“The time that people aren't expecting what's going to happen, I find that's the best time to really cause the damage that needs to be done.”
What does it mean to be the best? These quotes tackle excellence, personal bests, peak performance, and the drive to push past good enough. Some are about competition, others about the quieter pursuit of doing your finest work when nobody is watching.
“I believe that I often bring out the best in somebody's talents.”
“The time that people aren't expecting what's going to happen, I find that's the best time to really cause the damage that needs to be done.”
“What we call wisdom is the result of all the wisdom of past ages. Our best institutions are like young trees growing upon the roots of the old trunks that have crumbled away.”
“We are all of us failures, at least, the best of us are.”
“The best doctor is the one you run to and can't find.”
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
“I've always believed that there are funny people everywhere, but they're just not comedians. In fact, some of my best comedic inspirations were not professional entertainers.”
“You and I are stuck with the necessity of taking the worst of two evils or none at all. So-I'm taking the immature Democrat as the best of the two. Nixon is impossible.”
“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
“We Americans are the best informed people on earth as to the events of the last twenty-four hours we are the not the best informed as the events of the last sixty centuries.”
“At best the family teaches the finest things human beings can learn from one another generosity and love. But it is also, all too often, where we learn nasty things like hate, rage and shame.”
“Best to live lightly, unthinkingly.”
“I was raised not to be rude, but I also try to get the best work out of people.”
“Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first.”
“I think if you give your best as a parent, then that's all you can do.”
“I marvel at the resilience of the Jewish people. Their best characteristic is their desire to remember. No other people has such an obsession with memory.”