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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If we like what we do, if we always do our best,
then we are really enjoying life.
We are having fun, we don't get bored,
we don't have frustrations.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Friends are those rare people who ask how we are
and then wait to hear the answer.
- Anonymous

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

The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life.
If it be true that optimism compels the world forward,
and pessimism retards it, then it is dangerous to
propagate a pessimistic philosophy.
- Helen Keller

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

The most interesting information comes from children,
for they tell all they know and then stop.
- Mark Twain

I congratulate myself warmly for each accomplishment,
then ask, "What's next?
- 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

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along,
because once I have persuaded him, he will stick.
If I scare him, he will stay just as long
as he is scared, and then he is gone.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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

Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.
- Henry David Thoreau

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

Laughter gives us distance.
It allows us to step back from an event,
deal with it and then move on.
- Bob Newhart

If you have an important point to make,
don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver.
Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again.
Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
- Winston Churchill

My father always used to say that when you die,
if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life.
- Lee Iacocca

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