quotations about mediocrity
They are the driven crowds that makes the army of the authoritarian overlord; they are the stuffing of conservatism ... mediocrity is their god. They fear the stranger, they fear the new idea; they are afraid to live, and scared to die.
DONALD EWAN CAMERON
attributed, Father, Son and CIA
Success and mediocrity are both absolutely predictable because they follow the natural and immutable law of sowing and reaping. Simply stated, if you want to reap more rewards, you must sow more.
TOMMY NEWBERRY
Success Is Not an Accident
It is no wonder that we all more or less delight in the mediocre, because it leaves us in peace: it gives us the comfortable feeling of intercourse with what is like ourselves.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe
It's nice for a mediocre man to know that greatness must be the loneliest state in the world.
JOHN STEINBECK
East of Eden
Only the mediocre are always at their best.
JEAN GIRAUDOUX
attributed, I Remember It Well
I wouldn't say I'm normal, but I'm relatively stable. When I think of normalcy I think of mediocrity and mediocrity scares the f*** out of me.
GILLIAN ANDERSON
"Planet Hollywood Harriet Winslow", Allure, December 1997
Great and decided talent is a tower of strength which cannot be subverted. Envy, detraction, and persecution, are missiles hurled against it only to fall harmless at its base, and to strengthen what they cannot overthrow. It seeks not the applause of the present moment, in which folly or mediocrity often secure the preference; but it extends its bright and prophetic vision through the "dark obscure" of distant time, and bequeaths to remote generations the vindication of its honor and fame, and the clear comprehensions of its truths.
LORD ACTON
Acton; Or, The Circle of Life
Mediocrity bears but one flower--ENVY.
CHARLES WILLIAM DAY
The Maxims, Experiences, and Observations of Agogos
Nothing in the world is more haughty than a man of mediocre capacity when once raised to power.
BARON WESSENBERG
attributed, Day's Collacon
Those who aim at faultless regularity will only produce mediocrity, and no one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
"Thoughts on Taste", The Edinburgh Magazine, July 1819
Most democratic cultures deserve to servive or even prosper with this burden of mediocrity only if it does not replace merit. In fact, mediocrity is the precondition for merit by excellence. Democratic mediocrity is tolerated on the grounds that while the many mediocre are rewarded, the excellent few are also among the rewarded. As an intrinsic function, these democratic cultures must make sure that the excellent few are not sacrificed for the many mediocre.
JON HUER
Tenure for Socrates
Mediocrity is the marshy border line separating greatness from littleness: a fit habitation for human mosquitos.
ABRAHAM MILLER
Unmoral Maxims
Mediocrity, both intellectual and physical, is the best shield, and the surest protection against envy and detraction.
GEORGE SWINNOCK
attributed, Day's Collacon
Mediocrity is the playground of those who are misinformed, non-thinking and know it all.
RALPH REYNAUD
A Treasure Chest of Verse from the Cutting Edge
The appearance of mediocrity is sometimes a useful thing in life: it soothes strings that have been stretched too taut.
IVAN TURGENEV
Fathers and Sons
But why diminish your soul being run-of-the-mill at something? Mediocrity: now there is ugliness for you. Mediocrity's a hairball coughed up on the Persian carpet of Creation.
TOM ROBBINS
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
Mediocre men sometimes fear great office, and when they do not aim at it, or when they refuse it, all that is to be concluded is that they are aware of their mediocrity.
LUC DE CLAPIERS, MARQUIS DE VAUVENARGUES
Reflections and Maxims
There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, or second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet's bombast!
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Works of the Mind", Les Caractères
Mediocrity is the spirit of the average, the anthem of the norm, and the heartbeat of the ordinary.
MYLES MUNROE
Myles Munroe Devotional & Journal: 365 Days to Realize Your Potential
No government by a democracy or a numerous aristocracy, either in its political acts or in the opinions, qualities, and tone of mind which it fosters, ever did or could rise above mediocrity, except in so far as the sovereign Many have let themselves be guided (which in their best times they have always done) by the counsels and influence of a more highly gifted and instructed One or Few.
JOHN STUART MILL
On Liberty