Quotes & Sayings About Not Being Competitive

Your employees are your company's real competitive advantage. They're the ones making the magic happen-so long as their needs are being met. — Richard Branson

I get appalled when I see good drivers being left on the sidelines because they haven't come up with the half million to a million to put themselves in a competitive car. — John Surtees

The weaknesses of the system, the inherent dangers of being a part of a domestic monopoly in an industry open to other countries, had not yet revealed themselves. So, while other areas of the American economy remained competitive, no one challenged the auto industry until the full-scale assault of the Japanese in the seventies. When it finally came, the extent of American vulnerability surprised even those who had been critical. — David Halberstam

During dinner a sea turtle stopped by for a visit. At three or four feet in length... the turtle swam alongside for about twenty minutes, its head bobbing just above the surface of the water. Then with laughing eyes the turtle passed me..being left behind by a turtle pricked up my competitive nature. I pulled harder trying to keep up, but I couldn't catch the turtle. Soon I was reduced to laughter. " I am in the North Atlantic in a rowboat, racing a turtle...and loosing. Okay, so they can swim thirty miles an hour. Out here, I am the tortoise and it's the hare. — Tori Murden McClure

Some of being an adult, though, is about protecting and preserving what we discover to be the best parts of ourselves, and here's a hint: they're almost always the parts we've struggled against for years. They make us weird or different, unusual but not in a good way. They're our child-sides, our innate selves, not the most productive or competitive or logical, just true. — Shauna Niequist

To be chosen as the Beloved of God is something radically different. Instead of excluding others, it includes others. Instead of rejecting others as less valuable, it accepts others in their own uniqueness. It is not a competitive, but a compassionate choice. Our minds have great difficulty in coming to grips with such a reality. Maybe our minds will never understand it. Perhaps it is only our hearts that can accomplish this. Every time we hear about 'chosen people', 'chosen talents', or 'chosen friends', we almost automatically start thinking about elites and find ourselves not far from feelings of jealousy, anger, or resentment. Not seldom has the perception of others as being chosen led to aggression, violence, and war. — Henri J.M. Nouwen

Power distance: the degree to which members of a society expect power to be unequally shared. Uncertainty avoidance: a society's reliance on social norms and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of future events. Assertiveness: the extent to which a society encourages people to be tough, confrontational, assertive, and competitive rather than modest and tender. Humane orientation: the degree to which a society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others. Future orientation: the extent to which a society encourages and rewards future-oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification. national culture The values and attitudes shared — Stephen P. Robbins

Before I was not in the television cameras every 5 minutes, I wasn't as visible, but this year I plan on being more visible to ensure that Virgin Rap Division does not lose. Although I am a very low key person, I am competitive, and with every ounce of my spirit, I will ensure that this label is taken seriously. — Jermaine Dupri

Being a competitive dancer is an expensive business - you have to buy the £2,000 or so tail suit and the shoes, and then get yourself around the world to the competitions. And there is not a lot of money to be made in competing. — Anton Du Beke

The thing I gravitated to was being the class clown. It was very competitive. — John Leguizamo

Being nice and competitive are two different things. — David Duffield

Mathematicians - for what they do - are really poorly rewarded. And it's a very competitive field, almost as bad as being a concert pianist. — Gian-Carlo Rota

Self-respect is not the same as self-confidence or self-esteem. Self-respect is not based on IQ or any of the mental or physical gifts that help get you into a competitive college. It is not comparative. It is not earned by being better than other people at something. It is earned by being better than you used to be, by being dependable in times of testing, straight in times of temptation. It emerges in one who is morally dependable. Self-respect is produced by inner triumphs, not external ones. — David Brooks

It did not occur to Adya that like being competitive during exam times, while being competitive in matters of life also the boys would actually tend to ditch their female counterparts in little little matters and get things their way. — Anuradha Bhattacharyya

I like vocabulary and I actually read a book called 'Word Freak,' which is about a guy who basically went into competitive Scrabble for a year. But having a big vocabulary and being good at Scrabble are not the same thing. — Stephen Amell

