There is nothing noble in being superior to some other person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.

Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.

I’m not in competition with anybody but myself. My goal is to beat my last performance.

You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.

Do your work with your whole heart, and you will succeed—there's so little competition.

Every man in the world is better than someone else and not as good someone else.

Winners compare their achievements with their goals, while losers compare their achievements with those of other people.

The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself.

While the law [of competition] may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it insures the survival of the fittest in every department. We accept and welcome, therefore, as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment, the concentration of business, industrial and commercial, in the hands of a few, and the law of competition between these, as being not only beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the race.

Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any man or order of men.

Anytime you find someone more successful than you are, especially when you’re both engaged in the same business – you know they’re doing something that you aren’t.

When you say 'yes' to others, make sure you are not saying 'no' to yourself.

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.

The reason angels can fly is because they take themselves lightly.

Thinking too well of people often allows them to be better than they otherwise would.

I do nothing upon myself, and yet am mine own executioner.

If you can allow yourself to trust those little movements round your gut that tell you when something is interesting or exciting, they will tell you where to go.

If you are ever tempted to look for outside approval, realize that you have compromised your integrity.

When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.

A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.

Benevolence is man’s mind, and righteousness is man’s path.

If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.

It doesn't matter how smart you are unless you stop and think.

The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases. Each of us carries his own life-form—an indeterminable form which cannot be superseded by any other.