“There is an ideal of excellence for any particular craft or occupation; similarly there must be an excellent that we can achieve as human beings. That is, we can live our lives as a whole in such a way that they can be judged not just as excellent in this respect or in that occupation, but as excellent, period. Only when we develop our truly human capacities sufficiently to achieve this human excellent will we have lives blessed with happiness.”

“Excellence" is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice.We do not act "rightly" because we are "excellent",in fact we achieve "excellence" by acting "rightly".”

“Excellence must be achieved through the eyes of those who judge us; once achieved it can only be maintained with constant innovation.”

“Unfortunately we often get praise for things that weren't particularly difficult to achieve. If we focus on the props and encouragement of those who have low expectations for us, we become mediocre. It can be challenging to set our sights on excellence, particularly when we're hearing that we're already there. One of life's greatest lessons, which we all must learn, could be expressed in the phrase "That was nothing. Watch this." Challenge yourself and others to call the normal things normal and save that word excellent for things that really are.”

“ One must see in every human being only that which is worthyof praise. When this is done, one can be a friend to the whole humanrace. If, however, we look at people from the standpoint of theirfaults, then being a friend to them is a formidable task.................Thus is it incumbent upon us, when we direct our gaze towardother people, to see where they excel, not where they fail.”

“Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there's reason to live!We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can learn to be free! we can learn to fly!”