Quotes About Excellence

My concentration level blocks out everything. Concentration is why some athletes are better than others. You develop that concentration in training and concentrate in a meet.

Actually I like working kind of fast, because if you got it, why bother doing it over and over?

God gave me all this; why waste the talent that he gave me? Why not go full throttle with it all and try to become in the class with the greatest players that ever played the game? That's just a great feeling.

I told my boys this: Somebody gotta be better than Michael Jordan. Why not you?

If you're going to play football, why not be the best at it that you can be and fulfill your potential?

The way I look at it is that somebody in the world, no matter what your field is - teacher, violinist, football player - has to be the best. Why not me?

If I set off to do something, why not do it properly? Otherwise, what's the point?

I want to become one of the greatest managers that has ever lived. Why not? If it doesn't happen, then I've given everything, and I'd be proud of whatever I'm able to achieve.

Nowadays, the difference between athletes is really small, and if you can get an edge, why not take it.

If I'm the best in the world and if I have the best jab in the world, why not risk a little bit of that for someone who needs it?

I feel like, if you're committed to do something, why not do it 100 percent?

I think that from day one, when it became clear that 'Wicked' was going to have a life, that we have set a standard for ourselves that we are never going to shortchange the audience; that every person that we put into that musical is going to be held to the highest standards; and that nobody is going to be coasting.

I have to live up to my expectations - which is to break all the records that I can, dominate by a wide margin.

When you bring in two wide receivers, it makes everybody say, 'OK, all right, there's a little more competition in this room,' which is good.

I've wanted to put myself in that position to be the best wide receiver in the NFL, and I definitely think I'm putting my foot forward to make that claim.

The most widely criticised singers in the history of opera, Maria Callas and Franco Corelli, happen also to be the best singers. I am honoured for being part of their group.

I am thrilled to become international 'Vogue' editor at Conde Nast International, which has a real commitment to journalistic excellence, and to have the opportunity to write for a wider global audience through the 'Vogue' websites.

The highest-caliber dramatic work produced for TV - not just in cable but something like 'The Good Wife' at network - is consistently great.

For my wife Mary Corliss and me, 'Colbert' has been destination viewing. Even in the early years, we never took the show's excellence for granted, agreeing that someday we'd look back on the double whammy of 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report' as the golden age of TV's singeing singing satire.

When someone is good at what he does but is a nonconformist, there is a temptation in horse racing, like in all kinds of other areas of human endeavor, to dismiss him for his nonconformity rather than to recognize him for his excellence.

When I read something saying I've not done anything as good as 'Catch-22' I'm tempted to reply, 'Who has?'

I'd rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones.

There's no record that you done heard me produce that I spent more than ten minutes on.

I believed in the concept of over-performing. I believe anyone can achieve their goals in life if they over-perform, and that means you have to work ten times harder than anybody you see.