Mediocrity Quotes - Page 21

• Pride is a personal commitment. It is an attitude which separates excellence from mediocrity.

  William Blake

  Attitude, Commitment, Pride

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• We do not by any means think it desirable that the kingdom of righteousness and peace should be established on earth (because under any circumstances it would be the kingdom of the profoundest mediocrity and Chinaism); we rejoice in all men, who like ourselves love danger, war and adventure, who do not make compromises, nor let themselves be captured, conciliated and stunted; we count ourselves among the conquerors; we ponder over the need of a new order of things, even of a new slavery for every strengthening and elevation of the type "man" also involves a new form of slavery.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  War, Adventure, Mean

  Friedrich Nietzsche (2015). “The Joyful Wisdom”, p.248, Friedrich Nietzsche

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• Elitism is the slur directed at merit by mediocrity.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Acceptance, Merit, Slurs

  Sydney J. Harris (1985). “Pieces of Eight Pa”, Mariner Books

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• Moderation, the Golden Mean, the Aristonmetron, is the secret of wisdom and of happiness. But it does not mean embracing an unadventurous mediocrity; rather it is an elaborate balancing act, a feat of intellectual skill demanding constant vigilance. Its aim is a reconciliation of opposites.

  Robertson Davies

  Mean, Acceptance, Skills

  Robertson Davies, Surridge, Jennifer (1997). “Happy Alchemy: Writings on the Theatre and Other Lively Arts”, M&S

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• Do what's right. Be on time, be polite, and be honest; remain free from drugs; and if you have any questions, get out your Bible. 2. Do your best. Mediocrity is unacceptable when you are capable of doing better. 3. Treat others as you want to be treated. Practice love and understanding.

  Lou Holtz

  Inspirational, Motivational, Practice

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• Caution is the path to mediocrity. Gliding, passionless mediocrity is all that most people think they can achieve.

  Frank Herbert

  Thinking, People, Gliding

  Frank Herbert (2008). “God Emperor of Dune”, p.372, Penguin

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• Our sadness won’t be of the searing kind but more like a blend of joy and melancholy: joy at the perfection we see before us, melancholy at an awareness of how seldom we are sufficiently blessed to encounter anything of its kind. The flawless object throws into perspective the mediocrity that surrounds it. We are reminded of the way we would wish things always to be and of how incomplete our lives remain.

  Alain de Botton

  Blessed, Sadness, Perspective

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• Most humans, in varying degrees, are already dead. In one way or another they have lost their dreams, their ambitions, their desire for a better life. They have surrendered their fight for self-esteem and they have compromised their great potential. They have settled for a life of mediocrity, days of despair and nights of tears. They are no more than living deaths confined to cemeteries of their choice. Yet they need not remain in that state. They can be resurrected from their sorry condition. They can each perform the greatest miracle in the world. They can each come back from the dead.

  Og Mandino

  Dream, Sorry, Self Esteem

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• The world would hate His followers, not because of evil in their lives, but precisely because of the absence of evil or rather their goodness. Goodness does not cause hatred, but it gives occasion for hatred to manifest itself. The holier and purer a life, the more it would attract malignity and hate. Mediocrity alone survives.

  Fulton J. Sheen

  Hate, Evil, Giving

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• To be popular one must be a mediocrity." "Not with Women," said the duchess, shaking her head; "and women rule the world. I assure you we can't bear mediocrities. We women, as someone says, love with our ears, just as you men love with your eyes, if you ever love at all." "It seems to me that we never do anything else," murmered Dorian.

  Oscar Wilde

  Eye, Men, Ears

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.136, Wordsworth Editions

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• Any system which allows men to choose their own future will end by choosing safety and mediocrity, and in such a Reality the stars are out of reach.

  Isaac Asimov

  Stars, Reality, Men

  Isaac Asimov (2010). “The End of Eternity”, p.248, Macmillan

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• What was alien was being ordinary, being humdrum, being trapped into appeasing...having to crush and stifle my opinions, not being allowed to be brilliant, tricking myself into mediocrity.

  Russell Brand

  Crush, Ordinary, Opinion

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• Our colleges ought to have lit up in us a lasting relish for a better kind of man, a loss of appetite for mediocrities.

  William James

  Loss, College, Men

  William James (1987). “Essays, Comments, and Reviews”, p.108, Harvard University Press

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• Successful people are the ones who are breaking the rules.

  Seth Godin

  Motivation, Business, Successful

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• Once you free yourself from the need for perfect acceptance, it's a lot easier to launch work that matters.

  Seth Godin

  Business, Acceptance, Perfect

  Seth Godin (2012). “Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?: And Other Provocations, 2006-2012”, p.46, Penguin

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• There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

  Peter Drucker

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

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• Desire is what takes the hot water of mediocrity and turns it into the steam of outstanding success.

  Zig Ziglar

  Success, Business, Water

  FaceBook post by Zig Ziglar from Sep 20, 2013

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• As Aristotle wrote a long, long time ago, and I'm paraphrasing here, the goal is to avoid mediocrity by being prepared to try something and either failing miserably or triumphing grandly. Mediocrity is not about failing, and it's the opposite of doing. Mediocrity, in other words, is about not trying. The reason is achingly simple, and I know you've heard it a thousand times before: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

  Georges St-Pierre

  Simple, Opposites, Long

  Georges St-Pierre (2013). “The Way of the Fight”, p.7, Harper Collins

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• Only mediocrity escapes criticism.

  John Steinbeck

  Life, Criticism

  John Steinbeck (2001). “A Life in Letters”, p.1159, Penguin UK

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• The appearance of a single great genius is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities

  Cesare Lombroso

  Genius, Birth, Appearance

  Cesare Lombroso (2017). “The Man of Genius”, p.116, Litres

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• It is a sad mission to cut through and destroy with the scissors of analysis the delicate and iridescent veils with which our proud mediocrity clothes itself.

  Cesare Lombroso

  Cutting, Clothes, Analysis

  Cesare Lombroso (2017). “The Man of Genius”, p.11, Litres

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• Oh maturity's a wrapped up package deal so it seems
  And ditching teenage fantasy means ditching all your dreams
  All your friends and peers and family solemnly tell you you will
  Have to grow up be an adult yeah be bored and unfulfilled
  Oh when no ones yet explained to me exactly what's so great
  About slaving 50 years away on something that you hate, about meekly shuffling down the path of mediocrity
  Well if that's your road then take it but it's not the road for me.

  Frank Turner

  Dream, Growing Up, Teenage

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• The legal system doesn't always serve as a good guide for your conscience. You can step way over the ethical line and still be inside the law. The same thing goes for rules, policies and procedures - you know, the organization's "internal laws." You can "go by the book" and still behave unethically. Still not move beyond mediocrity. High standards-the ethics of excellence-come to life through your basic values, your character, integrity and honesty. Obeying the law is the bare minimum.

  Price Pritchett

  Honesty, Integrity, Moving

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• The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity, since the tastes, knowledge, and principles of the majority form the tribunal of appeal.

  James F. Cooper

  Freedom, Democracy, Majority

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• Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was.

  Joseph Heller

  Men, People, Three

  Catch-22 ch. 9 (1961)

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