Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) American Mormon Religious Leader
I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
Practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best.
—Indian Proverb
One body cannot perform two services.
—Chinese Proverb
Concentration, Confidence, Competitive urge, Capacity for enjoyment.
—Arnold Palmer (b.1929) American Sportsperson
We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The medals don’t mean anything and the glory doesn’t last. It’s all about your happiness. The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing.
—Jackie Joyner-Kersee (b.1962) American Athlete
The man who does not take pride in his own performance performs nothing in which to take pride.
—Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874–1956) American Business Executive
Don’t lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality.
—Ralph Marston
You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That’s the mark of a true professional.
—Joe Paterno (1926–2012) American Sportsperson
Slumps are like a soft bed. They’re easy to get into and hard to get out of.
—Johnny Bench (b.1947) American Sportsperson
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
If a man or woman is born ten years sooner or later, their whole aspect and performance shall be different.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet