John W. Gardner Quotes

American - Educator | October 8, 1912 - February 16, 2002

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.

John W. Gardner

LifeArtExperienceDrawingWithout

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

John W. Gardner

MotivationalHappinessPowerTrue

Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

John W. Gardner

ExcellenceDoingThingsWell

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

John W. Gardner

ExcellenceI AmReachDoingKindAm

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

John W. Gardner

BetterProblemValuesFindFaithful

The idea for which this nation stands will not survive if the highest goal free man can set themselves is an amiable mediocrity. Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every phase of life.

John W. Gardner

LifeExcellenceManSurviveFree

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

John W. Gardner

GreatOpportunitiesProblemsSeries

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

John W. Gardner

RespectPeopleBetterYouBecome

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

John W. Gardner

ManSayAnythingOnlyCynicSays

The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.

John W. Gardner

GoodHumbleWaterExcellenceSociety

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

John W. Gardner

HistoryYouLooksLivingNeverLike

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

John W. Gardner

LearningFailurePeopleStopBecome

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