quotations about perfection
Perfection falls not to the share of mortals.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to John Jay, August 1, 1786
Even though my behavior falls short from perfection, I am worthy. Even though other people's behavior falls short from perfection, they are worthy, and it is meeting on this common ground that we can bridge the differences and overcome the fears that fuel the seeds of evil thoughts in each one of us.
ROHINI ROSS
"Perfection Is Not in The Eye of the Beholder -- It Is Our True Nature", Huffington Post, December 22, 2015
I say if you want perfection in this life, find the perfect hairdresser. Or the perfect place to lunch with your girlfriends. Or the perfect soup that makes you feel good no matter what's happened. And surround yourself with funny people who make you laugh your head off. Because if I've learned anything, it's don't be perfect. Don't try to be perfect. Don't hide your imperfection.
TRACY LEE CURTIS
"The pursuit of perfection is hair-raising", Charlotte Observer, April 13, 2016
No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
"Thoughts on Taste", The Edinburgh Magazine, July 1819
To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
Winston Churchill: His Complete Speeches
The maxim 'Nothing avails but perfection' may be spelt shorter: 'Paralysis.'
WINSTON CHURCHILL
The Second World War, Volume IV: The Hinge of Fate
Every step away from chaos toward perfection accrues merit, no matter what the context, and the line between them is straight.
K. J. PARKER
Devices and Desires
The only nice thing about being imperfect is the joy it brings others.
DOUG LARSON
attributed, Quotable Quotes
Even in our poor old country, with its aristocratic class materialized, its middle class vulgarized, its lower class brutalized, there are to be found individuals, as I have again and again said, lovers of the humane life, lovers of perfection, who emerge in all classes, and who, while they are more or less in conflict with the present, point to a better future.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
Civilization in the United States
All perfection in this life is attended by some imperfection, and all our farseeing is not without obscurity.
THOMAS À KEMPIS
The Imitation of Christ
He was too much concerned with his own perfection ever to think of admiring any one else.
MAX BEERBOHM
Zuleika Dobson
It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.
FRANÇOIS FÉNELON
Selections from the Writings of Fénelon
Only gods can safely risk perfection ... it's a dangerous thing for a man.
FRANK HERBERT
Dune Messiah
Perfection is the object always proposed, though possibly unattainable; hitherto at least, certainly unattained. However, those who aim carefully at the mark itself will unquestionably come nearer it, than those who from despair, negligence, or indolence, leave to chance the work of skill.
LORD CHESTERFIELD
letter to his son, February 20, 1752
If you look for perfection, you'll never be content.
LEO TOLSTOY
Anna Karenina
All perfect things are saddening in effect.
The autumn wood robed in its scarlet clothes,
The matchless tinting on the royal rose
Whose velvet leaf by no least flaw is flecked.
Love's supreme moment, when the soul unchecked
Soars high as heaven, and its best rapture knows,
These hold a deeper pathos than our woes,
Since they leave nothing better to expect.
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
"Perfectness"
Call it the Absolute, the Ideal, Perfection, Sanctity, Decency, or what you will, but strive toward it or you will smother in the morass.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
The divine injunction to be perfect, even as He is perfect, was not given man to mock him. The possibility of our waking in His likeness is literally true.
ORISON SWETT MARDEN
The Miracle of Right Thought
Practice makes perfect.
CHINESE PROVERB
Various are men's dispositions and abilities, and by their different characters, they discover different degrees of perfection.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine