Quotes About Excellence

It takes two to make every great career: the man who is great, and the man-almost rarer-who is great enough to see greatness and say so.

the best is a matter of standards—and I set my own standards.

She could not descend to an existence where her brain would explode under the pressure of forcing itself not to outdistance incompetence. She could not function to the rule of: Pipe down-keep down-slow down-don't do your best, it is not wanted!

The best is a matter of standards

Nothing can make self-immolation proper. Nothing can give them the right to turn men into sacrificial animals. Nothing can make it moral to destroy the best. One can't be punished for being good. One can't be penalized for ability. If that is right, then we'd better start slaughtering one another, because there isn't any right at all in the world!

It's a law of survival, isn't it?—to seek the best. I didn't come for your sake. I came for mine.

Francisco could do anything he undertook, he could do it better than anyone else, and he did it without effort. There was no boasting in his manner and consciousness, no thought of comparison. His attitude was not: "I can do it better than you," but simply: "I can do it." What he meant by doing was doing superlatively.

The code of competence is the only system of morality that's on a gold standard.

Any man, who's afraid of hiring the best ability he can find, is a cheat who's in a business where he doesn't belong. To me-the foulest man on earth, more contemptible than a criminal, is the employer who rejects men for being too good. That's what I've always thought and- say, what are you laughing at?

I can accept anything, except what seems to be the easiest for most people: the halfway, the almost, the just-about, the in-between.

The code of competence is the only system of morality that's on a gold standard.

Nothing can make it moral to destroy the best.

There's no surer way to destroy a man than to force him into a spot where he has to aim at not doing his best, where he has to struggle to do a bad job, day after day.

Good, better, best. Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best.

Actors need a kind of aggression, a kind of inner force. Don't be only one-sided, sweet, nice, good. Get rid of being average. Find the killer in you.

You have to understand your best. Your best isn't Barrymore's best or Olivier's best or my best, but your own. Every person has his norm. And in that norm every person is a star. Olivier could stand on his head and still not be you. Only you can be you. What a privilege! Nobody can reach what you can if you do it. So do it. We need your best, your voice, your body. We don't need for you to imitate anybody, because that would be second best. And second best is no better than your worst.

You'll never really be great unless you aim high.

If there's a better book than this, I haven't written it.

If you want the secondary greatness of recognized talent, focus first on primary greatness of character

Each man in his own way had gone through what Richard Winters experienced: a realization that doing his best was a better way of getting through the Army than hanging around with the sad excuses for soldiers they met in the recruiting depots or basic training. They wanted to make their Army time positive, a learning and maturing and challenging experience.

The girl who played Gwendolen stood out like a good deed in a naughty world.

as with almost all human practices, there are those who have the mysterious ability to raise the everyday and ordinary to the level of art.

Almost there! Those are not words any writer pines to hear. Much more preferable is "masterpiece" or "timeless brilliance" or "it shall live forever.

Even though, No one is infallible. However, spend much effort in making yourself better. Stand out! Don't follow the masses. It produces results