Achieve Excellence Quotes & Sayings

I had a dual goal in my running that was to win and to achieve excellence, so I was never happy with a slow tactical time. If the race were slow I would get in front and pull it up again. I couldn't stand a slow race. A lot of people seem to get screwed up on tactics. There is only one tactic in a race and that is to always be in a position where you can win it. — Herb Elliott

Dreaming of being on Moon cannot get you there. It requires a focused & intelligent effort to achieve what you Dream. — Neelesh V. Sakhardande

It is never easy for any leader to choose between differentiation and equality. You are condemned either way. When you treat everyone equally, you are considered just by majority as equality benefits below average people and they seem to always be in majority. At the same time, you are also condemned because you can't produce results with people having a crab mentality. However, if you choose to reward the excellence and punish the non-performer, you achieve the desired results but get condemned for being unfair, unjust, cruel and Darwinian. — Awdhesh Singh

The qualities that make for excellence in children's literature can be summed up in a single word: imagination. And imagination as it relates to the child is, to my mind, synonymous with fantasy. Contrary to most of the propaganda in books for the young, childhood is only partly a time of innocence. It is, in my opinion, a time of seriousness, bewilderment, and a good deal of suffering. It's also possibly the best of all times. Imagination for the child is the miraculous, freewheeling device he uses to course his way through the problems of every day ... It's through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. — Maurice Sendak

Excellence requires trust, honesty and commitment:
1. You have to trust yourself and believe that you are capable to achieve anything you desire as long you stay focused.
2. Be honest to yourself, work hard on your excellence behind closed doors; before your share it with the world.
3. Commit yourself, be a woman or a man of your word. — Euginia Herlihy

Make excellent mistakes.
Too many people spend their time avoiding mistakes. They're so concerned about being wrong, about messing up, that they never try anything
which means they never do anything. Their focus is avoiding failure. But that's actually a crummy way to achieve success. The most successful people spectacular mistakes
huge, honking screwups! why? They're trying to do something big, but each time they make a mistake, they get a little better and move a little closer to excellence.
Making mistakes seems risky. It is/ But it's more risky not to.
I'm not talking about random, stupid, thoughtless blunders, though. I'm talking about good mistakes.
Mistakes come from having high aspirations, from trying to do something nobody else has done. — Daniel H. Pink

Blossoming out through one's comfort zone should be well meaning so as to achieve newer levels of excellence — Priyavrat Thareja

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

If high aspirations = high fear, overcoming high fear = achieving high aspirations. — Richie Norton

Unfortunately we often get praise for things that weren't particularly difficult to achieve. If we focus on the props and encouragement of those who have low expectations for us, we become mediocre. It can be challenging to set our sights on excellence, particularly when we're hearing that we're already there. One of life's greatest lessons, which we all must learn, could be expressed in the phrase "That was nothing. Watch this." Challenge yourself and others to call the normal things normal and save that word excellent for things that really are. — Alex Harris

Do not confuse excellence with perfection. The first is possible to achieve, the second is probably not. — Neale Donald Walsch

I was one of two first cultural exchange artists been allowed to go to the West. I knew it was such a rare opportunity and I had to treasure it by giving my utter most to achieve excellence. — Li Cunxin

I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it's not going to be satisfying. — Greg LeMond

Make a deliberate effort to feed your conscious and subconscious mind to achieve a well programmed mind frame, ready to succeed. Read the right material, watch the right material and listen to the right material. Practice and expose yourself to the right material so that you can form positive attitudes, positive feelings and positive habits. For each person, the right material is defined from their unique vision, mission, beliefs and values. — Archibald Marwizi

Set excellent performance as your standard and strive to achieve it each day — Brian Tracy

Excellence is the eternal quest. We achieve it by living up to our highest intellectual standards and our finest moral intuitions. In seeking excellence, take life seriously-but never yourself! — Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

The first step toward creating an improved future is developing the ability to envision it. VISION will ignite the fire of passion that fuels our commitment to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to achieve excellence. Only VISION allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of achievement through human action. VISION has no boundaries and knows no limits. Our VISION is what we become in life. — Tony Dungy

