Quotes About Excellence

To live is to find the thing that one does best, and then to do it thoroughly, and always. To do less than this is to never live at all.

Arete is simply excellence and the striving for excellence in all things," said Odysseus. "Arete simply means the act of offering all actions as a sort of sacrament to excellence, of devoting one's life to finding excellence, identifying it when it offers itself, and achieving it in your own life.

During those long months of beginning my Cantos on Heaven's Gate, I discovered that the difference between finding the right word as opposed to accepting the almost right word was the difference between being struck by lightning and merely watching a lightning display.

If you always work with good, dedicated people, both above and below you, then you will learn to thrive in an environment of excellence.

I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.

Good work requires enthusiasm, ethics, and excellence.

Authoritative leaders mobilize people toward a vision. Affiliative leaders create emotional bonds and harmony. Democratic leaders build consensus through participation. Pacesetting leaders expect excellence and self- direction. Coaching leaders develop people for the future. And coercive leaders demand immediate compliance.

Smart practice always includes a feedback loop that lets you recognize errors and correct them - which is why dancers use mirrors. Ideally that feedback comes from someone with an expert eye - and so every world-class sports champion has a coach. If you practice without such feedback, you don't get to the top ranks.

Coercive leaders demand immediate compliance. Authoritative leaders mobilize people toward a vision. Affiliative leaders create emotional bonds and harmony. Democratic leaders build consensus through participation. Pacesetting leaders expect excellence and self-direction. And coaching leaders develop people for the future.

Smart practice always includes a feedback loop that lets you recognize errors and correct them - which is why dancers use mirrors. Ideally that feedback comes from someone with an expert eye - and so every world-class sports champion has a coach. If you practice without such feedback, you don't get to the top ranks. The feedback matters and the concentration does, too - not just the hours.

Good work involves the intertwining of three features: excellence, engagement, and ethics. Good work is technically excellent work—people know what they're doing. It's personally engaging and meaningful. They want to do it. They look forward to going to work. They don't dread it. And it's carried out in an ethical way.

the abilities that distinguish the outstanding supervisors in technical fields are not technical, but rather relate to handling people.14 So to a degree, experience and expertise, like IQ, matter—but there is much more to the story when it comes to excellence.

Research by Harvard's Howard Gardner, Stanford's William Damon, and Claremont's Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi zeroed in on what they call "good work," a potent mix of what people are excellent at, what engages them, and their ethics—what they believe matters.18 Those are more likely to be high-absorption callings: people love what they are doing. Full absorption in what we do feels good, and pleasure is the emotional marker for flow.

To know that a person is a valedictorian is to know only that he or she is exceedingly good at achievement as measured by grades. It tells you nothing about how they react to the vicissitudes of life."6

Con eso se redefine la labor esencial del líder: ayudar a la gente a alcanzar la zona cerebral donde puede dar lo mejor de sí, y a permanecer en ella.

Research by Harvard's Howard Gardner, Stanford's William Damon, and Claremont's Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi zeroed in on what they call "good work," a potent mix of what people are excellent at, what engages them, and their ethics—what they believe matters.18

When the reward is the activity itself--deepening learning, delighting customers, doing one's best--there are no shortcuts.

Perfect score is always something to strive for. I want to win and I want to succeed no matter what.

If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.

Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it's business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don't love what you're doing and you can't give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You'll be an old man before you know it.

"The smallest feline is a masterpiece."

Give the world the best you have, and the best will come to you.

At an early age, you started hearing it: It's a virtue to be "well-rounded." ... They might as well have said : Become as dull as you possibly can be.

At age 31, in 1981, I was voted the best player in basketball, and the most valuable player in the league.