Mediocrity Quotes - Page 2

• In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Work, India, Genius

  Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.725, Library of Alexandria

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• It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late. It does not improve the temper.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Too Late, Doe, Bondage

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.343, Diversion Books

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• In our desire to please everyone, it's very easy to end up being invisible or mediocre.

  Seth Godin

  Desire, Invisible, Easy

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• Women want mediocre men, and men are working to be as mediocre as possible.

  Margaret Mead

  Women, Sisterhood, Want

  In Quote Magazine 15 June 1958

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• The only way to get out of mediocrity is to keep shooting for excellence.

  Eric Thomas

  Excellence, Shooting, Way

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• Being realistic is the quickest path to mediocrity

  Will Smith

  Being Real, Path, Realistic

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• Take back the beauty and wit you bestow upon me; leave me my own mediocrity of agreeableness and genius, but leave me also my sincerity, my constancy, and my plain dealing; 'Tis all I have to recommend me to the esteem either of others or myself.

  Mary Wortley Montagu

  Beauty, Genius, Sincerity

  Mary Wortley Montagu, James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie Wharncliffe (1837). “The Letters and Works: In Three Volumes”, p.144

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• The boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Boys, Age, Temples

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• Little things affect little minds.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Sarcastic, Work, Teaching

  1845 Sybil, bk.3, ch.2.

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• I try to keep an open mind but I'm so tired of the mediocrity.

  Clea DuVall

  Tired, Tolerance, Mind

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• Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success.

  Dale Carnegie

  Time, Travel, Life And Love

  Dale Carnegie (2017). “How to enjoy your life and your job”, p.54, Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd

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• You know better than I that in a Republic talent is always suspect. A man attains an elevated position only when his mediocrity prevents him from being a threat to others. And for this reason a democracy is never governed by the most competent, but rather by those whose insignificance will not jeopardize anyone else's self-esteem.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Self Esteem, Men, Democracy

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• Creative Artists Agency put together a project of extraordinary mediocrity and colossal stupidity. Otherwise, it was great.

  Mikhail Baryshnikov

  Artist, Agency, Creative

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• In America, I would say New York and New Orleans are the two most interesting food towns. In New Orleans, they don't have a bad deli. There's no mediocrity accepted.

  Mario Batali

  New York, Food, New Orleans

  "The Traditions of the Table". Interview with Bruce Cole, www.neh.gov. January/February 2004.

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• The function of genius is not to give new answers, but to pose new questions which time and mediocrity can resolve.

  Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper

  Learning, Science, Giving

  Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper (1966). “Historical essays”

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• Craft' gets a bad rap. Mediocre art is not caused by craft; it is caused by artists. Good art employs whatever craft works best.

  Walter Darby Bannard

  Art, Rap, Crafts

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• Some Christians want enough of Christ to be identified with him but not enough to be seriously inconvenienced; they genuinely cling to basic Christian orthodoxy but do not want to engage in serious Bible study; they value moral probity, especially of the public sort, but do not engage in war against inner corruptions; they fret over the quality of the preacher's sermon but do not worry much over the quality of their own prayer life. Such Christians are content with mediocrity.

  D. A. Carson

  Christian, Prayer, War

  D. A. Carson (1992). “A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers”, p.121, Baker Academic

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• Only with absolute fearlessness can we slay the dragons of mediocrity that invade our gardens.

  George Lois

  Fear, Business, Garden

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• The real Antichrist is he who turns the wine of an original idea into the water of mediocrity.

  Eric Hoffer

  Real, Wine, Ideas

  "Thoughts of Eric Hoffer, Including: 'Absolute Faith Corrupts Absolutely'" by Eric Hoffer, The New York Times Magazine (p. 60), April 25, 1971.

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• If one wants to be active, one must not be afraid of going wrong, one must not be afraid of making mistakes now and then. Many people think that they will become good just by doing no harm -- but that's a lie.... That way lies stagnation, mediocrity.

  Vincent Van Gogh

  Mistake, Lying, Thinking

  Vincent van Gogh (2014). “Delphi Complete Works of Vincent van Gogh (Illustrated)”, p.2333, Delphi Classics

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• ...I am afraid that education is conceived more in terms of indoctrination by most school officials than in terms of enlightenment. My own belief is that education must be subversive if it is to be meaningful. By this I mean that it must challenge all the things we take for granted, examine all accepted assumptions, tamper with every sacred cow, and instill a desire to question and doubt. Without this the mere instruction to memorise data is empty. The attempt to enforce conventional mediocrity on the young is criminal.

  Bertrand Russell

  Meaningful, School, Data

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• Not doing more than the average is what keeps the average down.

  William Lyon Phelps

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Business

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• I'm obsessively opposed to the typical.

  Lady Gaga

  Musician, Typical, Actresses

  Song: The Fame Monster, Album: The Fame, 2008

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• The sheep-like tendency of human society soon makes inroads on a child's unsophistications, and then popular education completes the dastardly work with its systematic formulas, and away goes the individual, hurtling through space into that hateful oblivion of mediocrity. We are pruned into stumps, one resembling another, without character or grace.

  N. C. Wyeth

  Children, Character, Sheep

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• Being realistic is the most commonly travelled road to mediocrity. What's the point of being realistic? It's unrealistic to walk into a room, flip a switch, and have light come on, but fortunately Edison didn't think so.

  Will Smith

  Thinking, Light, Being Real

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