Quotes about excellence (987 quotes, page 2)

“You trust in your own doings to appease God for your sins, and to incline the heart of God to you. Though you are poor, worthless, vile, and polluted, yet you arrogantly take upon you that very work for which the Son of God became man; and in order to which God employed four thousand years in all the great dispensations of His providence, aiming chiefly to make way for Christ's coming to do this work. This is the work that you foolishly think yourselves sufficient for; as though your prayers and performances were excellent enough for this purpose. Consider how vain is the thought which you entertain of yourself. How must such arrogance appear in the sight of Christ, whom it cost so much? It was not to be obtained even by Him, so great and glorious a person, at a cheaper rate than His wading through a sea of blood, and passing through the midst of the furnace of God's wrath.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 541.

God , Way , Thinking , Appearance

“So vast, without any question, is the divine handiwork of the most excellent Almighty.”

Nicolaus Copernicus book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

End of Ch. 10; the "Congregation of the Index" (the official inquisition censors) declared that the last sentence of this statement was one of eleven passages which should be removed from the work, in this case because it was perceived as implying that God designed things in accord with the Copernican system, rather than that of Ptolemy.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
Context: The forward and backward arcs appear greater in Jupiter than in Saturn and smaller than in Mars, and on the other hand greater in Venus than in Mercury. This reversal in direction appears more frequently in Saturn than in Jupiter, and also more rarely in Mars and Venus than in Mercury. Moreover, when Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars rise at sunset, they are nearer to the earth than when they set in the evening or appear at a later hour. But Mars in particular, when it shines all night, seems to equal Jupiter in size, being distinguished only by its reddish color. Yet in the other configurations it is found barely among the stars of the second magnitude, being recognized by those who track it with assiduous observations. All these phenomena proceed from the same cause, which is the earth's motion.
Yet none of these phenomena appears in the fixed stars. This proves their immense height, which makes even the sphere of the annual motion, or its reflection, vanish from before our eyes. For, every visible object has some measure of distance beyond which it is no longer seen, as is demonstrated in optics. From Saturn, the highest of the planets, to the sphere of the fixed stars there is an additional gap of the largest size. This is shown by the twinkling lights of the stars. By this token in particular they are distinguished from the planets, for there had to be a very great difference between what moves and what does not move. So vast, without any question, is the divine handiwork of the most excellent Almighty.

Question

“It looked queer to me to see boxes labeled 'His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America'.”

Jefferson Davis (1808–1889) President of the Confederate States of America

David D. Porter, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War https://ia802604.us.archive.org/9/items/incidentsanecdot00port/incidentsanecdot00port.pdf (1885), p. 274.
Context: It looked queer to me to see boxes labeled 'His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America'. The packages so labeled contained Bass ale or Cognac brandy, which cost 'His Excellency' less than we Yankees had to pay for it. Think of the President drinking imported liquors while his soldiers were living on pop-corn and water!

Box

“Arrange all these results as described, and you will produce a Table, certainly the most excellent of all Mathematical tables, and prepared for the most important uses.”

John Napier (1550–1617) Scottish mathematician

The Construction of the Wonderful Canon of Logarithms (1889)
Context: From the Radical table completed in this way, you will find with great exactness the logarithms of all sines between radius and the sine 45 degrees; from the arc of 45 degrees doubled, you will find the logarithm of half radius; having obtained all these, you will find the other logarithms. Arrange all these results as described, and you will produce a Table, certainly the most excellent of all Mathematical tables, and prepared for the most important uses.

Mathematics

“An excellent man: he has no enemies, and none of his friends like him.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Quoted by George Bernard Shaw in a letter to Ellen Terry, 25 September 1896.
Context: On George Bernard Shaw An excellent man: he has no enemies, and none of his friends like him.

“For this it is necessary for one to forget himself, and to believe that he has some real excellence”

Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher

Discourses on the Condition of the Great
Context: All the excesses, all the violence, and all the vanity of great men, come from the fact that they know not what they are: it being difficult for those who regard themselves at heart as equal with all men... For this it is necessary for one to forget himself, and to believe that he has some real excellence above them, in which consists this illusion that I am endeavoring to discover to you.

Forgetting

“It is a very poor thing, whether for nations or individuals, to advance the history of great deeds done in the past as an excuse for doing poorly in the present; but it is an excellent thing to study the history of the great deeds of the past, and of the great men who did them, with an earnest desire to profit thereby so as to render better service in the present. In their essentials, the men of the present day are much like the men of the past, and the live issues of the present can be faced to better advantage by men who have in good faith studied how the leaders of the nation faced the dead issues of the past. Such a study of Lincoln's life will enable us to avoid the twin gulfs of immorality and inefficiency—the gulfs which always lie one on each side of the careers alike of man and of nation. It helps nothing to have avoided one if shipwreck is encountered in the other.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Theodore Roosevelt's introduction to "The Writings and Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Volume One, Constitutional Edition" http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/5/3253/3253-h/files/2653/2653-h/2653-h.htm#2H_4_0002, edited by Arthur Brooks Lapsley and released as "The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Volume One, by Abraham Lincoln" by Project Gutenberg on July 4, 2009. Roosevelt wrote his introduction at Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, New York, September 22, 1905 according to the introduction.
1900s
Context: It is a very poor thing, whether for nations or individuals, to advance the history of great deeds done in the past as an excuse for doing poorly in the present; but it is an excellent thing to study the history of the great deeds of the past, and of the great men who did them, with an earnest desire to profit thereby so as to render better service in the present. In their essentials, the men of the present day are much like the men of the past, and the live issues of the present can be faced to better advantage by men who have in good faith studied how the leaders of the nation faced the dead issues of the past. Such a study of Lincoln's life will enable us to avoid the twin gulfs of immorality and inefficiency—the gulfs which always lie one on each side of the careers alike of man and of nation. It helps nothing to have avoided one if shipwreck is encountered in the other. The fanatic, the well-meaning moralist of unbalanced mind, the parlor critic who condemns others but has no power himself to do good and but little power to do ill—all these were as alien to Lincoln as the vicious and unpatriotic themselves. His life teaches our people that they must act with wisdom, because otherwise adherence to right will be mere sound and fury without substance; and that they must also act high-mindedly, or else what seems to be wisdom will in the end turn out to be the most destructive kind of folly.

Life , Men , Lie , Faith

“When men are once checked in what they consider their special excellence, their whole opinion of themselves suffers more than if they had not at first believed in their superiority, the unexpected shock to their pride causing them to give way more than their real strength warrants; and that is probably now the case with the Athenians.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VII, 7.66-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII

Men , Way , Suffering

“Moreover, he must address himself not to a special and unique sense like hearing, which the musician bends to his will, and which is, besides, the organ par excellence of expectation and attention; but rather to a general and diffused expectation, and he does so through a language which is a very odd mixture of incoherent stimuli.”

Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher

Originally delivered as a lecture (late 1927); Pure Poetry: Notes for a Lecture The Creative Vision (1960)
Context: For the musician, before he has begun his work, all is in readiness so that the operation of his creative spirit may find, right from the start, the appropriate matter and means, without any possibility of error. He will not have to make this matter and means submit to any modification; he need only assemble elements which are clearly defined and ready-made. But in how different a situation is the poet! Before him is ordinary language, this aggregate of means which are not suited to his purpose, not made for him. There have not been physicians to determine the relationships of these means for him; there have not been constructors of scales; no diapason, no metronome, no certitude of this kind. He has nothing but the coarse instrument of the dictionary and the grammar. Moreover, he must address himself not to a special and unique sense like hearing, which the musician bends to his will, and which is, besides, the organ par excellence of expectation and attention; but rather to a general and diffused expectation, and he does so through a language which is a very odd mixture of incoherent stimuli.

Sense

“Thus is the excellence of God magnified and the greatness of his kingdom made manifest; He is glorified not in one, but in countless suns; not in a single earth, a single world, but in a thousand thousand, I say in an infinity of worlds.”

Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer

On the Infinite Universe and Worlds (1584)
Context: Make then your forecasts, my lords Astrologers, with your slavish physicians, by means of those astrolabes with which you seek to discern the fantastic nine moving spheres; in these you finally imprison your own minds, so that you appear to me but as parrots in a cage, while I watch you dancing up and down, turning and hopping within those circles. We know that the Supreme Ruler cannot have a seat so narrow, so miserable a throne, so trivial, so scanty a court, so small and feeble a simulacrum that phantasm can bring to birth, a dream shatter, a delusion restore, a calamity diminish, a misdeed abolish and a thought renew it again, so that indeed with a puff of air it were brimful and with a single gulp it were emptied. On the contrary we recognize a noble image, a marvellous conception, a supreme figure, an exalted shadow, an infinite representation of the represented infinity, a spectacle worthy of the excellence and supremacy of Him who transcendeth understanding, comprehension or grasp. Thus is the excellence of God magnified and the greatness of his kingdom made manifest; He is glorified not in one, but in countless suns; not in a single earth, a single world, but in a thousand thousand, I say in an infinity of worlds.

God , World , Sun

“It is not among extraordinary and fantastic things that excellence is to be found”

Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher

The Art of Persuasion
Context: It is not among extraordinary and fantastic things that excellence is to be found, of whatever kind it may be. We rise to attain it and become removed from it: it is oftenest necessary to stoop for it.

“The ecological teaching of the Bible is simply inescapable: God made the world because He wanted it made. He thinks the world is good, and He loves it. It is His world; He has never relinquished title to it. And He has never revoked the conditions, bearing on His gift to us of the use of it, that oblige us to take excellent care of it.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

"God and Country".
What Are People For? (1990)

Love , God , World , Thinking

“One man will say a thing of himself without comprehending its excellence, in which another will discern a marvelous series of conclusions, which makes us affirm that it is no longer the same expression, and that he is no more indebted for it to the one from whom he has learned it, than a beautiful tree belongs to the one who cast the seed, without thinking of it, or knowing it, into the fruitful soil which caused its growth by its own fertility.”

Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher

The Art of Persuasion

Beauty , Thinking , Tree , Learning

“It is requisite to choose the most excellent life; for custom will make it pleasant.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

"Pythagorean Ethical Sentences From Stobæus" (1904)
Florilegium
Context: It is requisite to choose the most excellent life; for custom will make it pleasant. Wealth is an infirm anchor, glory is still more infirm; and in a similar manner, the body, dominion, and honour. For all these are imbecile and powerless. What then are powerful anchors. Prudence, magnanimity, fortitude. These no tempest can shake. This is the Law of God, that virtue is the only thing that is strong; and that every thing else is a trifle.

Life

“The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel - these are the things what will endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events themselves. ”

Vince Lombardi (1913–1970) American football player, coach, and executive

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.

“But, that we may complete what is still wanting, I will give my explanation respecting the men who are esteemed wise. Minos, who has been thought to excel in every kind of wisdom, and mental acuteness, and legislative capacity, lived in the time of Lynceus, who reigned after Danaus in the eleventh generation after Inachus. Lycurgus, who was born long after the taking of Troy, gave laws to the Lacedemonians.”

Tatian (120–180) Syrian writer

Ante-Nicene Christian library: v. 3 p. 44-45
Address to the Greeks

Time , Wisdom , Law , Men

“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty – a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show. The true spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense of being more than Man, which is the touchstone of highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as in poetry. What is best in mathematics deserves not merely to be learnt as a task, but to be assimilated as a part of daily thought, and brought again and again before the mind with ever-renewed encouragement.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

1900s, "The Study of Mathematics" (November 1907)

Painting , Beauty , Nature , Music

“At 26, he is a fine young man with extraordinary talent, excellent leadership qualities and a terrific temperament.”

Steve Smith (cricketer) (1989) Australian international cricketer

Former Australian cricketer Rod Marsh on Steven Smith. https://www.thenational.ae/sport/in-steve-smith-australia-tab-right-man-for-the-job-to-captain-test-side-1.71238?videoId=5719243807001
About

“Use of better planetary parameters, the innovations in astronomical methods, and the concise style of exposition of Aryabhatiya makes it an excellent text book on Astronomy. As opposed to the geostationary theory, Aryahabata held the view that the earth rotates on its axis. His estimate of the period of the sidereal rotation of earth was 23 hours 56 min, and 4.1 s is close to the actual value.”

