None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the first and are not.
All excellent things are difficult as they are rare.
- Topic: Excellence
- Location: Hana, Hawaii, Maui
- Photo: Jeffrey Benjamin
More Quotes from Benedict Spinoza
Peace is not the absence of war, but a virtue based on strength of character.
He whose honor depends on the opinion of the mob must day by day strive with the greatest anxiety, act and scheme in order to retain his reputation. For the mob is varied and inconsistent, and therefore if a reputation is not carefully preserved it dies quickly.
It may easily come to pass that a vain man may become proud and imagine himself pleasing to all when he is in reality a universal nuisance.
Man is a social animal.
Desire is the essence of a man.
Nothing exists from whose nature some effect does not follow.
More Quotes from Hana
More on Excellence
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’.
The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.
Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal—a commitment to excellence—that will enable you to attain the success you seek.
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.
Badness you can get easily, in quantity: the road is smooth, and it lies close by. But in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to it, and rough at first. But when you come to the top, then it is easy, even though it is hard.
How excellent is thy name in all the earth.
I am not remotely interested in just being good.
Real excellence does not come cheaply. A certain price must be paid in terms of practice, patience, and persistence—natural ability notwithstanding.
