Quotes About Dedication

And: the only way anything ever gets done is when you make up your mind to do it.

To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.

They knew that they had witnessed a beginning and now they would not cease to watch until they saw the end.

Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.

To act is to commit, and to commit is to take risks.

What work makes you feel compelled to try to create greatness?

In retirement, Smith reflected on his exceptional performance, saying simply, I never stopped trying to become qualified for the job.

12 In retirement, Smith reflected on his exceptional performance, saying simply, "I never stopped trying to become qualified for the job.

If you're diversified into five businesses, as we once were, the businesses that only make up 3% of your sales are going to take 20% of your time, energy, and attention. It's just not worth it. Focus. Do what you do better than anyone else. And the results will probably be very positive, as they were for us once we decided to concentrate all our efforts on one line of business.

Level 5 leaders display a workmanlike diligence - more plow horse than show horse.

It's not only the audacity of the goal but also the level of commitment to the goal that counts.

Sustained great results depend upon building a culture full of self-disciplined people who take disciplined action, fanatically consistent with the three circles.

to create great results requires a nearly fanatical dedication to the idea of consistency within the Hedgehog Concept.

Your mission must meet one overriding criterion: it must be compelling. The best missions have an element of genuine passion in them. Don't set a mission like this: To make and sell athletic shoes on a worldwide basis. Set a mission like this: Crush Reebok.

In combat deployment (where he earned a Silver Star for bravery and two Purple Hearts), Smith gained the central insight that would power Federal Express from an idea into a viable business, from a business into a great company. Like Manchester, he realized that people will do unreasonable things to come through—not for grand ideas or incentives or bosses or hierarchies or even recognition, but for each other.

Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It's not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious—but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.

Fanatical attention to consistency and detail •

Like every serious student, follow the most important law for all students: repay your teacher by making it your duty to surpass him!

Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem. —Ronald Reagan

Although he had a directing hand in everything, he always remained a student at heart.

It was written that I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice—

I wear obsession well, I've turned it into something.

I too can play the madman, the fool, the hero; in short, any or everything to rescue her I love.

Even the robin and the martin come back, year after year, to their old nests; shall a woman be less true hearted than a bird?