The best players in any high-stakes field – business, entertainment, law, surgery, as well as sport – recognize that pressure occurs at the moments when meaningful accomplishment is possible. In fact, that is the reason why performers perform: for the opportunity to tackle challenges head on, to do something significant, to demonstrate what their hard work and talent can produce.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
The most important thing is for you to be your own best friend. Whatever you are doing—don’t put yourself down. Slowly begin to discover which, for you, is the path of the heart. Which path in life will make you grow? That is the path to take.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
When the best things are not possible, the best may be made of those that are.
—Richard Hooker (1554–1600) English Anglican Theologian, Political Theorist
The best horse doesn’t always win the race.
—Irish Proverb
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.
—Irish Proverb
All is for the best in the best of the possible worlds.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
The best place to succeed is where you are with what you have.
—Charles M. Schwab (1862–1939) American Businessperson
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically—to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good”.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
All I want of the world is very little. I only want the best of everything, and there is so little of that.
—Michael Arlen (1895–1956) British Novelist, Short Story Writer
Civilization had too many rules for me, so I did my best to rewrite them.
—Bill Cosby (b.1937) American Actor, Comedian, Activist, Producer, Author
Too many of those with unrealized aspirations have set them aside due to fear of failure. The bigger the dream, the greater the fear. Doing less than our best allays this fear. I could have done better if I’d tried, we assure ourselves. Among the least appreciated reasons for doing superficial, second-rate work of any kind is the comfort of knowing it’s not our best that’s on the line. By not trying too hard, we avoid learning what our true potential is, and having to fulfill it. Doing our best can be deeply threatening. It forces us to consider what we’re actually capable of accomplishing. Once we learn that lesson, we can’t unlearn it. Our true potential becomes both a shining light we can follow and an oppressive burden of expectation that might, or might not, be met.
—Unknown
Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose—and commit myself to—what is best for me.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
In everything the middle course is best:
all things in excess bring trouble to men.
—Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus) (c.250–184 BCE) Roman Comic Playwright
The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. There is just less competition for bigger goals.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution we can make to our fellow men”.
—Rollo May (1909–94) American Philosopher
The best way out is always through.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
If a man does his best, what else is there?
—George S. Patton (1885–1945) American Military Leader
Contrary to what most of us believe, happiness does not simply happen to us. It’s something that we make happen, and it results from doing our best. Feeling fulfilled when we live up to our potentialities is what motivates differentiation and leads to evolution.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934–2021) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I thought a flower would grow.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Like squirrels, the best in every business do what they have learned to do without questioning their abilities – they flat out trust their skills, which is why we call this high-performance state of mind the “Trusting Mindset”.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Do what you know best; if you’re a runner, run, if you’re a bell, ring.
—Ignaz Bernstein (1836–1909) Russian-Jewish Bibliophile
The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interest to promote yours.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Language learning deserves special mention. It is, bar none, the best thing you can do to hone clear thinking.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Arrogant S.O.B.s run the world. A performer can never have too much self-confidence. The best in every field are likely to strike most people as irrationally confident, but that’s how they got to the top.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Intellect helps us to see the best means and manner of doing the right thing, but intellect never shows us the right thing.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.
—Swedish Proverb
My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
—Art Linkletter (1912–2010) Canadian-born American Radio Personality, TV Personality
To get paid the best, you must be the best.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Wisdom is the power to perceive the best ends to aim at and the best means for reaching those ends.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
I have simply tried to do what seemed best each day, as each day came.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The key ingredient to any kind of happiness or success is to never give less than your best.
—Russell Simmons (b.1957) American Music Promoter
When you have a thought that is not in alignment with your highest vision change to a new thought! Then and there. When you say a thing that is our of alignment with your grandest idea, make a note not to say something like that again. When you do a thing that is misaligned with your best intention, decide to make that the last time. And make it right with whomever was involved if you can.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
The really great man is often considered selfish by a large group of people who are connected with him and who feel that he might bestow upon them more benefits than he does.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
To excel means to reach beyond the best you have ever given because doing so matters to you personally, for its own sake. It means to run your own race—as an individual, team, or organization. To excel is to know your greatest strengths and passions, and to emphasize them while honestly admitting and managing your weaknesses.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Healing is the process of accepting all, then choosing best.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
No man needs sympathy because he has to work. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
The best is good enough.
—German Proverb
Be careful when you cast out your demons that you don’t throw away the best of yourself.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Turn on to politics, or politics will turn on you.
—Ralph Nader (b.1934) American Lawyer, Consumer Activist
Overachievement is aimed at people who want to maximize their potential. And to do that, I insist you throw caution to the wind, ignore the pleas of parents, coaches, spouses, and bosses to be “realistic”. Realistic people do not accomplish extraordinary things because the odds against success stymie them. The best performers ignore the odds. I will show you that instead of limiting themselves to what’s probable, the best will pursue the heart-pounding, exciting, really big, difference-making dreams—so long as catching them might be possible.
—John Eliot (b.1971) American Psychologist, Academic
Independent of others and in concert with others, your main task in life is to do what you can best do and become what you can potentially be.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
It’s important to focus on what we do best and master one craft at a time.
—Russell Simmons (b.1957) American Music Promoter
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something…almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
To think that I know what’s best for anyone else is to be out of my business. Even in the name of love, it is pure arrogance, and the result is tension, anxiety, and fear. Do I know what’s right for me? That is my only business. Let me work with that before I try to solve problems for you.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author