“You shouldn't compete against others. You should compete against yourself.”

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”

Laozi (-604) semi-legendary Chinese figure, attributed to the 6th century, regarded as the author of the Tao Te Ching and fou…

“As soon as you concern yourself with the "good" and "bad" of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weakens and defeats you.”

Morihei Ueshiba (1883–1969) founder of aikido

“(.. as a practicing artist) You're competing against who came before and came after. You're just another stone in the wall, and if you make a contribution you're lucky.”

Richard Serra (1939) American sculptor

“Those are the objectives - competence, consensus and vision - against which we should be judged. Of course that judgement could come earlier if the opposition parties wished to force an election!”

Alex Salmond (1954) Scottish National Party politician and former First Minister of Scotland

“It is pretty well established that there is an overconfidence effect. … You don't have the competence to assess your own competence. … you need competence in order to assess your own competence. … Everyone has the Dunning-Kruger effect.”

Steven Novella (1964) American neurologist, skepticist

“It required a lot less energy, intelligence, and competence to run against government than to try to make government work.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

“Facts do not "speak for themselves." They speak for or against competing theories. Facts divorced from theory or visions are mere isolated curiosities.”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

“I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn't in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best. As I'd learned long ago… the only victory that counts is the one over yourself.”

Jesse Owens (1913–1980) American track and field athlete

“The performance of Reliance shows an amazing trend when mapped against time. The inflection point was 1991. We grew exponentially, eventually becoming India’s biggest private enterprise, on the basis of freedom to compete against the best in the world.”

Mukesh Ambani (1957) Indian business magnate