I like to think about music as a sport. But only in terms of golf, as far as the course being music and me being the golfer. So it's competitive but only with yourself. With the last one doing well, it made it a challenge to feel like I was improving in some way. — Panda Bear

Duke is in extremely competitive environment. In my high school, I think I got one B my whole four years. I was used to being the smartest kid in every class I was in, and then I went to Duke and suddenly I was the dumbest kid in every class. Everybody there is up to something. — Mike Posner

Being able to think and invest very long term and not worry about current earnings or Wall Street analysts can be a major competitive advantage in certain businesses. Acquire — Daniel Pecaut

To be successful in anything, a person must always want to be better, not only than your opponent but better than your last performance. Done correctly, being competitive is a wonderful way to always try to be a better person by learning from your mistakes and capitalizing on your successes. — Hale Irwin

If you are going to think the same as everyone else and do the same as everyone else, you will end up being the same as everyone else. In today's competitive environment you have to think a bit differently. — Lloyd Dorfman

When I'm hiring leaders, I pay a lot of attention to what their peers and what people who report to them say about them. We want people who relate well with their peers and cooperate in an exchange of information rather than being overly competitive. — John Mackey

The competitive instinct is what I think drives organizations and people to become better and better. It can promote change toward progress and development, which is good for everybody. It can be the motivating force behind improvement in our social well-being that is far beyond anything we might have imagined on our own. — Lee R. Raymond

The culture is going into a psychological depression. We are concerned about our place in the world, about being competitive: Will my children have as much as I have? Will I ever own my own home? How can I pay for a new car? Are immigrants taking away my white world? — James Hillman

There are a lot of things I might be good at, such as competitive figure skating, window washing from ten stories up, and being an open heart surgeon. I might also make an excellent Kamikaze pilot - except for the fact that I don't want to learn how to fly and have no interest in taking my own life on behalf of Japan. — Jen Kirkman

It had the word bitches in it, which is perfectly fine to use if you're a rapper or a director making a movie about career women, but not if you're a teen girl talking about her homies."
"Good point, Petra. We know that young ladies of the teen persuasion do not use these indelicate words. Nor do they have thoughts about sex, masturbation, violence, being competitive, or farting. — Libba Bray

One of the advantages of living in a constitutional federal republic
is that we have the ability, if not the duty, as citizens to repair or
replace those acts of legislation under which we have agreed to live.
We must act when it has become evident that said legislation
no longer serves us as a people or advances the principles upon
which this nation was founded, one of these being "the pursuit of
happiness," which may only be secured through wealth creation.
If it burdens the debt obligation of the government, it cannot
be creating wealth. If it does not advance the cause of regaining
American competitive dominance in the global marketplace, it is not
creating wealth. If legislation and regulation were proposed that
taught people how to fish instead of providing fish, then the unemployed
would find a way to create jobs for each other. Wealth
creation is mankind's natural objective when given the opportunity
and the tools. — Ziad K. Abdelnour

Talk about being competitive and being down to his last strike, Shane Niemeyer's harrowing journey from suicidal to successful offers everyone hope that change is possible and victory only comes when you refuse to give up or give in. I was alternately horrified and hopeful as I read the pages of this honest and intense book. — Tony LaRussa

Being champion is just priceless. I'm not trying to sound arrogant or anything but being Olympic champ, you have every country coming together and competing. Doing what they do best, getting awards, money. Coming together and competing in the most competitive way possible with the best from all these different countries on Earth and winning. To me that's priceless. — Henry Cejudo

The Igbo culture, being receptive to change, individualistic, and highly competitive, gave the Igbo man an unquestioned advantage over his compatriots in securing credentials for advancement in Nigerian colonial society. Unlike the Hausa/Fulani he was unhindered by a wary religion, and unlike the Yoruba he was unhampered by traditional hierarchies. This kind of creature, fearing no god or man, was custom-made to grasp the opportunities, such as they were, of the white man's dispensations. And — Chinua Achebe

