Excellence Quotes

Ordinary is an insult to excellence.

~ Jury Nel

Generally places that are comfortable with excellence don’t call themselves centers of excellence. Has anyone heard of a Princeton University Center of Excellence? Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of Excellence?

~ Otis Webb Brawley

Moderation leads to Mediocrity, Intensity leads to Excellence.

~ Suleman Abdullah

I loved buildings that had grown silently with the centuries, catching the best of each generation while time curbed the artist's pride and the philistine's vulgarity and repaired the clumsiness of the dull workman.

~ Evelyn Waugh

Anytime I see a rainbow, what comes into my mind is how skillful and talented someone was to create an ark that didn't leak through a prolong period of flood. We must work our talents out and work them out skillfully and then our rainbow of excellence will show.

~ Israelmore Ayivor

What will make you great today will never make you great tomorrow! The airplane that Wilbur and Orville Wright invented in 1906 would be seen as a scrap today. It becomes valueless with time.

~ Israelmore Ayivor

Those who distinguish themselves in what they do and become disinct always score distinction. Don't follow the crowd. Distinguish yourself with a special commitment and you will excel.

~ Israelmore Ayivor

The truth is the very definition of excellence.

~ Loron-Jon Stokes

Either find a way, or make one....You can bend but you can never break if you want to achieve excellence.

~ Ziad K. Abdelnour

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.

~ Steve Jobs

Be driven with purpose. Be relentless in your alignment with excellence. Pay no mind to the disimpassioned impotent haters.

~ Steve Maraboli

Just make up your mind at the very outset that your work is going to stand for quality... that you are going to stamp a superior quality upon everything that goes out of your hands, that whatever you do shall bear the hallmark of excellence.

~ Orison Swett Marden

When you do the common things in an uncommon way, you'll command the attention of the world.

~ George Washington Carver

True sportsmanship is excellence in motion!

~ Lorii Myers

The excellent person manages himself. He will not allow the environment to manage him.

~ Rex Resurreccion

Most of us are continually engaged in some form of pursuit. We are seeking excellence within one or more areas in our lives, and that is the basis of our motivation. It is human nature to have a need to get ahead, need a little something more—it’s in our DNA. Although we may not be certain of what we need at any given moment, we know there’s something. It’s a competitive itch and desire to improve that never goes away.

~ Lorii Myers

In other words, we are never freer than when we become most ourselves, most human, most just, most excellent, and the like.

~ Os Guinness

Excellence prospers in the absence of excuses.

~ Lorii Myers

When I think of excellence in motion, I think of the big picture. Because of the magnitude of this concept, I look at it from an aerial perspective. It is a mindset that challenges the boundaries of self-induced limits—that point where you aspire to exceed your expectations, where the mind-body-achievement connection resides and wins time and time again.

~ Lorii Myers

As sure as shadow follows substance and the sun rises on the east and sets on the west, a person who exercises professional excellence will be followed by success.

~ Rex Resurreccion

Leaders are readers, disciples want to be taught and everyone has gifts within that need to be coached to excellence.

~ Wayde Goodall

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for perfection is God's business.

~ Michael J. Fox

It's the job of any business owner to be clear about the company's nonnegotiable core values. They're the riverbanks that help guide us as we refine and improve on performance and excellence. A lack of riverbanks creates estuaries and cloudy waters that are confusing to navigate. I want a crystal-clear, swiftly flowing stream.

~ Danny Meyer

Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude.

~ Ralph Marston

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.

~ Colin Powell

America is hope. It is compassion. It is excellence. It is valor.

~ Paul Tsongas

The mandate I have received and for which I will speak with heart and head to implement over the next seven years had its four pillars - an inclusive citizenship, equality and participation and respect in a creative society creating an excellence in everything we Irish do.

~ Michael D. Higgins

Dreams can become a reality when we possess a vision that is characterized by the willingness to work hard, a desire for excellence, and a belief in our right and our responsiblity to be equal members of society.

~ Janet Jackson

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.

~ Charles Dudley Warner

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

~ Martin Luther King

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

~ Pearl S. Buck

Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary.

~ Warren Bennis

It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen themselves.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I am so proud of being a Paralympian because I think the Games are a very good platform for disabled persons to perform themselves. Within the Paralympics movement, it's not just talk about excellence; it's not just talk about the competition. It's also talk about the equality and how your world accepts those disabled people.

~ Yu Chui Yee

I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.

~ Nina Simone

There is no excellence without labor. One cannot dream oneself into either usefulness or happiness.

~ Liberty Hyde Bailey

Education in India has made monumental progress since Independence but continues to face daunting challenges at multiple levels, particularly in terms of quality, infrastructure and dropout rates. We have islands of excellence floating in a sea of mediocrity.

~ Shashi Tharoor

Scotch beef, salmon and shellfish are recognised the world over for their excellence and Scottish provenance. People recognise the Scottish brand. They associate the country with quality food and drink, and clearly other Scottish sectors, such as dairy, can benefit from that, too.

~ Nicola Sturgeon

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

~ Barack Obama

I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that's how I operate my life.

~ Oprah Winfrey