Mediocrity is the quality or state of being mediocre. A mediocre is someone who is not very good at anything or someone who prefers to go with the crowd and settle for less. Rather than stand out from the crowd, dare to do something different and scale above being average.
You need to have higher standards and dreams if you want to become the person you need to be. You need to step out of your comfort zone so you can live a happy and fulfilling life.
We have compiled in this article, a collection of mediocrity quotes and sayings. May these quotes inspire you to not settle for a life of mediocrity but rather strive for greatness. Remember to share these quotes with your loved ones as well to encourage them not to settle for less.
80 Mediocrity Quotes & Sayings
“Don’t settle for mediocrity. Take a chance. Take a risk. Find that passion. Rekindle it. Fall in love all over again. It’s really worth it.” Brian Cranston
“Anyone in any walk of life who is content with mediocrity is untrue to himself.” George S. Patton Jr
“The only way to get out of mediocrity is to keep shooting for excellence.” Eric Thomas
“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.” Andre Carnegie
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” Albert Einstein
“If you want to earn a million bucks a year, eliminate mediocrity from your thinking and your life.” John Assaraf
“Stop letting your fear condemn you to mediocrity.” Dr Steve Maraboli
If any of you have a desire to be mediocre, you will probably find that you have already achieved your ambition. – Hugh B. Brown
Leaders set high standards. Refuse to tolerate mediocrity or poor performance.~~Brian Tracy
I can accept anything, except what seems to be the easiest for most people: the half-way, the almost, the just-about, the in-between.— Ayn Rand
“Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre.”― Albert Camus
“To be of good quality, you have to excuse yourself from the presence of shallow and callow minded individuals.”― Michael Bassey Johnson
If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.— George Carlin
“Don’t settle for mediocrity when you were created for greatness. Know who you are.” Anonymous
“Never surrender to the momentum of mediocrity.” Marlon Brando
“Something deep in the human heart breaks at the thought of a life of mediocrity.” C. S. Lewis
“The difference between mediocrity and excellence is often a matter of effort.” Diana Waring
“The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.” Maureen Dowd
“Some men throw their gifts away on a life of mediocrity, great men throw everything they have into their gifts and achieve a life of success.” Greg Werner
Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better. – Gordon B. Hinckley
“Creative people are often found either disagreeable or intimidating by mediocrities.”
― Criss Jami
― Criss Jami
Mediocrity is now, as formerly, dangerous, commonly fatal, to the poet; but among even the successful writers of prose, those who rise sensibly above it are the very rarest exceptions. William E. Gladstone
Mediocrity in poets has never been tolerated by either men, or gods, or booksellers.— Horace
When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity. Napoleon Bonaparte
“You will never see an eagle of distinction flying low with pigeons of mediocrity.” Onyi Anyado
“A life of mediocrity is a waste of life.” Colleen Hoover
“Mediocrity is the worst enemy of prosperity.” Henry Ford
“Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.” A. W. Tozer
In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous. – Robert G. Ingersoll
In our desire to please everyone, it’s very easy to end up being invisible or mediocre. – Seth Godin
Fame can take interesting men and thrust mediocrity upon them. David Bowie
There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, or second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet’s bombast!
