Thursday 31 March 2011

Quotes about Excellence

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training


Be the best. If others don’t see it, who cares?
Oprah Winfrey, US talk show host, actress (b. 1954)


Oprah Winfrey

You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.
Jerry Garcia, US rock musician (1942-1995)

It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.
Titus Livy, Roman historian (59 BC – 17 AD)

Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty, it is its own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist leader (1869-1948)

Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best.
John C Maxwell, US clergyman, author (b. 1947)

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavour.
Vince Lombardi, US football coach (1913-1970)

The society that scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because philosophy is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.
John Gardner, US writer, educator (1933-1982)

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralising.
Harriet Braiker, US psychologist, management consultant (1948-2004)

Demand perfection of yourself and you’ll seldom attain it. Fear of making a mistake is the biggest single cause of making one. Relax – pursue excellence, not perfection.
Bud Winter, US sprint coach (1909-1985)

If you don’t do it excellently, don’t do it at all. Because if it’s not excellent, it won’t be profitable or fun, and if you’re not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing there?
Robert Townsend, US author, businessman (1920-1988)

Wednesday 30 March 2011

Quotes about Environment

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.


It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.
Dan Quayle, US Vice President (1918-1996)

Dan Quayle


Any fine morning a power saw can fell a tree that took a thousand years to grow.
Edwin Way Teale, US naturalist, photographer (1899-1980)

We do not inherit this land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.
Haida Indian saying

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
Greek proverb

The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts life.
William James, US philosopher, psychologist (1842-1910)

Tuesday 29 March 2011

Quotes about Enthusiasm

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.

The real secret of success is enthusiasm.
Walter Chrysler, US businessman, founder of Chrysler Corporation (1875-1940)

If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.
Bruce Barton, US author, advertising executive (1886-1967)

Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.
Gordon Parks, US film director, photographer, author (1912-2006)

You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. With it, there is accomplishment. Without it there are only alibis.
Henry Ford, US automobile manufacturer, engineer (1863-1947)

A man can succeed at almost everything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.
Charles Schwab, US industrialist (1862-1939)

Flaming enthusiasm, backed by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.
Dale Carnegie, US lecturer, author (1888-1955)

You can’t sweep people off their feet if you can’t be swept off your own.
Clarence Day, US author (1874-1935)

Leadership is leaving zest in your wake.
Tom Peters, US management author, presenter (b. 1942)

Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.
Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister (1804-1881)

Benjamin Disraeli

The man who feels no enthusiasm for his work will never accomplish anything worthwhile.
William Cornelius Van Horne, Canadian railway magnate (1843-1915)

No person who is enthusiastic about his work has anything to fear from life.
Samuel Goldwyn, Polish/US film producer (1882-1974)

Every great and commanding moment in the annals of the world is the triumph of somebody’s enthusiasm.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, US essayist, poet (1803-1882)

There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.
Norman Vincent Peale, US author, clergyman (1898-1993)

One man has enthusiasm for thirty minutes, another for thirty days, but it is the man who has it for thirty years who makes a success of life.
Edward Burgess Butler, US retail businessman (1853-1928)

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.
Helen Keller, US writer, lecturer (1880-1968)

The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.
Robert Frost, US poet (1874-1963)

If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.
Vince Lombardi, US football coach (1913-1970)

What America needs is more young people who will carry to their jobs the same enthusiasm for getting ahead that they display in traffic.
M A Kelly

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
Charles Kingsley, British clergyman, author (1819-1879)

Monday 28 March 2011

Quotes about Encouragement

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.

If you would lift me you must be on higher ground.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, US essayist, poet (1803-1882)

Those who are lifting the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than criticise.
Elizabeth Harrison, US educator (1849-1927)

Material things aside, we need no advice but approval.
Coco Chanel, French fashion designer (1883-1971)

Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, letter-writer (1749-1832)

Goethe


There is no such thing as ‘self-made’ man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.
George Matthew Adams, US newspaper magnate (1878-1962)

Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticise me and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.
William Arthur Ward, US academic, author (1921-1994)

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, US author (1835-1910)

Sunday 27 March 2011

Quotes about Empowerment

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.

