EXCELLENCE

Related Subjects: Goodness, Merit, Virtue, Worth

1. I assure you I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.—ALEXANDER THE GREAT, Plutarch, Lives
   

2. There is no surer mark of the absence of the highest moral and in­tellectual qualities than a cold reception of excellence.—PHILIP J. BAILEY
   

3. There is a moral excellence attainable by all who have the will to strive for it; but there is an intellectual and physical superiority which is above the reach of our wishes, and is granted to only a few.—GEORGE CRABBE
   

4. There has nothing been more without a definition than Excellency; although it be what we are most concerned with: yea, we are concerned with nothing else.—JONATHAN EDWARDS
   

5. Excellence is the perfect excuse. Do it well, and it matters little what.—EMERSON, Journal

6. One that desires to excel should endeavor it in those things that are in themselves most excellent.—EPICTETUS, Discourses
   

7. Behold, thou mayest choose vice easily even in heaps; for the path is plain, and she dwells very near. But before excellence the immortal gods have placed the sweat of toil; long and steep is the road that leads to her, and rough it is at first; but when you reach the height then truly it is easy, though so hard before.—HESIOD, Works and Days
   

8. Those who attain to any excellence commonly spend life in some one single pursuit, for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.—SAMUEL JOHNSON
   

9. Consider first, that great
   Or bright infers not excellence.—MILTON, Paradise Lost
   

10. It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.—PUBLILIUS SYRUS, Sententiae
    

11. Excellence is never granted to man but as the reward of labor. It argues no small strength of mind to persevere in habits of industry without the pleasure of perceiving those advances, which, like the hand of a clock, whilst they make hourly approaches to their point, yet proceed so slowly as to escape observation.—SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS
    

12. It is the witness still of excellency
    To put a strange face on his own perfection.—SHAKESPEARE,Much Ado About Nothing