“As it is far better to excel in any single art, than to arrive only at a mediocrity in several; so on the other hand, a moderate skill in several is to be preferred, where one cannot attain to excellency in any.”
Letter 29, 1.
Letters, Book IX
Original
Ut satius unum aliquid insigniter facere quam plura mediocriter, ita plurima mediocriter, si non possis unum aliquid insigniter.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Pliny the Younger 50
Roman writer 61–113Related quotes
Letter to Benjamin Rush (12 April 1803) https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0178-0001
1800s, First Presidential Administration (1801–1805)
Mauro Tassotti, 2011 https://www.acmilan.com/en/news/show/134347
From former and current footballers
“Prefer to be defeated in the presence of the wise than to excel among fools.”
“Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.”
Source: The Little Big Things: 163 Ways To Pursue Excellence (2010), p. 53.
Book III, Ch. 13. Of Experience
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Variant: The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel, are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur.
No. 416
Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld's Maxims (1823)