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We are what we repeatedly do.
by Will Durant

We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.
- Will Durant (commonly attributed to Aristotle)

Related topics: Values Wisdom Life Human-Nature Psychology Live-By Habits Repetition Practice

We tell the real truth of our life
by the stories we repeatedly tell.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

The quality of a man's life is in direct proportion
to his commitment to excellence,
regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.
- Vince Lombardi

Excellence is not a destination to be arrived at,
but a path of continual attention and improvement.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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Thank you for joining me on this journey we call life,
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Be a yardstick of quality.
Some people aren't used to an environment
where excellence is expected.
- Steve Jobs

I constantly seek excellence
in all domains that truly matter to me.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Real excellence and humility are
not incompatible one with the other,
on the contrary they are twin sisters.
- Jean Baptiste Lacordaire

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance
and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Excellence is the result of
caring more than others think wise,
risking more than other's think safe,
dreaming more than others think practical,
and expecting more than others think possible.
- Anonymous

Seek first to understand,
then to be understood.
- Stephen Covey

Choose Inner Peace.
Nothing is worth losing your inner peace.
Take action as circumstances require,
but never surrender your inner peace.
Stop. Breathe deeply.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply again.
Then, and only then, take action -
from a peaceful heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
- Mother Teresa

I can't go back to yesterday -
because I was a different person then.
- Lewis Carroll

If you want to make peace with your enemy,
you have to work with your enemy.
Then he becomes your partner.
- Nelson Mandela

All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy.
What right have we then to depreciate imagination.
- Carl Jung

When you see something done,
know that you intended it.
If you don't like what you see,
then deeply examine your intentions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Everything is okay in the end.
If it's not okay, then it's not the end.
- Anonymous

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
- Abraham Lincoln

You need to make a commitment,
and once you make it,
then life will give you some answers.
- Les Brown

Once you know yourself as a genuine seeker,
and when your own inner chamber is quite enlightened,
then comes the natural unfoldment of pure love and compassion
and a genuine desire to serve others.
- Rod Stryker

We first make our habits, then our habits make us.
- John Dryden

Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things,
and then proceed to greater.
- Epictetus

If we could first know where we are,
and whither we are tending,
we could then better judge what to do,
and how to do it.
- Abraham Lincoln

If you wish to see the truth,
then hold no opinion for or against.
- Osho

Choose wisely - then act decisively. Do it today!
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life is change. Without change, there is no life.
Why then do we so fight against change?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Our real problem, then, is not our strength today;
it is rather the vital necessity of action today
to ensure our strength tomorrow.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

It is better to conquer yourself
than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours.
It cannot be taken from you,
not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
- The Buddha

Does thou love life? Then do not squander time;
for that's the stuff life is made of.
- Benjamin Franklin

If you begin to understand what you are
without trying to change it,
then what you are undergoes a transformation.
- J. Krishnamurti

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal,
and then leap in the dark to our success.
- Henry David Thoreau

Start by doing what's necessary;
then do what's possible;
and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
- St. Francis of Assisi

Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.
- Epictetus

If everyone is moving forward together,
then success takes care of itself.
- Henry Ford

I wrap the potential for bitterness,
resentment, martyrdom in the blanket of forgiveness
and just set it down.
Then it just melts in the warmth. And goes away.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.
- Epictetus

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time,
for that is the stuff that life is made of.
- Benjamin Franklin

To manage your mind,
know that there is nothing,
and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.
- Lao Tzu

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are
and then live with that decision.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

It is any day better to stand erect
with a broken and bandaged head
then to crawl on one's belly,
in order to be able to save one's head.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

First say to yourself what you would be;
then do what you have to do.
- Epictetus

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy
is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet,
alone with the heavens, nature and God.
Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.
- Anne Frank

Trust yourself, then you will know how to live.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Everyone should carefully observe
which way his heart draws him,
and then choose that way with all his strength.
- Hasidic Proverb

"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely,
"and go on till you come to the end: then stop."
- Lewis Carroll

All your anxiety is because of your desire for harmony.
Seek disharmony, then you will gain peace.
- Rumi

Play the game for more than you can afford to lose...
only then will you learn the game.
- Winston Churchill

You have to learn the rules of the game.
And then you have to play better than anyone else.
- Albert Einstein

Don't ask yourself what the world needs;
ask yourself what makes you come alive.
And then go and do that.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
- Howard Thurman

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west;
people create distinctions out of their own minds
and then believe them to be true.
- The Buddha

Look at everything as though you were seeing it
either for the first or last time.
Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.
- Betty Smith

An inspiring vision - then courageous action.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus

Always listen to the experts.
They'll tell you what can't be done and why.
Then do it.
- Robert Heinlein

Believe you can - and then make it happen.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Knowledge is soon changed, then lost in the mist, an echo half-heard.
- Gene Wolfe

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you,
then they fight you, then you win.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Today, I will do my best...
and then relax in the knowing
that I have done all I could.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Choose to adopt the attitude toward failure that sports teams do.
In each game, one team succeeds and one fails.
Then the next week they both get out and play again.
Life is also a game - with some successes and some failures.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

All successful people men and women are big dreamers.
They imagine what their future could be,
ideal in every respect,
and then they work every day toward
their distant vision,
that goal or purpose.
- Brian Tracy

Know first that you have absolutely no power to change the world,
and then address all your energies and intent toward improving it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you fear making anyone mad,
then you ultimately probe for
the lowest common denominator of human achievement.
- Jimmy Carter

No greater thing is created suddenly,
any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.
If you tell me that you desire a fig,
I answer you that there must be time.
Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
- Epictetus

Honor your past, and all the consequences of that past.
Receive insight into relieving the pain
caused by past experiences and current attitudes toward life.
Observe life as it currently appears,
and then train yourself to observe life
from other perspectives that support a higher quality of living.
Re-consider your priorities.
Chart your Course.
Set Sail with Courage.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Affirmation:
I congratulate myself warmly for each accomplishment,
then ask, "What's next?"
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

One day Alice came to a fork in the road
and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
"Which road do I take?" she asked.
His responses was a question: "Where do you want to go?"
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
- Lewis Carroll

Can you achieve your goals?
You can't reach your goal if you haven't
defined your goals.
And you can't succeed if you don't try -
and then pick yourself up
and try again each time you fail.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

It is better to lead from behind
and to put others in front,
especially when you celebrate victory
when nice things occur.
You take the front line when there is danger.
Then people will appreciate your leadership.
- Nelson Mandela

If you have only one smile in you,
give it to the people you love.
Don't be surly at home,
then go out in the street
and start grinning good morning
at total strangers.
- Maya Angelou

Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself.
You will then find out how easy it is to get along.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

When the tempest rages, when the thunders roar,
and the lightnings blaze around us
it is then that the truly brave man stands firm at his post.
- Luther Martin

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May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie