John W. Gardner

Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

— John W. Gardner

All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose.

— John W. Gardner

Some people strengthen the society just by being the kind of people they are.

— John W. Gardner

One man interacting creatively with others can move the world.

— John W. Gardner

In the artist's recreation of the world we are enabled to see the world.

— John W. Gardner

The man who once cursed his fate, now curses himself - and pays his psychoanalyst.

— John W. Gardner

The first and last task of aleader is to keep hope alive.

— John W. Gardner

The world loves talent but pays off on character.

— John W. Gardner

Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involves the full use of one's powers and talents.

— John W. Gardner

If the modern leader doesn't know the facts, he is in grave trouble, but rarely do the facts provide unqualified guidance.

— John W. Gardner

Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains…

— John W. Gardner

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them…

— John W. Gardner

If our society continues at its present rate to become less livable as it becomes more affluent, we promise all to end…

— John W. Gardner

When one may pay out over two million dollars to presidential and Congressional campaigns, the U.S. government is virtually up for sale.

— John W. Gardner

The best kept secret in America today is that people would rather work hard for something they believe in than live a…

— John W. Gardner

Creativity requires the freedom to consider unthinkable alternatives, to doubt the worth of cherished practices.

— John W. Gardner

Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities. There are quiet leaders and leaders one can hear in the…

— John W. Gardner

The idea for which this nation stands will not survive if the highest goal free man can set themselves is an amiable…

— John W. Gardner

A nation is held together by shared values, shared beliefs, shared attitudes. That is what enables a people to maintain a cohesive…

— John W. Gardner

Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Few have excellence thrust upon them ... They achieve it. They do not achieve it…

— John W. Gardner

I think that all human systems require continuous renewal. They rigidify. They get stuff in the joints. They forget what they cared…

— John W. Gardner

What leaders have to remember is that somewhere under the somnolent surface is the creature that builds civilizations, the dreamer of dreams,…

— John W. Gardner

The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity…

— John W. Gardner

Leaders develop their styles as they interact with their constituencies. They move toward the style that seems most effective in dealing with…

— John W. Gardner

Some people seem to believe that for each problem there is a solution readily available - a solution that can be promptly…

— John W. Gardner

“But a society in which pluralism is not undergirded by some shared values and held together by some measure of mutual trust…

— John W. Gardner

More and more Americans feel threatened by runaway technology, by large-scale organization, by overcrowding. More and more Americans are appalled by the…

— John W. Gardner

Tax reduction has an almost irresistible appeal to the politician, and it is no doubt also gratifying to the citizen. It means…

— John W. Gardner

Our problem is not to find better values but to be faithful to those we profess.

— John W. Gardner

To sensible men, every day is a day of reckoning.

— John W. Gardner

Whoever I am, or whatever I am doing, some kind of excellence is within my reach.

— John W. Gardner

The hallmark of our age is the tension between aspirations and sluggish institutions.

— John W. Gardner

The cynic says, "One man can't do anything". I say, "Only one man can do anything."

— John W. Gardner

For every talent that poverty has stimulated it has blighted a hundred.

— John W. Gardner

All of us celebrate our values in our behavior.

— John W. Gardner

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.

— John W. Gardner

All laws are an attempt to domesticate the natural ferocity of the species.

— John W. Gardner

We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure.

— John W. Gardner

Life is an endless process of self-discovery.

— John W. Gardner

A prime function of a leader is to keep hope alive.

— John W. Gardner