Top 40 Price Pritchett Quotes
#1. Who is this vague "they" we blame for so many of our problems? "They" is the obscure party we use as our whipping boy to camouflage the fact that we - you and I and other specific human beings just like us - have to start doing things differently. "They" can't fix anything. We can.
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#2. So let your deepest desires direct your aim. Set your sights far above the 'reasonable' target. The power of purpose is profound only if you have a desire that stirs the heart.
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#3. Excellence calls for character ... integrity ... fairness ... honesty ... a determination to do what's right. High ethical standards, across the board.
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#4. The only way we can develop muscle is through regular exercise. As soon as we stop stretching and working toward higher ethics, our standards start to sag. The muscle gets soft, and instead of excellence we have to settle for mediocrity. Maybe something even worse.
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#5. The world behaves differently when I take action to go after what I want.
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#6. Your ethical muscle grows stronger every time you choose right over wrong.
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#7. We've got to start thinking of school as a lifelong process. That's the only way we'll keep abreast and be able to share in the wealth of the new "knowledge society."
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#8. If you're experiencing no anxiety or discomfort, the risk you're taking probably isn't worthy of you. The only risks that aren't a little scary are the ones you've outgrown.
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#9. Notice that "I" is at the center of the word "ethical." There is no "they." Achieving the ethics of excellence is our individual assignment.
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#10. You have to get beyond blaming others ... give up your excuses ... stand responsible for what you do ... ultimately, ethics ends up an individual exercise.
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#11. Most people confuse wishing and wanting with pursuing. You must place your trust in action.
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#12. You can't put someone else in charge of your morals. Ethics is a personal discipline.
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#13. The ethics of excellence requires a sense of perspective. Look at the big picture. If you live for the moment you might mortgage the future? What happens if you put your reputation at risk and lose the bet?
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#14. Eventually we have to "settle up" and pay the price for our ethical violations. Just remember the old line that says, "You can pay me now ... or you can pay me later." Often you can buy some time, but when you "pay later" you'll probably have to pay more.
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#15. How can we be trusted with big things if we're not trustworthy with things that are small? Don't allow your finer instincts to become a casualty of the little everyday crimes of ethical compromise.
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#16. If you're unwilling to defer pleasure or endure some "pain" for now, are you likely to end up later deep in the hole?
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#17. Give people, including yourself, clear permission to make mistakes ... and to fix the problems. Since nobody's perfect, mistakes should be allowed. Cover-ups shouldn't. Cover-ups create twice the trouble.
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#19. We can't win the struggle for high standards if we just talk a good game ... we've got to play a good game.
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#20. Too much attention on problems kills our faith in possibilities.
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#21. Optimism inspires, energizes, and brings out our best. It points the mind toward possibilities and helps us think creatively past problems.
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#22. As consumers we get more demanding all the time. We want better quality. We want it faster. And cheaper. Plus, we want more choices. Whoever comes along that can satisfy all these 'wants' gets our business.
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#23. We need timeless principles to steer by in running our organizations and building our personal careers. We need high standards
the ethics of excellence.
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#24. The ethics of excellence are grounded in action - what you actually do, rather than what you say you believe. Talk, as the saying goes, is cheap.
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#25. If you become a giver, you'll make them feel like they want to reciprocate.
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#26. Ethical dilemmas have a way of sneaking up on a person. If something smells funny, stay away from it. Or help get rid of it.
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#27. Live according to the ethics of excellence, and you can always stand proud. Pride - not vanity, but dignity and self-respect - should carry a lot of weight in helping you make decisions. Let pride help you decide.
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#29. Until I test the limits to what I can achieve, I won't really know how well I can do.
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#31. In these times of self-directed teams, empowered employees, and "boundaryless" organizations, your worth as an individual employee will also get measured by your work group's collective results.
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#32. When you see people with "the right stuff," those who choose the right over the wrong or the "iffy," let them know you're proud of them. Encourage the courageous, so they'll have the will to carry on.
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#33. But when we get enough people who don't care, and who don't accept personal responsibility for high ethical standards, our organization gets the "M" disease. Mediocrity. Anybody in the place can be a carrier. By the same token, every individual can carry the cure: the ethics of excellence.
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#34. High personal standards aren't enough for organizational excellence. You've got to be intolerant of low standards in others ... If you accommodate questionable practices in others who touch your organization, you risk soiling its reputation. Anybody whose hands aren't clean can get the place dirty.
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#35. Everybody makes honest mistakes, but there's no such thing as an honest cover-up.
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#36. As tough as it sometimes looks on the front end, it's easier to do right than undo wrong.
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#37. Narrow life down to what's precious and necessary. In a world of complexity the best weapon is simplicity.
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#38. Optimism is a much more enabling mindset than hard-core realism, and it's far superior to pessimism ... [because] Hope helps move us in the direction of our goals and ambitions.
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#39. You carve out the organization's character through your daily choices. You shape its conscience as you exercise your own.
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#40. When you can make it this simple, though, just do the right thing. Even if you could get away with less. Even when other people are doing the wrong thing. Even though the wrong thing seems like no big deal.
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