Quotes About Improvement

Samuel Beckett wrote, "Fail, fail again. Fail better.

Competitive edge in the industrial era was won by constantly reengineering process and systems. Today it's won by improving relationships.

If you say I'm great, thank you very much. But I know what I am. I could be better, man, you know?

rewriting is where good papers emerge.

It is modeling revision—taking a rough draft and moving it to a better place—that is critical if our students are to sharpen their writing skills.

Make good or make tracks.

Experience is another word for mistakes.

The most powerful method of improving education is to invest in the improvement of teaching and the status of great teachers.

Whatever your aptitudes, the greatest source of achievement is passion. Aptitude matters, but passion often matters more… If you love doing something, you'll be constantly drawn to get better at it.

Much of the cause of the teacher attrition rate is the condition under which many teachers work. "The data suggest that school staffing problems are rooted in the way schools are organized and the way the teaching occupation is treated and that lasting improvements in the quality and quantity of the teaching workforce will require improvements in the quality of the teaching job."39

Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say and do. Let me do right to all, and wrong no man.

Don't be afraid to give up the good for the great.

Do not be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

Change is not necessarily slow. A team eager or desperate for improvement can progress quickly. It doesn't need to wait long to assimilate one change before moving on to the next practice. If you change too fast, though, you risk slipping back into old practices and values. When this happens, take time to regroup. Remind yourself of the values you want to hold. Review your practices and remind yourself why you chose them. New habits take time to solidify.

To achieve this his team had a sophisticated stress testing environment. When they wanted to improve the architecture they would first improve the stress tests until the system broke. Then they would improve the architecture just enough to run the tests. I suggested this strategy to an architect at another company. He complained of spending all of his time writing specifications and then explaining them to developers.

I'm not a great programmer; I'm just a good programmer with great habits.

The XP philosophy is to start where you are now and move towards the ideal. From where you are now, could you improve a little bit?

I've sat through far too many "crying in the beer" sessions where all the energy for change was dissipated in the intensity of the complaining. Once you see an idea for improvement that makes sense to you, do it.

In software development, "perfect" is a verb, not an adjective. There is no perfect process. There is no perfect design. There are no perfect stories. You can, however, perfect your process, your design, and your stories.

No matter the circumstance you can always improve. You can always start improving with yourself. You can always start improving today.

When you stop growing you start dying.

Education is the one investment that means more for our future because it means the most for our children. Real improvement in our schools is not simply a matter of spending more: It's a matter of asking more--expecting more--of our schools, our teachers, of our kids, of our parents, and ourselves.

The most important competitiveness program of all is one which improves education in America. When some of our students actually have trouble locating America on a map of the world, it is time for us to map a new approach to education.

I am my own biggest critic ... I'm constantly criticizing myself, constantly trying to find ways to better myself and ... compete and, you know, just be the best.