Quotes About Improvement

You are not "saving" when you prevent yourself from becoming more productive.

Put brains into the method, and more brains, and still more brains—do things better than ever before; and by this means all parties to business are served and benefited. And all of this can always be done.

The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.

There is no difficulty in discovering what makes those people poor. They have no right to anything that nature gives them. All they can make above a living they must pay to the landlord. They not only have to pay for the land that they use, but they have to pay for the seaweed that comes ashore and for the turf they dig from the bogs. They dare not improve, for any improvements they make are made an excuse for putting up the rent.

To ascertain the effects of material progress upon the distribution of wealth, let us, therefore, consider the effects of increase of population apart from improvement in the arts, and then the effect of improvement in the arts apart from increase of population.

a thing is not property unless it is owned; and without ownership, there is little incentive to improve it.

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.

Some positive persisting fops we know, Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so; But you, with pleasure own your errors past, And make each day a critic on the last. —Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

I published in 1978 a report on dreams in the Journal of Clinical Psychology. It was the first study of its kind to demonstrate that it is possible for people to make constructive use of their dreams to improve their lives.

We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.

He felt himself, and did not want to be anyone else. All he wanted now was to be better than before.

The social conditions of life can only be improved by people exercising self-restraint.

No, you're not going to get away from us, and you're not going to be different, you're going to be the same as you've always been; with doubts, ever lasting dissatisfaction with yourself, vain efforts to improve, and failures, and continual expectations of happiness that has eluded you and that isn't possible for you.

A better life can only come when the consciousness of men is altered for the better; and therefore, those who wish to improve life must direct all their efforts towards changing both their own and other people's consciousness.

If you see that some aspect of your society is bad, and you want to improve it, there is only one way to do so: you have to improve people. And in order to improve people, you begin with only one thing: you can become better yourself

This is tantamount to saying, "My hand is weak. I cannot draw a straight line,—that is, a line which will be the shortest line between two given points,—and so, in order to make it more easy for myself, I, intending to draw a straight, will choose for my model a crooked line." The weaker my hand, the greater the need that my model should be perfect.

The man who is at a lower level but is moving onward toward perfection is living a more moral, a better life, is more fully carrying out Christ's teaching, than the man on a much higher level of morality who is not moving onward toward perfection.

Our life's improvement and our fight against evil can begin only with the spiritual development of each individual.

He felt himself and did not want to be anyone else. All he wanted now was to be better than he had been before.

The more people believe that others can improve their lives, the slower any improvement will occur.

Happiness consists in always aspiring perfection, the pause in any level in perfection is the pause of happiness

The 9/11 Commission recently released their report, citing important changes which need to be made to improve our nation's homeland security. I voiced my disappointment with the House leadership when this report was left until after the August recess for action.

What if you're practicing wrong? Then you get very good at doing something wrong.

Dr. Victor Trastek, CEO of Mayo Arizona, continually reinforces the principle of "teach, don't blame." When something goes wrong, when a mistake occurs, it should be viewed as a teachable moment, an opportunity to get better. Does constructive teaching always supplant blaming? No. However, Dr. Trastek is relentless in articulating a principle that strengthens self-confidence and self-esteem, which paves the way for true collaboration.