“Most businesses -— like most of anything else in life -— fall somewhere between mediocre and good. Few are great. When you compare great companies with good ones, many widely practiced business norms turn out to correlate with mediocrity, not greatness. So, then, why would we want to import the practices of mediocrity into the social sectors?”

“One would like to be grand and heroic, if one could; but if not, why try at all? One wants to be very something, very great, very heroic; or if not that, then at least very stylish and very fashionable. It is this everlasting mediocrity that bores me.”

“… mediocre people find their way into positions of authority… because when it comes to even the most important positions, our selection decisions are a good deal less rational than we think.”

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”

“Two great poets are stronger than two thousand mediocrities”

“Caution is the path to mediocrity. Gliding, passionless mediocrity is all that most people think they can achieve.”

“I may turn out an intellectual, but I'll never write anything but mediocre poetry.”

“The leveling influence of mediocrity and the denial of the supreme importance of the mind's development account for many revolts against family life. There are many occasions when great men are convinced that, in order to fulfill their destinies, they must escape from the warmth and indulgence of their own families.”

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”

“The appearance of a single great genius is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities.”