Rise Above Mediocrity Quotes & Sayings

In effort Happiness idleness life pleasure superstition support trouble work The superstition that all our hours of work are a minus quantity in the happiness of life, and all the hours of idleness are plus ones, is a most ludicrous and pernicious doctrine, and its greatest support comes from our not taking sufficient trouble, not making a real effort, to make work as near pleasure as it can be. — Arthur Balfour

An artist would not rise above the mediocrity if he condemns it. — Irving Stone

But, Foley, my lad, it isn't beauty per se that makes wire-walking Zen or makes it art. It's the extremity of the risks that are assumed by each exquisite gesture, each impossible somersault. Here's a more extreme version of the dangerous beauty bullfights used to possess before the matadors became preening cowards and stacked the desk against the beasts. We only rise above mediocrity when there's something at stake, and I mean something more consequential than money or reputation. The great value of a high-wire act is that it has no practical value. The fact that so much skill and effort and courage can be directed into something so ostensibly useless is what makes it useful. That's what affords it the power to lift us out of context and carry us-elsewhere. — Tom Robbins

Sometimes in life we must fight not only without fear, but also without hope. — Alessandro Pertini

Doing is the evolution of saying. — Bill Loguidice

A talent somewhat above mediocrity, shrewd and not too sensitive, is more likely to rise in the world than genius. — Charles Horton Cooley

Every day you and I wake up, we face the same universal challenge: to overcome mediocrity and live to our full potential. It's the greatest challenge in human history - to rise above our excuses, do what's right, give our best and create the Level 10 life we truly want - the one with no limits, the one so few people ever get to live. — Hal Elrod

To finish first you have to first finish. Don't get in a position where you go back to go. What's interesting is that some guy whose grandfather was a lawyer and a judge-hurriedly going to Harvard Law with a wave of veterans-I was willing to go into so many different businesses. I was constantly going right into the other fellow's business and doing better than the other fellow did. The reason it was possible? Self-education- developing mental discipline, big ideas that really work. — Charlie Munger

It is not that we had any unfair knowledge that other people didn't have, it is just that we did our homework. People just don't want to believe that anyone can break away from the crowd and rise above mediocrity. — Paul Tudor Jones

many people do not usually take the time to think about the foundation upon which they are building their lives. When it comes to buying a house, I see that people care a great deal about the foundations of the property they are about to buy. My dad is a realtor, and before he sells a house, before people trust him with the investment of hundreds of thousands of their dollars, he recommends the buyers hire a home inspector to carefully check the structural soundness of the house, and most importantly, the foundation upon which the potential investment is built. My dad would tell you that, no matter how beautiful or decorated it may be, without a strong foundation; it is doomed. If the foundation is cracked or unstable in any way, the house needs to be torn down and rebuilt on a proper base. — Jon Morrison

We only rise above mediocrity when there's something at stake. p. 174 — Tom Robbins

Self-disciplin e is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for you, and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline , the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But without self-discipline , a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity. — Brian Tracy

Mediocrity is now, as formerly, dangerous, commonly fatal, to the poet; but among even the successful writers of prose, those who rise sensibly above it are the very rarest exceptions. — William E. Gladstone