Perfection Quotes - Page 4

• It's not about perfection; it's about the joy of striving.

  Thomas Keller

  Joy, Strive

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• My fabulous architect godfather and mentor told me once that striving toward a goal - or perfection - gives one focus and direction, which is a helluva lot better than chasing one's tail.

  Catherine Stock

  Giving, Goal, Focus

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• There are no perfect women in the world; only hypocrites exhibit no defects.

  Ninon de L'Enclos

  Hypocrite, Perfect, World

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• Perfection is such a nuisance that I often regret having cured myself of using tobacco.

  Emile Zola

  Regret, Smoking, Nuisance

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• What's come to perfection perishes. Things learned on earth we shall practice in heaven; Works done least rapidly Art most cherishes.

  Robert Browning

  Art, Practice, Heaven

  'Old Pictures in Florence' (1855) st. 17

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• Perfection is perfectly simple; fouling things up requires true skill.

  Douglas Horton

  Simple, Skills

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• I'm never pleased with anything, I'm a perfectionist, it's part of who I am.

  Michael Jackson

  Who I Am, Excellence, Perfectionist

  "Godfather Director Gets Good Rap". Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.foxnews.com. February 10, 1993.

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• My mother's wonderful. To me she's perfection.

  Michael Jackson

  Mom, Mother, Excellence

  "The Michael Jackson Interview: Oprah Reflects". www.oprah.com. September 16, 2009.

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• Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Dull, Irony, Aim

  W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

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• Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Humility, Dull, Human Nature

  W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

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• To make one good action succeed another, is the perfection of goodness.

  Ali ibn Abi Talib

  Kindness, Succeed, Action

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• The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement.

  George Will

  Work, Character, Improvement

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• Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.

  Martha Graham

  Dance, Volleyball, Mean

  Martha Graham (1991). “Blood memory”, Doubleday

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• The perfection of art is to conceal art.

  Quintilian

  Art, Design, Concealment

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• Perfection is not just about control, it is also about letting go.

  Vincent Cassel

  Letting Go, Good Advice, Black Swan

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• It is absurd to look for perfection.

  Camille Pissarro

  Looks, Absurd

  Joachim Pissarro, Camille Pissarro, Musée d'Orsay (2005). “Pioneering modern painting: Cézanne & Pissarro 1865-1885”

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• The principal mark of genius is not perfection, but originality.

  Robert Schumann

  Genius, Originality, Mark

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• Out of perfection nothing can be made. Every process involves breaking something up.

  Joseph Campbell

  Made, Process

  "A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living". Book edited by Diane K. Osbon, 1991.

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• These airplanes we have today are no more than a perfection of a child's toy made of paper.

  Henri Coanda

  Children, Airplane, Paper

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• Faultless to a fault.

  Robert Browning

  Faults

  'The Ring and the Book' (1868-9) bk. 9, l. 1175.

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• The potentiality of perfection outweighs actual contradictions... Existence in itself is here to prove that it cannot be an evil.

  Rabindranath Tagore

  Evil, Contradiction, Existence

  Rabindranath Tagore (2016). “SĀDHANĀ - The Realisation of life”, p.31, Rabindranath Tagore

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• That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes.

  Quintilian

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• A new idea is rarely born like Venus attended by graces. More commonly it's modeled of baling wire and acne. More commonly it wheezes and tips over.

  Marge Piercy

  Ideas, Grace, Wire

  Marge Piercy (1982). “Parti-colored Blocks for a Quilt”, p.92, University of Michigan Press

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• At times failure is very necessary for the artist. It reminds him that failure is not the ultimate disaster. And this reminder liberates him from the mean fussing of perfectionism.

  John Berger

  Mean, Artist, Disaster

  John Berger (2011). “A Painter of Our Time”, p.168, Vintage

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• Art in its perfection is not ostentatious; it lies hid and works its effect, itself unseen.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Art, Lying, Unseen

  'Discourses on Art' (ed. R. Wark, 1975) no. 6 (10 December 1774)

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