James Stockdale Quotes

You've got to be before you can do and do before you can have.

I will do anything I can to improve myself.

For me, there is a lot of room for improvement and there are a lot of things I would like to be better at.

Where I am right now I'm pretty good at. You know, I understand that there's a problem. I'm addressing it. I'm doing the work that I have to do.

I have no expectations. I just want to better myself.

The desire for self-improvement is vital. There is no point in pushing children; they need to be the ones who want to learn new skills.

The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making any excuses, that's the day you start to the top.

My bad habits aren't my title. My strengths and my talent are my title.

Every year I try and challenge myself more and more, whether it be acting or everything I do. I just want to try and be better than the year before.

Just saying you are better than good won't make it so. But, when you understand what it takes to live the better than good life, and you apply yourself, your life will truly be better than good.

To come to be you must have a vision of Being, a Dream, a Purpose, a Principle. You will become what your vision is.

I want to be a better person in every aspect. I really don't feel I've in anyway fulfilled my potential in every area of my life. But I'm optimistic.

The best way to be, is to do.

For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?

Leadership is an intense journey into yourself. You can use your own style to get anything done. It's about being self-aware. Every morning, I look in the mirror and say, 'I could have done three things better yesterday.'

I'm actually improving.

True confidence is firmly planted in reality. To grow your confidence, it's important to do an honest and accurate self-assessment of your abilities. If there are weaknesses in your skill set, make plans for strengthening these skills and find ways to minimize their negative impact.

Life, is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

The thing is, we live in a contemporary world, and being able to make yourself the best person you can possible be can be difficult. But as long as you're trying to figure it out, and you're really looking in the right direction, everything's going to be all right.

To make real change, you have to be well anchored - not only in the belief that it can be done, but also in some pretty real ways about who you are and what you can do.

If I had one singular galvanizing ambition in life, I would try to reverse engineer toward it, but I don't.

I'm going to try to keep getting better.

One must be something in order to do something.

Being your best can only enhance your personal performance.