Being ordinary people creating extraordinary things is no longer a consideration. Our desperate need to be perceived as something special surpasses our desire to do anything well. . . and so, we are so many extraordinary persons producing lowest common denominator nothings.- 27-03-08

We have taught our young to demand the same recognition of maturity, grace, acumen and artistry (for simply "being") that we once exclusively attributed to those who had spent years honing their skills, paying their dues and achieving a level of mastery unknown to most today. - 27-07-06

Most corporations with poor customer service are easily identifiable through:

• an evident lack of corporate-head listing - i.e.: few if any responsible people at the top are listed, identified or “contactable” from their web site pages or hard-copy documentation.
• any and all responses to comments or complaints - if they are ever forthcoming - are form letters - repeatedly used for any and all communications, no matter the issue.
• No responses ever deal with the issue at hand
• corporations in this category make it an almost total impossibility to speak to an actual live person.
• Answering machines always state the most blatant of corporate lies: "your business is important to us". and lastly:
• clients are always made to feel guilty or responsible for a product’s failure.

And. . . silly us, we keep on buying products from these companies. . . - 17-01-06

Excellence in the arts and professions is rare because everyone wants to be the journalist with the juiciest story instead of the journalist with the most telling story. - 10-10-04

Nature gives you what you need, nurture what you do with it. - 01

How sad it is that it has become acceptable to exclaim Excellent! Wonderful! Fantastic! Perfect! when in truth it isn’t. - 00

Things going too well often get in the way of doing things well. - 98

Perfection implies blindly following imposed rules whereas excellence pushes us to eagerly reach out beyond rigidity. - 96

Perfection demands comparisons, judgmental evaluations and, for it all to work, imposing those same standards on others. - 96

To find pleasure in the process of learning is to be awed by the wondrous possibilities of excellence . To be awed by perfection is to be morbidly fixated on death which is the only perfect solution to human inability to accept life's imperfections. - 95

The perfectionist knows nothing of excellence. The perfectionist never tries to become better. . . thinking he is already. - 95

An added feature to the already encouraging consequences of striving for excellence is the patience one gains in enduring perfectionists who can’t differentiate between perfection and excellence. - 93

Striving for excellence is a self-motivated; self-directed enterprise. - 90

A "degree" is a hurdle to the genius, A security blanket to the fool. - 89

Excellence is impossible when perfection is the goal. - 77