Orison Swett Marden Quotes

When you write something it has to hit the level that you accept as being good.

I remember a very important lesson that my father gave me when I was twelve or thirteen. He said, "You know, today I welded a perfect seam and I signed my name to it." And I said, "But, Daddy, no one's going to see it!" And he said, "Yeah, but I know it's there." So when I was working in kitchens, I did good work.

Judge me on what I do and I think you will be pleased and proud of me.

Leaders get out in front and stay there by raising the standards by which they judge themselves - and by which they are willing to be judged.

I've got a life, you know, take me in the totality of my actions and I'll tell you, I will stand with my record.

I always said to myself that the minute I thought I'd slipped, and not be the player I wanted to be, it was time for me to go.

I never judge myself according to the expectations of others. I judge myself by the jobs I've been given over the years and by the extent to which I succeeded in those jobs.

Just make up your mind at the very outset that your work is going to stand for quality... that you are going to stamp a superior quality upon everything that goes out of your hands, that whatever you do shall bear the hallmark of excellence.

I do have high standards, but I don't expect anything from anyone that I don't expect from myself.

I criticize my own work pretty harshly.

Have I ever made a mistake? I am sure. Do I think I can stand on my record? I do.

Quality is easy to talk but hard to make.

If I feel that I'm not able to do my best work - whether that's my own fault or as a result of an editorial situation - then I need to stop doing it. I would rather not do something than do it badly or ineffectively. It's the only way I can live with myself and do right by the fans in the long haul.

I just figure if it has my name on it, and I want to make people feel good about wearing it, I can't pass it off.

I realized the only thing I owed my audience was my own judgment and my own best effort.

My opinions and principles are subjects of just criticism. I put myself before the public voluntarily.

The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.

I wouldn't put out anything that I didn't want to ride to.

I will always be my hardest critic. Nobody else will ever be able to come at something I do harder than I come at myself.

I have always believed in quality work.

I'm the greatest critic of my work.

I always grade myself hard.

Be honest to your work and do quality work.

I will only do something if it has credibility for me, and that includes the films I make, the TV shows I judge and ad-campaigns I sign up for.

I'm my own judge, and I hope my track record speaks to that.