If you pursue meditation with a non-competitive attitude, with a hopeful and helpful attitude, without violence, then you will find that you will become a very benign and powerful being, one who is at peace with himself and the universe. — Frederick Lenz

The US economy, because it's so energy wasteful, is much less efficient than either the European or Japanese economies. It takes us twice as much energy to produce a unit of GDP as it does in Europe and Japan. So, we're fundamentally less efficient and therefore less competitive, and the sooner we being to tighten up, the better it will be for our economy and society. — Hazel Henderson

Part of what being a great founder is, is being both able to hold the belief, to think about what it is you want to be doing and where ... you want to be going, but also be smart enough that you're essentially listening to criticism, negative feedback, competitive entries. — Reid Hoffman

I still think that being thrown in a very competitive environment where you really have to see what you are made of - certainly when you come out of nowhere - was good for me. — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value. — Michael Porter

I think that a lot of players and a lot of teams don't think of contact lenses as being a part of that essential gear but it truly is. You want every competitive advantage you can find and obviously having great vision is one of those advantages. — Heather O'Reilly

So for me having that element of being able to be competitive wasn't a problem. I'm very competitive. I thought if I could skate first, acting would come second. I could say my lines and then go do what I was saying. You don't have to fake it, you're not really acting. — John Robinson

As a black woman interested in feminist movement, I am often asked whether being black is more important than being a woman; whether feminist struggle to end sexist oppression is more important than the struggle to racism or vice versa. All such questions are rooted in competitive either/or thinking, the belief that the self is formed in opposition to an other ... Most people are socialized to think in terms of opposition rather than compatibility. Rather than seeing anti-racist work as totally compatible with working to end sexist oppression, they often see them as two movements competing for first place. — Bell Hooks

Bear in mind, people with eating disorders tend to be both competitive and intelligent. We are incredibly perfectionistic. We often excel in school,athletics,artistic pursuits. We also tend to quit without warning. Refuse to go to school,drop out,quit jobs,leave lovers,move,lose all our money. We get sick of being impressive. Rather,we tire of having to seem impressive. As a rule,most of us never really believed we were any good in the first place. — Marya Hornbacher

I don't know that I came across as being real competitive on 'The Bachelor,' although maybe I did a little bit on 'Dancing with the Stars.' I am a born competitor. The bigger the challenge the better! — Jake Pavelka

There's nothing masculine about being competitive. There's nothing masculine about trying to be the best at everything you do, nor is there anything wrong with it. I don't know why a female athlete has to defend her femininity just because she chooses to play sports. — Rebecca Lobo

Going after a part in Hollywood is like being a gladiator in ancient Rome. When it comes down to getting a role, you don't have any friends, you're incredibly competitive and any actor who tells you different is lying. — Jonathan Rhys Meyers

By hook or by crook, we're going to make sure that when I leave this office, that the country is more prosperous, more people have opportunity, kids have a better education, we're more competitive, climate change is being taken more seriously than it was.Those are going to be the measures by which I look back and say whether I've been successful as president. — Barack Obama

You know, I stopped being competitive after I played football. — Isaiah Mustafa

One observer commenting on security analysts over forty stated: "They know too many things that are no longer true." As long as I am "on stage", publishing a regular record and assuming responsibility for management of what amounts to virtually 100% of the net worth of many partners, I will never be able to put sustained effort into any non-BPL activity. If I am going to participate publicly. I can't help being competitive. I know I don't want to be totally occupied with out-pacing an investment rabbit all my life. The only way to slow down is to stop. — Warren Buffett

Good tennis players are those who beat other tennis players, and a good shot during play is one the opponent can't return. But that's not a truth about life or excellence -- it's a truth about tennis. We've created an artificial structure in which one person can't succeed without doing so at someone else's expense, and then we accuse anyone who prefers other kinds of activities of being naive because "there can be only one best -- you're it or you're not," as the teacher who delivered that much-admired you're-not-special commencement speech declared. You see the sleight of hand here? The question isn't whether everyone playing a competitive game can win or whether every student can be above average. Of course they can't. The question that we're discouraged from asking is why our games are competitive -- or our students are compulsively ranked against one another -- in the first place. — Alfie Kohn

