I wanted the press to become something of a movement. Not a movement committed to a particular "ism," but a gathering together of writers with an aesthetic approach to literature and with a lust for excellence.
John Metcalf

I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that's how I operate my life.
Oprah Winfrey

I've spent my life pursing excellence as an artist, which is what I always wanted to do anyhow.
Claire Bloom

If we are a metaphor of the universe, the human couple is the metaphor par excellence, the point of intersection of all forces and the seed of all forms. The couple is time recaptured, the return to the time before time.
Octavio Paz

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.
Colin Powell

If you want people to listen, you have to have a platform to speak from, and that is excellence in what you do.
William Pollard

If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.
Thomas J. Watson

In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In today's global economy, however, it is important to raise the bar of excellence even higher. Today's students must be prepared to compete effectively on an international level.
Kenny Marchant

It is my sincere hope that hospitals across Indiana, and America, continue to strive for excellence when it comes to providing medical care. This proposed rule will be harmful to communities who wish to upgrade their medical facilities.
Steve Buyer

It is only through raising expectations and striving for excellence that our children can reach their full potential.
Brad Henry

It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen themselves.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It is the growth of advertising in this country which, more than any single element, has brought the American magazine to its present enviable position in points of literary, illustrative and mechanical excellence.
Edward Bok

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

Life's like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Losing a game is heartbreaking. Losing your sense of excellence or worth is a tragedy.
Joe Paterno

Mediocre men work at their best; men seeking excellence strive to do better.
Edwin Louis Cole

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.
Aristotle

My philosophy all my life has been the pursuit of excellence.
John Kluge

Neither a life of anarchy nor one beneath a despot should you praise; to all that lies in the middle a god has given excellence.
Aeschylus