Mediocrity Quotes - Page 9

• I sometimes make pictures which are not up to my standard, but then it can only be said of a mediocrity that all his work is up to his standard.

  Ernst Lubitsch

  Sometimes, Said, Standards

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Hopeless, Doom, Imitator

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2014). “The Portable Emerson”, p.72, Penguin

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• It is never easy to demand the most from ourselves, from our lives, from our work. To encourage excellence is to go beyond the encouraged mediocrity of our society is to encourage excellence. But giving in to the fear of feeling and working to capacity is a luxury only the unintentional can afford, and the unintentional are those who do not wish to guide their own destinies.

  Audre Lorde

  Destiny, Luxury, Giving

  Audre Lorde (2012). “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches”, p.54, Crossing Press

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• The present reeks of mediocrity and the atom bomb.

  Rene Magritte

  Atoms, Bombs, Atom Bomb

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• People who have accomplished work worthwhile have had a very high sense of the way to do things. They have not been content with mediocrity. They have not confined themselves to the beaten tracks; they have never been satisfied to do things just as others so them, but always a little better. They always pushed things that came to their hands a little higher up, this little farther on, that counts in the quality of life's work. It is constant effort to be first-class in everything one attempts that conquers the heights of excellence.

  Orison Swett Marden

  Hands, Class, People

  Orison Swett Marden (2007). “Do It to a Finish!”, p.21, Cosimo, Inc.

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• NOTORIETY, n. The fame of one's competitor for public honors. The kind of renown most accessible and acceptable to mediocrity. A Jacob's-ladder leading to the vaudeville stage, with angels ascending and descending.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Leadership, Kindness, Angel

  Ambrose Bierce (2012). “The Devil's Dictionary”, p.85, Courier Corporation

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• Passion is a product of the heart. Passion is what helps you when you have a great dream. Passion breeds conviction and turns mediocrity into excellence! Your passion will motivate others to join you in pursuit of your dream. With passion, you will overcome insurmountable obstacles. You will become unstoppable!

  Andy Andrews

  Dream, Passion, Heart

  Andy Andrews (2005). “The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success”, p.81, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• The natural tendency of representative government, as of modern civilisation, is towards collective mediocrity: and this tendency is increased by all reductions and extensions of the franchise, their effect being to place the principal power in the hands of classes more and more below the highest level of instruction in the community.

  John Stuart Mill

  Government, Hands, Class

  John Stuart Mill (2016). “Considerations on Representative Government”, p.196, John Stuart Mill

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• The success of many books is due to the affinity between the mediocrity of the author's ideas and those of the public.

  Nicolas Chamfort

  Book, Ideas, History

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• Focus on competition has always been a formula for mediocrity.

  Daniel Burrus

  Sports, Focus, Competition

  "How Technology Is Transforming the Wine Industry" by Daniel Burrus, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 9, 2016.

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• It's true he was a sinner. But don't pass so final a judgement. Have pity in your heart and don't forget that he may yet be an Augustine, while you remain just another mediocrity.

  Josemaria Escriva

  Heart, Judgement, Saint

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• Mediocrity always attacks excellence.

  Michael Beckwith

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  FaceBook post by Michael Bernard Beckwith from Oct 13, 2012

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• I wouldn't say I'm normal. But I'm relatively stable. When I think of normal, I think of mediocrity, and mediocrity scares the f--- out of me.

  Gillian Anderson

  Thinking, Scare, Ordinary

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• Over-seriousness is a warning sign for mediocrity and bureaucratic thinking. People who are seriously committed to mastery and high performance are secure enough to lighten up.

  Michael J. Gelb

  Thinking, People, Mastery

  Michael J. Gelb (1996). “Lessons from the Art of Juggling: How to Achieve Your Full Potential in Business, Learning, and Life”, Three Rivers Press

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• Those who build and perpetuate mediocrity...are motivated more by the fear of being left behind.

  James C. Collins

  Marketing, Motivated, Left Behind

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• The history of an art is the history of masterwork, not of failures, or mediocrity.

  Ezra Pound

  Art, Historical, Art Is

  Ezra Pound, Richard Sieburth (2005). “The Spirit of Romance”, p.5, New Directions Publishing

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• It is not a question of skimming the surface of the art, it must be probed to its depths, for to seize upon superficial things only is to degenerate into mediocrity and obscurity.

  Jean-Georges Noverre

  Art, Superficial Things, Ballet

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• It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.

  Pope John Paul II

  Jesus, Catholic, Desire

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• We will meet our challenges head on and we will do it by rejecting the politics of mediocrity and corruption. You voted for change; I intend to deliver it. ... I will govern as a reformer.

  Rod Blagojevich

  Challenges, Corruption, Reformers

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• A high civilization is a pyramid: it can stand only on a broad base; its primary prerequisite is a strong and soundly consolidated mediocrity.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Strong, Civilization, Pyramids

  Friedrich Nietzsche “Delphi Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche (Illustrated): Friedrich Nietzsche”, Delphi Classics

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• There are no such men today. We have created a mechanism that makes it practically impossible for a real genius to appear. In my own field the biochemist Fritz Lipmann or the much maligned Linus Pauling were very talented people. But generally, geniuses everywhere seem to have died out by 1914. Today, most are mediocrities blown up by the winds of the time.

  Erwin Chargaff

  Real, Men, Wind

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• It takes far less energy to move from first-rate performance to excellence than it does to move from incompetence to mediocrity.

  Peter Drucker

  Moving, Excellence, Energy

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• Let some holy ambition invade our souls, so that, dissatisfied with mediocrity, we shall eagerly desire the highest things and shall toil with all our strength to obtain them, since we may if we wish.

  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

  Ambition, Soul, Wish

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• Today I begin a new life. Today I shed my old skin which hath, too long, suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediocrity. Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.

  Og Mandino

  Long, Skins, Vineyards

  Og Mandino (2011). “The Greatest Salesman in the World”, p.45, Bantam

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• Push yourself to do more and to experience more. Harness your energy to start expanding your dreams. Yes, expand your dreams. Don't accept a life of mediocrity when you hold such infinite potential within the fortress of your mind. Dare to tap into your greatness.

  Robin Sharma

  Dream, Greatness, Mind

  Robin Sharma (2003). “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny”, p.133, Jaico Publishing House

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