Best John W. Gardner Quotes
- Perhaps the most striking feature of the [nonprofit] sector is its relative freedom from constraints and its resulting pluralism. Constraints
- The [nonprofit] sector enhances our creativity, enlivens our communities, nurtures individual responsibility, stirs life at the grassroots, and reminds us that we were born free. Born
- The [nonprofit] sector is the natural home of nonmajoritarian impulses, movements and values. It comfortably harbors innovators, maverick movements, groups which feel they must fight… Both
- The creative individual is particularly gifted in seeing the gap between what is and what could be. Creative
- At home we have lost the capacity to see what is before us. Travel shakes us out of our apathy, and we regain an attentiveness… Apathy
- Paralysis of leadership is due in part to the unseen grip of the special interests. Due
- Nothing can be more readily disproved than the old saw, "You can't keep a good man down." Most human societies have been beautifully organized to… Beautifully
- One exemplary act may affect one life, or even millions of lives. All those who set standards for themselves, who strengthen the bonds of community,… Accept
- The man who once cursed his fate, now curses himself - and pays his psychoanalyst. Curse
- It is one of the ironies of history that reformers so often misjudge the consequences of their reforms. Consequence
- In the artist's recreation of the world we are enabled to see the world. Artist
- One of my less pleasant chores when I was young was to read the Bible from one end to the other. Reading the Bible straight… Amazing
- We get richer and richer in filthier and filthier communities until we reach a final state of affluent misery - crocus on a garbage heap. Affluent
- We cannot have islands of excellence in a sea of slovenly indifference to standards. Excellence
- If one defines the term 'dropout' to mean a person who has given up serious effort to meet his responsibilities, then every business office, government… Agency
- We have to face the fact that most men and women out there are more stale than they know, more bored than they care to… Admit
- True happiness involves the full use of one's power and talents. Full
- Life is the art of drawing without an eraser. Amazing
- Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. Believe
- The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither… Activity
- Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their… All
- Some people strengthen the society just by being the kind of people they are. Kind
- Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it… All
- The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursing his own education. This will not be a… Building
- The creative individual has the capacity to free himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. He is… Accept