John W. Gardner quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by John W. Gardner

John W. Gardner Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from John W. Gardner on Wise Famous Quotes.

The man who once cursed his fate, now curses himself - and pays his psychoanalyst.

All of us celebrate our values in our behavior.

We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.

Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them.

All laws are an attempt to domesticate the natural ferocity of the species.

Creativity requires the freedom to consider unthinkable alternatives, to doubt the worth of cherished practices.

If the modern leader doesn't know the facts, he is in grave trouble, but rarely do the facts provide unqualified guidance.

In the artist's recreation of the world we are enabled to see the world.

If you don't give your kid freedom to make choices with money, including stupid choices, he'll make plenty when he gets to college.

The individual who has become a stranger to himself has lost the capacity for genuine self-renewal.

It is one of the ironies of history that reformers so often misjudge the consequences of their reforms.

The hallmark of our age is the tension between aspirations and sluggish institutions.

We have to face the fact that most men and women out there are more stale than they know, more bored than they care to admit.

For every talent that poverty has stimulated it has blighted a hundred.

Life is like a drawing without an eraser

The best kept secret in America today is that people would rather work hard for something they believe in than live a life of aimless diversion.

It is hard to feel individually responsible with respect to the invisible processes of a huge and distant government.

The cynic says, 'One man can't do anything.' I say, 'Only one man can do anything.'

Paralysis of leadership is due in part to the unseen grip of the special interests.

One of the reasons mature people stop learning is that they become less and less willing to risk failure.

History never looks like history when you are living through it.

True happiness involves the full use of one's power and talents.

When one may pay out over two million dollars to presidential and Congressional campaigns, the U.S. government is virtually up for sale.

To sensible men, every day is a day of reckoning.

When hiring key employees, there are only two qualities to look for: judgement and taste. Almost everything else can be bought by the yard.

Whoever I am, or whatever I am doing, some kind of excellence is within my reach.

We cannot have islands of excellence in a sea of slovenly indifference to standards.

It's a staggering transition for high school students that found they could study five hours a week and make As and Bs.

We get richer and richer in filthier and filthier communities until we reach a final state of affluent misery - crocus on a garbage heap.

Life is an endless process of self-discovery.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the [nonprofit] sector is its relative freedom from constraints and its resulting pluralism.

One man interacting creatively with others can move the world.

Our problem is not to find better values but to be faithful to those we profess.

All excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose.

If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are.

Some people strengthen the society just by being the kind of people they are.

The creative individual is particularly gifted in seeing the gap between what is and what could be.

Renewal is not just innovation and change. It is also the process of bringing the results of change into line with our purposes.

The world loves talent but pays off on character.

Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involves the full use of one's powers and talents.

A prime function of a leader is to keep hope alive.

It is not easy to be crafty and winsome at the same time, and few accomplish it after the age of six.

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.