John W. Gardner Quotes

75 quotes in 1160 categories

• Mastery is not something that strikes in an instant, like a thunderbolt, but a gathering power that moves steadily through time, like weather.
• We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure.
• All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose.
• All of us celebrate our values in our behavior.
• Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every phase of life.
• What leaders have to remember is that somewhere under the somnolent surface is the creature that builds civilizations, the dreamer of dreams, the risk taker.…
• When hiring key employees, there are only two qualities to look for: judgement and taste. Almost everything else can be bought by the yard.
• A nation is held together by shared values, shared beliefs, shared attitudes. That is what enables a people to maintain a cohesive society despite the…
• Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Few have excellence thrust upon them ... They achieve it. They do not achieve it unwittingly by doing…
• More and more Americans feel threatened by runaway technology, by large-scale organization, by overcrowding. More and more Americans are appalled by the ravages of industrial…
• Some people seem to believe that for each problem there is a solution readily available - a solution that can be promptly achieved by passing…
• The best kept secret in America today is that people would rather work hard for something they believe in than live a life of aimless…
• There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.
• Americans have always believed that-within the law-all kinds of people should be allowed to take the initiative in all kinds of activities. And out of…
• But if we believe what we profess concerning the worth of the individual, then the idea of individual development within a framework of ethical purpose…
• To sensible men, every day is a day of reckoning.
• If the modern leader doesn't know the facts, he is in grave trouble, but rarely do the facts provide unqualified guidance.
• Creativity requires the freedom to consider unthinkable alternatives, to doubt the worth of cherished practices.
• One man interacting creatively with others can move the world.
• The first and last task of aleader is to keep hope alive.

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