The competition between human beings destroys with cold and diabolic brutality ... Under the pressure of this competitive fury we have not only forgotten what is useful to humanity as a whole, but even that which is good and advantageous to the individual. [ ... ] One asks, which is more damaging to modern humanity: the thirst for money or consuming haste ... in either case, fear plays a very important role: the fear of being overtaken by one's competitors, the fear of becoming poor, the fear of making wrong decisions or the fear of not being up to snuff ... — Konrad Lorenz

Everybody knows I got a temper. It's not a temper temper-not an off-the-field temper. It's a competitive temper, wanting to do good. But as far as being a guy who disrupts a lot of things, who doesn't want to listen? Nah, man. That's false. That's false because I'm excelling. — Randy Moss

Eople with character may be loud or quiet, but they do tend to have a certain level of self
respect. Self
respect is not the same as self
confidence or self
esteem. Self
respect is not based on IQ or any of the mental or physical gifts that help get you into a competitive college. It is not comparative. It is not earned by being better than other people at something. It is earned by being better than you used to be, by being dependable in times of testing, straight in times of temptation. It emerges in one who is morally dependable. Self
respect is produced by inner triumphs, not external ones. It can only be earned by a person who has endured some internal temptation, who has confronted their own weaknesses and who knows, Well, if worse comes to worst, I can endure that. I can overcome that. — David Brooks

If I was 30th in points and not making races and not being competitive in races, I could understand them saying I'm over-the-hill or I'm ready to quit or whatever. — Dale Earnhardt

I'm excited about being an owner, it's got my competitive juices going. I'm scared, but excited as well. — Roger Staubach

A mind that is competitive, held in the conflict of becoming, thinking in terms of comparison, is not capable of discovering the real. Thought-feeling which is intensely aware is in the process of constant self-discovery - which discovery, being true, is liberating and creative. Such self-discovery brings about freedom from acquisitiveness and from the complex life of the intellect. It is this complex life of the intellect that finds gratification in addictions: destructive curiosity, speculation, mere knowledge, capacity, gossip, and so on; and these hindrances prevent simplicity of life. An addiction, a specialization gives sharpness to the mind, a means of focusing thought, but it is not the flowering of thought-feeling into reality. — Jiddu Krishnamurti

I won't have any competitive instincts in any sports, other than golf. I can't see being competitive in sports any more. — Michael Jordan

Owen scores and breaks Lineker's competitive scoring record. Although this being a friendly it doesn't actual count, so he hasn't quite done it yet. — John Motson

I think being a competitive diver for years helps you focus and dedicate yourself to what's needed. — Jason Statham

The one thing that I really appreciate about being a runner is the incredible friendships and camaraderie that we, as runners, share. Although it will always be a cutthroat competition for every spot on every team, our companionship transcends these competitive rivalries. — Jennifer Rhines

Theres no competitive advantage in being just like everyone else. — Daniel Burrus

I don't know anything about god except that it's not me. So, somewhere between that acceptance and doing my homework and being competitive and having ambition and loving my job and observing and reflecting my society, that's where I find the purpose. Because man needs purpose. — Tom Hardy

The transaction reflects our disciplined strategy of investing capital in core businesses where we can leverage scale and expertise for competitive advantage. In addition to being a great strategic fit, the deal is compelling financially. — Jamie Dimon

I guess I'm a pretty curious person. I like doing new things. I like being challenged. I'm competitive. Trying to beat my personal best. — Adina Porter

Do observe what is actually taking place within yourself and outside yourself in the competitive culture in which you live with its desire for power, position, prestige, name, success and all the rest of it - observe the achievements of which you are so proud, this whole field you call living in which there is conflict in every form of relationship, breeding hatred, antagonism, brutality and endless wars. This field, this life, is all we know, and being unable to understand the enormous battle of existence we are naturally afraid of it and find escape from it in all sorts of subtle ways. And we are frightened also of the unknown - frightened of death, frightened of what lies beyond tomorrow. So we are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there isno hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form of theo- logical concept, is merely an escape from the actual reality of what is. — Jiddu Krishnamurti