One of the effects of indoctrination, of passing into the anglo-centrism of British West Indian culture, is that you believe absolutely in the hegemony of the King's English and in the proper forms of expression. Or else your writing is not literature; it is folklore, or worse. And folklore can never be art. Read some poetry by West Indian writers
some, not all
and you will see what I mean. The reader has to dissect anglican stanza after anglican stanza for Caribbean truth, and may never find it. The anglican ideal
Milton, Wordsworth, Keats
was held before us with an assurance that we were unable, and would never be able, to achieve such excellence. We crouched outside the cave. — Michelle Cliff

To never aspire to excellence means to never fully comprehend the amount of work required to achieve it. — John Avery

Character is just another word for having a perfectly disciplined and educated will. A person can make his own character by blending these elements with an intense desire to achieve excellence. Everyone is different in what I will call magnitude, but the capacity to achieve character is still the same. — Vince Lombardi

Choose to achieve perfection. We won't achieve it because perfection is impossible. But by pursuing perfection, we will achieve excellence. — Vince Lombardi

My work is never perfect. It always can be better but I just believe that we need to achieve a really high level of excellence. I don't believe in the "Good Enough" principle as a Christian. — Brian Bird

You must have goals for your life. Do not fear take a bold step to realize your goals. — Lailah Gifty Akita

If you don't value excellence, you won't achieve excellence. — Glenn C. Stewart

Cultivate a deep understanding of yourself - not only what your strengths and weaknesses are but also how you learn, how you work with others, what your values are, and where you can make the greatest contribution. Because only when you operate from strengths can you achieve true excellence. — Peter Drucker

To achieve excellence, we must also consider and work with what is not apparent, with what cannot be seen. We must journey into the complex world of subtle energies. — Cyndi Dale

We believe this combination of excellence in operations and strong execution of our strategy is critical to achieve our vision. We will continue to focus on both in future as well. — Azim Premji

Sacrifice of the self is the source of all humiliation, as also on the contrary is the foundation of all true exaltation. The first step will be an inward gaze - an isolating contemplation of ourselves. Whoever stops here has come only halfway. The second step must be an active outward gaze - autonomous, constant observation of the external world.
No one will ever achieve excellence as an artist who cannot depict anything other than his own experiences, his favorite objects, who cannot bring himself to study assiduously even a quite strange object, which does not interest him at all, and to depict it at leisure. An artist must be able and willing to depict everything. This is how a great artistic style is created, which rightly is so much admired in Goethe. — Novalis

Conceive, believe and achieve. — Lailah Gifty Akita

We organize many of our most important institutions - our schools and our workplaces - tells a very different story. It's the story of a contemporary phenomenon that I call the New Groupthink - a phenomenon that has the potential to stifle productivity at work and to deprive schoolchildren of the skills they'll need to achieve excellence in an increasingly competitive world. — Susan Cain

When you achieve excellence,
expect some to oppose you.
When you achieve brilliance,
expect several to resent you.
When you achieve greatness,
expect many to envy you.
When you achieve transcendence,
expect plenty to hate you. — Matshona Dhliwayo

One question in my mind, which I hardly dare mention in public, is whether patriotism has, overall, been a force for good or evil in the world. Patriotism is rampant in war and there are some good things about it. Just as self-respect and pride bring out the best in an individual, pride in family, pride in teammates, pride in hometown bring out the best in groups of people. War brings out the kind of pride in country that encourages its citizens in the direction of excellence and it encourages them to be ready to die for it. At no time do people work so well together to achieve the same goal as they do in wartime. Maybe that's enough to make patriotism eligible to be considered a virtue. If only I could get out of my mind the most patriotic people who ever lived, the Nazi Germans. — Andy Rooney

Dream the impossible.
See the invisible.
Pursue the intangible.
Achieve the incredible. — Matshona Dhliwayo

