Quotes About Excellence

Naval aviation, they believed, was not inherently dangerous. Sure, there were risks, but if you were good—really good, like they were—nothing bad would happen.

Colleges are places where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed.

The goal of discoverers is not to outdistance their peers, but to transcend themselves.

it has always been my temperament to prefer a tiny amount of the excellent to a plenitude of the mediocre...

And the most talented people in every occupation have huge advantages over their ordinary peers. Dean Keith Simonton, who studies greatness and genius, finds that whether it comes to songwriters, composers, scientists, programmers, or filmmakers, the top 10 percent generate as much or more output than the other 90 percent.

organizations that spread and sustain excellence are infused with a "relentless restlessness"—that often uncomfortable urge for constant innovation, driven by the nagging feeling that things are never quite good enough.

Be wary when people tell you that they don't produce a lot, but when they do, it will be "brilliant." Remember that innovation is largely a function of productivity.

Accountability means that an organization is packed with people who embody and protect excellence (even when they are tired, overburdened, and distracted), who work vigorously to spread it to others, and who spot, help, critique, and (when necessary) push aside colleagues who fail to live and spread it.

variation leads to excellence in social systems

that in all things He may have the preeminence. – Colossians 1:18

They were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well." – Mark 7:37

There is very little sustained performance at the level of excellence—of any kind, anywhere—without continuous coaching.

If an undertaking was easy, someone else already would have done it. – If you follow in another's footsteps, you miss the problems really worth solving. – Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus, and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average. – Every so often, life presents a great moment of decision, an intersection at which a man must decide to stop or go; a person lives

Football, fraternities, and fun have no place in the university. They were introduced only to entertain those who shouldn't be in the university.

Story is about thoroughness, not shortcuts.

No matter our talent, we all know in the midnight of our souls that 90 percent of what we do is less than our best.

Secure writers don't sell first drafts. They patiently rewrite until the script is as director-ready, as actor-ready as possible. Unfinished work invites tampering, while polished, mature work seals its integrity.

Nothing peerless has lasting value.

If I had my way books would not be written in English but in an exceedingly difficult secret language.... This plan would have the advantage of scaring off all amateur authors, retired politicians, country doctors...who would not have the patience to learn the secret language.

I've learned about leadership is that leaders are those individuals who do the things that failures aren't willing to do—even though they might not like doing them either. They have the discipline to do what they know to be important—and right—versus what's easy and fun.

To Be a Great Leader, First Become a Great Person.

Only the mediocre die always at their best. Real leaders are always improving—and raising their bar on how superbly they can perform and how quickly they can move. —JEAN GIRAUDOUX

Leadership's a lot more about how brilliantly you work and how masterfully you behave.

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.