Aphorism 52
Les Caractères (1688), Des jugements
“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”
Judy Garland (1922–1969) actress, singer and vaudevillian from the United States
As quoted in Business Etiquette for the Nineties : Your Ticket to Career Success (1992) by Lou Kennedy, p. 8
Variant: Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.
Wilfrid Sheed (1930–2011) English-American novelist and essayist
"V. S. Pritchett: Midnight Oil," p. 227
The Good Word & Other Words (1978)
A.A. Milne (1882–1956) British author
War with Honour http://books.google.com/books?id=QmQDAAAAMAAJ&q="I+wrote+somewhere+once+that+the+third+rate+mind+was+only+happy+when+it+was+thinking+with+the+majority+the+second+rate+mind+was+only+happy+when+it+was+with+the+minority+and+a+first+rate+mind+was+only+happy+when+it+was+thinking", Macmillan War Pamphlets, Issue 2 (1940).
Tzi Ma (1962) Hong Kong American actor
As quoted in "‘Tigertail’s Tzi Ma Transcends Role As Hollywood’s Go-To Asian Father To Become Trailblazing Icon" in Deadline (8 April 2020) https://deadline.com/2020/04/tzi-ma-tigertail-asian-american-hollywood-diversity-inclusion-representation-1202900973/
“There is one story and one story only
That will prove worth your telling”
Robert Graves (1895–1985) English poet and novelist
"To Juan at the Winter Solstice" from Poems 1938-1945 (1946).
Poems
Context: There is one story and one story only
That will prove worth your telling,
Whether as learned bard or gifted child;
To it all lines or lesser guards belong
That startle with their shining
Such common stories as they stray into.
Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale
Source: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Chapter 7 (pp. 39-40)
Source: The Handmaid's Tale
“Reality is always kinder than the story we tell about it.”
Byron Katie (1942) American spiritual writer
Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life (2002)
