Easy is right. Begin right, and you will be easy. Continue easy and you are right… The right way to go easy is to forget the right way, and forget that the going is easy.
—Zhuang Zhou (c.369–c.286 BCE) Chinese Taoist Philosopher
The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
From a worldly point of view, there is no mistake so great as that of being always right.
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902) British Victorian Novelist, Essayist, Critic
Without an uninvestigated story, there’s only the perfection of life appearing as itself. You can always go inside and find the beauty that’s revealed after the pain and fear are understood.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life’s ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers, and movers…even if they are uncommon and do not come by the dozen. And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
Execution is really the critical part of a successful strategy. Getting it done, getting it done right, getting it done better than the next person is far more important than dreaming up new visions of the future. All of the great companies in the world out-execute their competitors day in and day out in the marketplace, in their manufacturing plants, in their logistics, in their inventory turns—in just about everything they do. Rarely do great companies have a proprietary position that insulates them from the constant hand-to-hand combat of competition.
—Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (b.1942) American Businessman
Unless I accept my faults, I will most certainly doubt my virtues.
—Hugh Prather (b.1938) American Christian Author, Minister, Counselor
I don’t like these cold, precise, perfect people, who, in order not to speak wrong, never speak at all, and in order not to do wrong, never do anything.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Perfect order is the forerunner of perfect horror.
—Carlos Fuentes (1928–2012) Mexican Novelist, Diplomat
The nearest to perfection that most people come is when filling out an employment application.
—Unknown
If I have any justification for having lived it’s simply, I’m nothing but faults, failures and so on, but I have tried to make a good pair of shoes. There’s some value in that.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
We like security: we like the pope to be infallible in matters of faith, and grave doctors to be so in moral questions so that we can feel reassured.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. Neglect nothing; the most trivial action may be performed to God.
—Marie Angelique Arnauld (1591–1661) French Jansenist Nun
Once you accept the fact that you’re not perfect, then you develop some confidence.
—Rosalynn Carter (1927–2023) American First Lady, Mental Health Advocate
The organizations of men, like men themselves, seem subject to deafness, near-sightedness, lameness, and involuntary cruelty. We seem tragically unable to help one another, to understand one another.
—John Cheever (1912–82) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
The intellect of man is forced to choose perfection of the life, or of the work, and if it take the second must refuse a heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day.
—Polish Proverb
Truth is so great a perfection, that if God would render himself visible to men, he would choose light for his body and truth for his soul.
—Pythagoras (570–495 BCE) Greek Philosopher
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
You can spend a lifetime, and, if you’re honest with yourself, never once was your work perfect.
—Charlton Heston (1923–2008) American Actor, Political Activist
To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Always live up to your standards – by lowering them, if necessary.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
He who boasts of being perfect is perfect in folly. I never saw a perfect man. Every rose has its thorns, and every day its night. Even the sun shows spots, and the skies are darkened with clouds. And faults of some kind nestle in every bosom.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, thinks what ne’er was, nor is, nor ever shall be.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Culture is properly described as the love of perfection; it is a study of perfection.
—Matthew Arnold (1822–88) English Poet, Critic
The maxim “Nothing avails but perfection” may be spelled “Paralysis”.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
The world is satisfied with words, few care to dive beneath the surface.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
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