I tried the broadcasting thing, the coaching thing, but I'll never replace the competitive feeling of being out on the field when we were players. — Gary Carter

There are two aspects to being competitive; one is to do with sports, and the other is about technical skills. Being able to recollect the moves and apply them when necessary is a critical aspect. — Viswanathan Anand

The Realistic Vision recognizes the
need for strict moral education through parents, family, friends, and
community because people have a dual nature of being selfish and selfless,
competitive and cooperative, greedy and generous, and so we need rules
and guidelines and encouragement to do the right thing. — Michael Shermer

Tennis is such an individual and competitive sport, but it is great being part of a team and getting to know the girls outside of tennis - even though we are all competing for the same thing! — Dominika Cibulkova

I can't say that I was my happiest on court, but I felt completely free. Free from family obligations, free from my own torment. In a real sense I was a different person. It was a place where I could not tolerate the idea of being beaten. I psyched myself up into a state where I felt something close to hatred towards my opponent, a state where I detested the idea of someone making his name at the expense of Jimmy Connors. I was in my element on court, measuring myself against someone else. I was not competitive for show. It came from deep within. — Jimmy Connors

I have this theory," says Andy Stone, seated in his office at Prudential-Bache Securities. "Wall Street makes its best producers into
managers. The reward for being a good producer is to be made a
manager. The best producers are cutthroat, competitive, and often
neurotic and paranoid. You turn those people into managers, and they go
after each other. They no longer have the outlet for their instincts that
producing gave them. They usually aren't well suited to be managers.
Half of them get thrown out because they are bad. Another quarter get
muscled out because of politics. The guys left behind are just the most
ruthless of the bunch. That's why there are cycles on Wall Street - why
Salomon Brothers is getting crunched now - because the ruthless people
are bad for the business but can only be washed out by proven failure. — Michael Lewis

All things being equal, the primary competitive advantage of your business will be your ability to grow Leaders Without Titles faster than your industry peers. — Robin Sharma

I like the debate, but I don't really like the fight. I don't like being in the ring. I'm not competitive. — Zoe Bell

Steve Jobs is perhaps the most competitive human being I have ever met in my life, and yet I would argue one of the most artistic human beings I have ever met in my life. You can trash the movies all you want, but they do have an artistic component. And yet brutal competition knows no peers when it comes to Hollywood. — Tom Peters

Satisfying natural desires is fine, but natural desires have a way of being both competitive and consequential. — Wallace Stegner

Soccer is a great game, and the rich variety of styles and passions that come with being truly global makes the World Cup a nonpareil event in the universe of competitive sport. — Serge Schmemann

This is a competitive business - there are a lot of women who want these jobs, but experience, education, and smarts go a long way. I'm still figuring it out - I learn new things every day. Once you stop learning, you should get out of the business. It's just really about being hungry for more. — Nicole Lapin

There is no either / or between being competitive and collaborative. You have to be both and decide which in each situation. — Cathie Black

I'm not into being competitive. I never saw myself as a competitive type of person. — Nonito Donaire

By doing that and being very competitive, the grown-ups started telling me even back before I started playing organized ball that I was too physical and too advanced for the kids my own age. — Bo Jackson

I have been a figure skater for so long that when I stopped that competitive day-to-day grind, I didn't know what to do with myself. I don't know how the world works outside of being barked at by a Ukrainian woman and watching my weight. — Johnny Weir

This is another kind of competition, but I'm being coached by an excellent team, and I've got a real strong competitive spirit. — Peggy Fleming

The church seeks to help form people who can risk being peaceful in a violent world, risk being kind in a competitive world, risk being faithful in an age of cynicism, risk being gentle among those who admire the tough, risk love when it may not be returned, because we have the confidence that in Christ we have been reborn into a new reality. — John Howard Yoder

I understood from an early age what being competitive means. — Tamara Ecclestone

I don't think I've got enough energy to be competitive! Most of my energy is just devoted to me being nervous and trying to deal with the situation. — Max Irons