Aryabhata (476–550) Indian mathematician-astronomer

In, p. 254.
Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures

Books , Making love

“An excellent player, in my opinion, he is a modern player because he is a player who runs, marks, knows how to pass, cross, score goals and he is a leader on the field for Liverpool. So he is a player that I would like to have in my team.”

Steven Gerrard (1980) English footballer

Kaka on Steven Gerrard http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/05/15/uk-soccer-champions-kaka-idUKL1540342020070515, (May 2006)

“Your curiosity is your greatest gift. Use it to expand your scope. Ordinary people won't understand your insatiable thirst for excellence. They won't bother to keep striving because it's too onerous, too difficult.”

Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American singer, songwriter and dancer

“Deficient self-confidence and self respect, develops low self esteem, and induces the need to find faults in others; wisdom and quality self-confidence, engenders one’s ability to find excellence in the traits of others.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1983

Confidence , Self-confidence , Wisdom

“one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty−one that everything afterward savors of anti−climax.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

Men

“I, had an excellent instructor. One that you currently have locked up. If you want to talk about skills going to waste, then go look in your own jail.”

Richelle Mead book Spirit Bound

Source: Spirit Bound

“Take full account of what Excellencies you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Gratitude

“In character, in manner, in style, in all the things, the supreme excellence is simplicity”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American poet

Source: Favorite Poems

“Each creature had something it excelled at, he supposed. Humans could manage knots easily, and cats could do everything else.”

Jim Butcher book The Aeronaut's Windlass

Source: The Aeronaut's Windlass

Cats

“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.”

Richard Bach book Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Source: Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

Intelligence

“You may believe you're an excellent rider," he called, "but there are a score of Temujai back there who actually are.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Battle for Skandia

“You see, in this country are a number of youths who do not like to work, and the college is an excellent place for them.”

L. Frank Baum book Ozma of Oz

Source: Ozma of Oz

Youth , Country

“The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity. Usually, growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety.”

Josh Waitzkin (1976) Chess player

Source: The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence

Learning

“He is happy, whose circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent, who can suit his temper to any circumstances.”

David Hume book An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

§ 6.9 : Of Qualities Useful to Ourselves, Pt. 1
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751)

Happiness

“I never forget,” Myrnin said in a choked whisper. “Certainly not with your nails in my throat. They’re quite an excellent mnemonic device.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Bite Club

Forgetting

“Geniuses and prophets do not usually excel in professional learning, and their originality, if any, is often due precisely to the fact that they do not.”

Joseph Alois Schumpeter book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

Source: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

Learning

“You know what would help this boy?" Demeter mused. "Farming."
Persephone rolled her eyes. "Mother-"
"Six months behind a plow. Excellent character building.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Boy , Help

“Singin' in the Rain was most excellent if you like movies where people burst into song and tap-dance. Which I do, though not as much as I like movies where people don't.”

E. Lockhart (1967) American writer of novels as E. Lockhart (mainly for teenage girls) and of picture books under real name Emily J…

Source: The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them

People , Dance

“There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Beauty
Essays (1625)

Beauty , Beauty

“What difference does it make if the Gospel is mostly a lie? It's an engrossing story and the words of its hero are excellent words to live by, even today.”

Tom Robbins (1932) American writer

Lie

“beer is an excellent argument that there is a God, and that furthermore, He wants us to be happy.”

Jim Butcher book Skin Game

Source: Skin Game

God , Beer , Happiness

“None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Variant: To accomplish excellence or anything outstanding, you must listen to that whisper which is heard by you alone.

“The secret of joy in work is contained in one word — excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.”

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American writer

The Joy of Children (1966)

Motivational , Secret , Joy

“This was not judgement day — only morning. Morning: excellent and fair.”

William Styron book Sophie's Choice

Last lines
Source: Sophie's Choice (1979)

“I may not be perfect, but parts of me are excellent”

Ashleigh Brilliant (1933) American author and cartoonist

Parting , Perfection

“Coach said. "the quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor".”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Life , Wise

“Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game.”