We can never achieve and succeed without first making excellence second nature. — Jolene Church

Only in a free society do individuals have the best chance to seek virtue, strive for excellence, improve their economic well-being, and achieve personal happiness ... The worthy goals of civilization can only be achieved by freedom loving individuals. When government uses force, liberty is sacrificed and the goals are lost. It is freedom that is the source of all creative energy. — Ron Paul

I wanted to emulate my parents - Mum captained India in basketball, and Dad won a bronze in hockey in 1972 Olympics. My focus has always been to achieve excellence whether in the field of tennis, in the corporate field, in the art of acting or in motivating youngsters. — Leander Paes

Always aim at perfection for only then will you achieve excellence — J.R.D. Tata

A while back, I came across a line attributed to IBM founder Thomas Watson. If you want to achieve excellence, he said, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work. — Tom Peters

Journey to Excellence involve identifying the right things, at the right time, and to act upon them with the right way to achieve desired measurable outcome. — Bharat Shah

If you cannot see it in your mind, then it becomes difficult to get. If you can personally visualize it, it becomes easier and more realistic to achieve. — Archibald Marwizi

Whether we like it or not, each of us is constrained by limits on what we can do and feel. To ignore these limits leads to denial and eventually to failure. To achieve excellence, we must first understand the reality of the everyday, with all its demands — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

There is an ideal of excellence for any particular craft or occupation; similarly there must be an excellent that we can achieve as human beings. That is, we can live our lives as a whole in such a way that they can be judged not just as excellent in this respect or in that occupation, but as excellent, period. Only when we develop our truly human capacities sufficiently to achieve this human excellent will we have lives blessed with happiness. — Aristotle.

The value of work, and of always learning something new, and what it takes to achieve excellence. I really believe in those things that you have to dedicate yourself and spend time, that excellence is elusive. It's a little maddening, to try to have that level of discipline in your life, and I don't succeed all the time. But I do try. — Ben Affleck

Excellence" is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice.
We do not act "rightly" because we are "excellent",
in fact we achieve "excellence" by acting "rightly". — Plato

I know that aiming at perfection has its drawbacks. It makes you go into details that you can avoid but that is the only way you can achieve excellence. So, in that case, being finicky is essential. — J.R.D. Tata

Dream what others do not.
Imagine what others have not.
Do what others will not.
Achieve what others could not. — Matshona Dhliwayo

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. — Charles R. Swindoll

Don't waste time. Avoid the company of wasteful people who lack the desire to achieve. Become assertive and action-oriented. — Archibald Marwizi

P R E S I D E N T Y O S H I D A'S T E N S P A R T A N R UlE S Hideo Yoshida's quest for management excellence was no doubt driven by his visions for Japanese marketing and media, but also by an overall worry about Japan's economic prospects after World War II. As a result, he developed a set of business and work principles, or rules, which he called the "Ten Spartan Rules": difficult work.5. Once you begin a task, complete it. Never give up.6. Lead and set an example for your fellow workers.7. Set goals for yourself to ensure a constant sense of purpose.8. Move with confidence. It gives your work force and substance.9. At all times, challenge yourself to think creatively and find new solutions.10. When confrontation is necessary, don't shy away from it. Confrontation is often necessary to achieve progress. These traditional work rules still guide Dentsu's employees, and are carried around in their notebooks — Anonymous

I am determined to do my very best. — Lailah Gifty Akita

How do you achieve excellence? ... Stop doing non-excellent stuff! — Tom Peters

You cannot score a goal when you are sitting on the bench. To do so, you have to dress up and enter the game. — Israelmore Ayivor

To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don't isolate. — Michael Jordan

To achieve your desired success you have to be effectively selling something and to be significant in impact, you must be teaching somehow. How effectively are you selling and how well are you teaching? — Archibald Marwizi

Whenever people talk glibly of a need to achieve educational "excellence," I think of what an improvement it would be if our public schools could just achieve mediocrity. — Thomas Sowell

There is more fulfilment when sharing with others than enjoying on your own - whatever success you achieve. — Archibald Marwizi

