Mediocrity Quotes · Page 20

Throw leaders into an extreme environment, and it will separate the stark differences between greatness and mediocrity.

— James C. Collins

“We force-fit our tiny rubrics over this immense existence of ours until we’ve confused the box we’ve created for the existence we…

— Craig D. Lounsbrough

In business, what distinguishes leaders from laggards and greatness from mediocrity is the ability to uniquely imagine what could be.

— Robert Fritz

Always remember, the future of all of our tomorrows will be reflected by how we react to the mediocrity and apathy of…

— George Kincses

We often reward mediocrity because it is comforting. If they can do it, anyone can do it.

— Jessica Zafra

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

— Charles Horton Cooley

Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and some people have mediocrity thrust upon them.

— Joseph Heller

Our country is slowly but surely moving - and I've seen it over and over again in many instances in government -…

— Elijah Cummings

This Western culture of ours tends to sacrifice the full range of experience to a lower common denominator that's acceptable to more…

— Kate Bornstein

The exhibition has now become no more than a bazaar where mediocrity spreads itself out with impudence. The exhibitions are useless and…

— Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid…

— Jean de la Bruyere

I think there is probably no better person to aspire to emulate than Steve Jobs and what he has done at Apple…

— Howard Schultz

“Humans are designed to seek comfort and order, and so if they have comfort and order, they tend to plant themselves, even…

— Donald Miller

You will not experience all life has to offer you or begin to experience life at its fullest as long as you…

— Eric Thomas

Cooking saved my life! Sure, there were some miserable moments, but that was sort of the point, to find something challenging and…

— Julie Powell

NOTORIETY, n. The fame of one's competitor for public honors. The kind of renown most accessible and acceptable to mediocrity. A Jacob's-ladder…

— Ambrose Bierce

“Get off the treadmill of consumption, replication, and mediocrity. Begin lifting the weights of creativity, originality, and success.”

— Ryan Lilly

“If we’re honest, what makes something impossible is not our fear. Rather, it is our indifference.”

— Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Soon as you ask someone how they are and they give you a hint of mediocrity or less, say, 'The Universe wants…

— Ace Antonio Hall

What compromises women - babies, domesticity, mediocrity - compromises writing even more.

— Rachel Cusk

If you want to be average, do what others do. If you want to be awesome, do what no one does.

— Alexander Den Heijer

Aspire greatly; anything less than a commitment to excellence becomes an acceptance of mediocrity.

— Brian Tracy

Mediocrity never goes away - but neither, I hope, do those who are willing to challenge it.

— Milos Forman

A man who fears ridicule will never go far, for good or ill: he remains on this side of this talents, and…

— Anonymous

Democrats would pull the ladder from aspiring Americans and create a permanent status of government-run mediocrity.

— Bill Hagerty

Let America first praise mediocrity even, in her children, before she praises... the best excellence in the children of any other land.

— Herman Melville

The boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed.

— Henry David Thoreau

Attain and maintain a reputation, for it is the usufruct of fame. A stiff climb, for it is the issue of excellence,…

— Baltasar Gracian

“Forget the fountain of youth, pal of mine. You can live to be a thousand, and it won't matter. Mediocrities like you…

— Gary Shteyngart

Just as your hand has the power to hide the sun, mediocrity has the power to hide your inner light. Do not…

— Paulo Coelho

Being famous is not something that would make me feel successful - unless one was striving for mediocrity.

— William Hurt

Our literature, despite several false starts that promised much, is chiefly remarkable, now as always, for its respectable mediocrity.

— H. L. Mencken

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

— James F. Cooper

Fear causes people to draw back from situations. It brings on mediocrity, it dulls creativity, it sets one up to be a…

— Fran Tarkenton

We live in an age of mediocrity. Stars today are not the same stature as Bogie [Humphrey Bogart], James Cagney, Spencer Tracy,…

— Lauren Bacall

You know you've reached a new plateau of group mediocrity when even a Canadian is alarmed by your lack of individuality.

— Sarah Vowell

The mass never comes up to the standard of its best member, but on the contrary degrades itself to a level with…

— Henry David Thoreau

Rock 'n' roll, for me, is another award for underachievers. It is nothing but a testament to mediocrity.

— Frank Sinatra Jr

We have these ambitions that are very hard to accomplish because life puts us in our place. We have this battle with…

— Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

“The only sin is mediocrity. (While widely attributed to Martha Graham she attributed this to her father)”

— Martha Graham