Jean de la Bruyere
Jean de la Bruyere
There is a sacred horror about everything grand. It is easy to admire mediocrity and hills; but whatever is too lofty, a genius as well as a mountain, an assembly as well as a masterpiece, seen too near, is appalling. Victor Hugo
“Nobody rises above mediocrity unless they use the brains of other people.” Napoleon Hill
“Don’t waste your life. No one chooses mediocrity but many settle for it. Never settle.” Anonymous
“Passionately protest mediocrity.” Anonymous
“My life goal is to silence the voice in my head that screams out for mediocrity.” Anonymous
Step out of the crowd of average people. Enter that game and change the values on the scoreboard. – Israelmore Ayivor
Perseverance – a lowly virtue whereby mediocrity achieves an inglorious success. Ambrose Bierce
There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment. Norman Vincent Peale
The real Antichrist is he who turns the wine of an original idea into the water of mediocrity. Eric Hoffer
The only sin is mediocrity. Martha Graham
The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind. John Stuart Mill
“Once you have experienced excellence, you will never again be content with mediocrity.” Thomas S. Monson
“Be fearful of mediocrity.” Jonathan Elery
“Beware the mediocrity that threatens middle age, its limitations of thought and interest, it’s dullness of fancy, it’s too external life, and mental thinness.” Margaret Fuller
“Why is it that when a baby is born, we often refer to him or her ‘the miracle of life’ but then we accept mediocrity for our own lives? Where along the way did we lose sight of the miracle that WE are? Hal Elrod
Trying to be cool is the easiest path to mediocrity. – Terry Crews
Be great at what you do, and don’t ever settle for mediocrity or else you will always wonder how great you could have been.~~Debbi Fields
“You know you’ve reached a new plateau of group mediocrity when even a Canadian is alarmed by your lack of individuality.”― Sarah Vowell
I studied every thing but never topped…. But today the toppers of the best universities are my employees.— Bill Gates
I think there is probably no better person to aspire to emulate than Steve Jobs and what he has done at Apple in terms of his leadership, his innovation, not settling for mediocrity. Howard Schultz
My problem with unions is they breed mediocrity. Kevin O’Leary
“Only mediocrity escapes criticism.” John Steinbeck
“Being realistic is the most common path to mediocrity.” Will Smith
“Without enthusiasm, you are doomed to a life of mediocrity, but with it you can accomplish miracles.” Og Mandino
“Mediocrity is self-inflicted. Genius is self-bestowed.” Walter Russell
I just cannot take mediocrity. I just cannot take it on any level. Peter Sellers
In any area of human endeavour, there is going to be mediocrity. You’re going to find people who get money that they shouldn’t get. Bill Bryson
There is always a heavy demand for fresh mediocrity. In every generation the least cultivated taste has the largest appetite. Paul Gauguin
Our country is slowly but surely moving – and I’ve seen it over and over again in many instances in government – toward a culture of mediocrity. Elijah Cummings
“my academic career was indifferent to the point of beauty- I was so unremarkable, in every way, that the unvarying precision of my mediocrity achieves a kind of loveliness”― Mil Millington
“Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent easily recognizes genius.” Arthur Conan Doyle
“The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.” Colin Powell
“And they talked about the mediocrity of provincial life, so suffocating, so fatal to all noble dreams.” Gustave Flaubert
“Let your dreams be bigger than your fears, your actions louder than your words, and your faith stronger than your feelings.” Anonymous
“Mediocrity” doesn’t mean average intelligence, it means an average intelligence that resents and envies its betters. – Ayn Rand
A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one.
~Mary Kay Ash
~Mary Kay Ash
“It’s a disease. Nobody thinks or feels or cares any more; nobody gets excited or believes in anything except their own comfortable little God damn mediocrity.”― Richard Yates
The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.— Albert Einstein
“The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.” ~William Arthur Ward
“Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.” Fulton J. Sheen
“Don’t follow the crowd into a life of mediocrity. Take the road less traveled and live your dreams.” Unknown Author
“Push yourself to do more and to experience more. Harness your energy to start expanding your dreams. Yes, expand your dreams. Don’t accept a life of mediocrity when you hold such infinite potential within the fortress of your mind. Dare to tap into your greatness.” Robin Sharma
Don’t settle for mediocrity; never let good enough be good enough. – Joel Osteen
It’s a sign of mediocrity when you demonstrate gratitude with moderation.~~Roberto Benigni
The quickest way to kill the human spirit is to ask someone to do mediocre work.— Ayn Rand
Good behavior is the last refuge of mediocrity. – Henry S. Haskins
“Better for everyone that you do what you’re really good at and love to do than be yet another example of mediocrity.” John Williams
“You are born into genius. But have you resigned yourself to mediocrity?” Robin Sharma
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