There's no such thing as Perfection. But, in striving for perfection, we can achieve excellence. — Vince Lombardi

Benchmark against the top performing movers and shakers in your game. What are the skills required to achieve excellence in your area of specialty as a leader? How are you managing your vision and mission? Do you demonstrate a life lived with clear goals and targets? How are you providing direction, influence and developing others to lead? What is the evidence of the good leadership of your team? — Archibald Marwizi

How do you achieve excellence? 1. Mindset 2. Discipline 3. Commitment 4. Consistency — Bobby F. Kimbrough Jr.

Dream the impossible.
See the impossible.
Pursue the impossible.
Achieve the impossible. — Matshona Dhliwayo

In any democracy, there is always a tug-of-war between policies to achieve equality and policies to promote excellence. I am certain that Canada can achieve both equality and excellence. — John Turner

Greatness is not attainable, but in the pursuit of it, you can achieve excellence. — Vince Lombardi

We can't achieve excellence through talent alone. Or merely by making technological improvements. We can't even buy our way to excellence, no matter how much money we have available to spend. More dollars will never do it. We have to develop a strong corporate conscience. Ethical muscle. And that doesn't happen by accident either. — Price Pritchett

A refined ability to learn from failure and to grow through losses is necessary to achieve excellence in any human endeavor. — Terry Orlick

The reward for goal-setting is that as you achieve each goal, you feel in charge of your own destiny, with every moment taken up productively. Self-esteem increases and it becomes easier to remain motivated. So set those high goals and make clear plans for their execution. — Archibald Marwizi

Relentlessly pursue perfection knowing we won't catch it, but in the process we'll achieve excellence. — Vince Lombardi

Achieve some perfection [excellence] yourself, so that you may not fall into sorrow by seeing the perfection in others. — Rumi

True Excellence requires a worthy dream, a good Idea of how to realize it and the courage to risk failure to achieve it. — William J. Clinton

Ideally, Competition should be a wonderful vicious circle of being inspired and inspiring others to achieve excellence and being the best version of themselves. — Tina Sequeira

To achieve Operational Excellence, management has to coach, guide, teach, and instill the concept of getting rid of the use of management in supporting the flow of product to the customer — Kevin J. Duggan

Let these 2 quotes sink in. In tandem together.

"A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves as something to aim at." - Bruce Lee

"Gentlemen, we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence." - Vince Lombardi

The key here is thing to take away from the tandem of these quotes is that even those you will never achieve perfection, the fact that you will aim towards unfathomable goals you will along the journey catch greatness. — Matthew Donnelly

Many people can reach for and achieve excellence. To do this consistently is what separates masters and geniuses from everyone else. — Paul Russo

Participation in the collective life of the polis both restrains the extraordinary individual and enlarges the ordinary individual, allowing him to participate in the extraordinary. An individual can achieve participatory excellence via the accomplishments of the polis and need not always be caught up in the agnostic struggle to outdo his peers. — Rebecca Goldstein

Because it is a national landmark, there is only one way to judge the Kennedy Center - against the established standard of progressive and innovative excellence in architectural design that this country is known and admired for internationally. Unfortunately, the Kennedy Center not only does not achieve this standard of innovative excellence; it also did not seek it. The architect opted for something ambiguously called 'timelessness' and produced meaninglessness. It is to the Washington manner born. Too bad, since there is so much of it. — Ada Louise Huxtable

Self knowledge is a virtue in its own right. We value the way in which people can fulfill their own natures by gaining an unsentimental self understanding. We think it is good to grow, for all our vices, into someone who is mature enough to face the past and the present, someone who understands how character, in its weaknesses as well as its strengths, is made of interlocking tendencies and gifts that have grown in the course of a life. The image of growth and maturing is Aristotelian rather than Kantian. These ancient values are ideals that none fully achieve, and yet they are modest, not seeking to find a meaning in life, but finding excellence in living and honoring life and its potentialities. — Ian Hacking