Quotes About Perfectionism

I can be very critical on myself and on other people; I can be very demanding.

I think I'm more demanding than any wife.

I can be very hard on myself, very demanding.

I nitpick details.

I was determined to have a spotless house when I grew up.

The reason 'Detox' didn't come out was because I didn't like it.

I don't take any shorts. I don't say, 'Okay, it's good enough.' I try to get exactly what I'm hearing in my head to the tape, and I won't let it move until then.

I'm pretty critical of myself as far as reaching some sort of perfect bull's-eye or target that I'm aiming for.

I do everything. Of course, I have 50 people who work for me to do the drudgery of mold making and all the foundry. This is an enormous task. But every stroke in these sculptures is from my hands.

People have this impression that I'm a little kooky, but I'm actually very OCD. I love order and organization. I'm a big list maker. But if I cross off too many tasks, and it's hard to see the remaining ones, I have to start a new list. Now that's OCD.

Fastidious taste makes enjoyment a struggle.

In terms of having a business, I wanted to let it go beyond what my personal taste is. Basically, I'm in a kilt and a white shirt every day. So, you know, I don't have a lot of scope, and I'm really picky about what I wear.

I know people who will look at the label on some ham, and if it's a day over they'll throw the whole packet out instead of opening it up and tasting and smelling it.

Through the distorted lens of the thwarted intent to get it right, everything around these people begins to seem haphazard and careless. To add insult to injury, people seem to address these concerns with horrifyingly fuzzy words, like pretty much, and roughly, and probably. When sufficient intensity is reached, the behavior becomes increasingly pessimistic and perfectionistic. The Whiner, the No Person, the Judge, and the Nothing Person, all exemplify this kind of behavior.

I find that I have been scribbling away for nearly an hour. Miss Gisborne keeps on saying that I am too prone to the insertion of unnecessary hyphens, and that it is a weakness. If a weakness it is, I intend to cherish it.

We've all looked at the mess we've just made and then have chosen to leave it for another day. We've all felt the relief of seeing our messy program work and deciding that a working mess is better than nothing. We've all said we'd go back and clean it up later. Of course, in those days we didn't know LeBlanc's law: Later equals never.

they all possessed that seriousness of the efficient workman which first learns to construct the parts properly before it ventures to fashion a great whole; they allowed themselves time for it, because they took more pleasure in making the little, secondary things well than in the effect of a dazzling whole. —FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

But Masters inevitably possess another quality that complicates the work process: They are not easily satisfied by what they are doing. While able to feel excitement, they also feel doubt about the worthiness of their work. They have high internal standards. As they progress, they begin to detect flaws and difficulties in their original idea that they had not foreseen.

Kusurlu dünyada her ÅŸeyin mükemmel olmas?n? bekleyemeyiz.

parecía que la única virtud de Mamá Elena era la de encontrar defectos.

He was marked out by his relentless ability to find fault with others' mediocrity--suggesting that a certain type of intelligence may be at heart nothing more or less than a superior capacity for dissatisfaction.

Work begins when the fear of doing nothing at all finally trumps the terror of doing it badly.

Our fear of failing at various tasks would likely be much less were it not for our awareness of how harshly failure tends to be viewed and interpreted by others.

If you know less than everything, you always feel inadequate.