Gary Gygax (1938–2008) American writer and game designer

GameSpy interview by Allen Rausch, Pt. 1 (15 August 2004) http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/538/538817p2.html

Game , Chance

“once I falsely hoped to meet the beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer

Love , Hope , Falseness

“People of excellence go the extra mile to do what's right.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

People

“Bouillabaisse is only good because cooked by the French, who, if they cared to try, could produce an excellent and nutritious substitute out of cigar stumps and empty matchboxes.”

Norman Douglas (1868–1952) British writer

Cooking

“A Prince asked the dying spanish statesman, "Does your Excellency forgive all your enemies?" "I do not have to forgive all my enemies," answered the stateman, "I have had them all shot.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

Forgiveness

“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.”

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor

Way

“But money spent while manic doesn't fit into the Internal Revenue Service concept of medical expense or business loss. So after mania, when most depressed, you're given excellent reason to be even more so.”

Kay Redfield Jamison (1946) American bipolar disorder researcher

Source: An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Money , Business , Loss

“I don’t expect perfection, I expect excellence.” I expect 100 percent effort in all you do.”

Steven D. Levitt (1967) American economist

When to Rob a Bank: ...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants

Effort , Perfection

“I want him to burn for me, to not be able to go a day without touching me, holding me, caressing me. He’ll be an excellent lover. I want a man who knows how to please me”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: The Tycoon's Rebel Bride

Lovers

“Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.”

Cal Newport (1982) American computer scientist

Source: So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

Passion

“If politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether.”

Neil Postman (1931–2003) American writer and academic

Source: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Idea , Business , Appearance

“I don't settle in any other area of my life when it comes to excellence, so why should I lower my standards when it comes to boys?”

Adriana Trigiani (1970) American film director

Source: Viola in Reel Life

Life , Boy

“God created me—and you—to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion—namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.”

John Piper (1946) American writer

Source: Don't Waste Your Life

Life , God , Passion

“Excellence is doing a common thing in an uncommon way.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Way

“The excellence of every Art is its intensity.”

John Keats (1795–1821) English Romantic poet

Source: Complete Poems and Selected Letters

Art

“I don't think that there are any limits to how excellent we could make life seem.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Life , Thinking

“Someday, you will make an excellent guardian ba.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. “Can’t wait to be poultry forever.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Waiting

“I believe the choice to be excellent begins with aligning your thoughts and words with the intention to require more from yourself.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

“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.”

Octavio Paz (1914–1998) Mexican writer laureated with the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature

André Breton or the Quest of the Beginning
Source: Alternating Current (1967)
Context: 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.

Universe

“She looks honestly upset, but then, I’ve learned that I can’t read her. The problem with a really excellent liar is that you have to just assume they’re always lying.”

Holly Black book Black Heart

Source: Black Heart

Lying , Problem , Learning , Reading

“Sometimes it is the smallest thing that saves us: the weather growing cold, a child's smile, and a cup of excellent coffee.”

Jonathan Carroll (1949) novelist, short story writer

Smile , Coffee , Weather

“Humor is an excellent method of keeping a tight rein on unproductive displays of emotion.”

Elizabeth Peters The Hippopotamus Pool

Source: The Hippopotamus Pool

“whenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what excellence feels like.”

David Sedaris (1956) American author

Hope , Feeling , Learning , Reading

“I excel at pulling strings!” said Arachne. “I’m a spider!”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

“That was excellently observed’, say I, when I read a passage in an author, where his opinion agrees with mine. When we differ, there I pronounce him to be mistaken.”

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet

Reading

“Average is very acceptable in our society but I don't think the angels are applauding. If you are determined to be excellent, to not back out of it, you will reap a harvest in your life.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Life , Angels , Thinking

“I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.”

James A. Michener (1907–1997) American author

“God didn't create you to be average. You were created to excel You have everything”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day

God

“The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me just as if I had gained a new friend. When I read a book over I have perused before, it resembles the meeting with an old one.”

Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774) Irish physician and writer

Source: The Citizen of the World, Or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the Country, by Dr. Goldsmith

Books , Time , Reading

“Have to sow excellent seeds to have an excellent life. Must start with sowing excellent thoughts.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Life

“Boys who spent their weekends making banana nut muffins did not, as a rule, excel in the art of hand-to-hand combat.”

David Sedaris book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Source: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Art , Boy

“Thank Artemis, it is you! That little scar on your lip--you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!"
…
Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason's taste. "Staplers--excellent source of iron.”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

“Prefer to be defeated in the presence of the wise than to excel among fools.”

Dogen (1200–1253) Japanese Zen buddhist teacher

Fools

“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Back To Work

“Excellence does not require perfection.”

Henry James (1843–1916) American novelist, short story author, and literary critic

Perfection

“A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 6; translated by Luigi Ricci

Men

“Write what you know will always be excellent advice for those who ought not to write at all. Write what you think, what you imagine, what you suspect!”

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer

"Thomas Love Peacock: The Novel of Ideas" (1980)
1980s, The Second American Revolution (1983)
Variant: In any case, write what you know will always be excellent advice to those who ought not to write at all.
Source: The Essential Gore Vidal

Imagination , Thinking

“Everything excellent is as difficult as it is rare.”

Baruch Spinoza book Ethics

Source: Ethics

“In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted. Only artistic excellence is incorruptible. Pleasure cannot be bargained down. And sometimes the meal is the only currency that is real.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Pleasure , World , Beauty , Fraud

“Excellence connects.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently

“You don't blame us for being here, do you? After all, we have no place to go. No home… Incidentally, what an excellent day for an exorcism…”

William Peter Blatty book The Exorcist

Source: The Exorcist

Home

“He will not succeed in this," Taran said. "Somehow, we must find a way to escape. We dare not lose hope."
"I agree absolutely," Fflewddur answered. "Your general idea is excellent; it's only the details that are lacking…”

Lloyd Alexander book The Black Cauldron

Source: The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book V : The High King (1968), Chapter 20
Source: The Black Cauldron
Context: Orgoch gave a most ungentle snort. Orddu, meanwhile, had unfolded a length of brightly woven tapestry and held it out to Taran.
“We came to bring you this, my duckling,” she said. “Take it and pay no heed to Orgoch’s grumbling. She’ll have to swallow her disappointment—for lack of anything better.”
“I have seen this on your loom,” Taran said, more than a little distrustful. “Why do you offer it to me? I do not ask for it, nor can I pay for it.”
“It is yours by right, my robin,” answered Orddu. “It does come from our loom, if you insist on strictest detail, but it was really you who wove it.”
Puzzled, Taran looked more closely at the fabric and saw it crowded with images of men and women, of warriors and battles, of birds and animals. “These,” he murmured in wonder, “these are of my own life.”
“Of course,” Orddu replied. “The pattern is of your choosing and always was.”
“My choosing?” Taran questioned. “Not yours? Yet I believed...” He stopped and raised his eyes to Orddu. “Yes,” he said slowly, “once I did believe the world went at your bidding. I see now it is not so. The strands of life are not woven by three hags or even by three beautiful damsels. The pattern indeed was mine. But here,” he added, frowning as he scanned the final portion of the fabric where the weaving broke off and the threads fell unraveled, “here it is unfinished.”
“Naturally,” said Orddu. “You must still choose the pattern, and so must each of you poor, perplexed fledglings, as long as thread remains to be woven.”

Hope , Way , Idea

“Euthanasia" is an excellent and comforting word! I am grateful to whoever invented it.”

Bram Stoker book Dracula

Source: Dracula

“I'll build mine tomorrow," Horace said through a mouthful of food. "This is excellent, Will! When I have grandchildren, I'll name them all after you!”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: Halt's Peril

Food

“Excellent. They were flammable.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

“Trying to build myself up with the fact that I have done things right that were even good and have had moments that were excellent but the bad is heavier to carry around and feel have no confidence.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Source: Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters

Feeling , Confidence

“Actually, watching television and surfing the Internet are really excellent practice for being dead.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Damned

Source: Damned (2011)
Context: If you can watch much television, then being dead will be a cinch. Actually, watching television and surfing the Internet are really excellent practice for being dead.

Dead