Almost every organisation I have ever worked with claims to place a high value on empowerment. Almost none really means it.
Will Schutz, US psychologist, author (1925-2002)

A leader must not only be willing to give opportunity to others, but must be in the business of creating opportunity for others.
William Terrell Hodges, US federal judge (b. 1934)

Don’t tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
George S Patton, US general (1885-1945)

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere.
Ronald Reagan, US President, actor (1911-2004)

Ronald Reagan

You cannot mandate productivity, you must provide the tools to let people become their best.
Steve Jobs, US executive, co-founder of Apple Computer Inc (b. 1955)

The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants them to do, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
Theodore Roosevelt, US President (1858-1919)

Here lies a man who knew how to enlist the service of better men than himself.
Tombstone of Andrew Carnegie, British industrialist, philanthropist (1835-1919)

The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the point that they surpass him or her in knowldege and ability.
Fred A Manske Jr, US management author

The ultimate motivational empowerment question: Could you show me how to do that?
David Firth, British management author (b. 1949)

Proper leadership empowers the workforce. An empowered workforce means one that’s committed, that feels they’re learning, that they’re competent. They have a sense of human bond, a sense of community, a sense of meaning in their work.
Warren Bennis, US academic, management author (b. 1925)

As the walls come down, we can master change by sharing a common set of goals and purposes, by giving people the data they need so they can guide and direct their own actions.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, US academic, management author (b. 1943)

Participation is not empowerment.
Daniel Quinn Mills, US academic management author (b. 1941)

Saturday 26 March 2011

Quotes about Education

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.

If you give a man a fish, he will have a single meal. If you teach him how to fish, he will eat all his life.
Guan Zhong, Chinese politician, statesman (720-645 BC)

If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.
Chinese proverb

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X, US civil rights activist (1926-1965)

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela, South African statesman (b. 1918)

Nelson Mandela

Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
Will Rogers, US actor, humorist (1879-1935)

If you think education is expensive – try ignorance.
Derek Bok, US lawyer, educator (b. 1930)

Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.
Henry Peter Brougham, Scottish jurist, politician (1778-1868)

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Aristotle, Greek philosopher, scientist, physician (384-322 BC)

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
Albert Einstein, German physicist (1879-1955)

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.
Albert Einstein, German physicist (1879-1955)

What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, essayist (1856-1950)

When a subject becomes totally obsolete we make it a required course.
Peter Drucker, US management author (1909-2005)

Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune.
Jim Rohn, US motivational speaker, author (1930-2009)

Learning you get from school. Education you get from life.
Mark Twain, US author (1835-1910)

Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second more personal and important, from himself.
Edward Gibbon, British historian (1737-1749)

He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.
Ben Jonson, English dramatist, poet (1572-1637)

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feeling.
Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist, analytical psychologist (1876-1961)

A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops.
Henry Adams, US historian (1838-1918)

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
William Ward, British author, theologian (1812-1882)

Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don’t know, and be imbued by a lifetime desire to know it.
William Haley, British editor, Director General of the BBC (1901-1987)

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.
Chinese proverb

Everybody should have an equal chance – but all should have a flying start.
Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister (1916-1995)

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
H G Wells, British author, journalist (1866-1946)

We have to abandon the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a mans knows at twenty are no longer true at forty – and half the things he knows at forty hadn’t been discovered when he was twenty?
Arthur C Clarke, British author (1917-2008)

Education can no longer be confined to the schools. Every employing institution has to become a teacher.
Peter Drucker, US management author (1909-2005)

The entire object of true education is to make people not merely do the right thing, but to enjoy right things; not merely industrious, but to love industry; not merely learned, but to love knowledge.
John Ruskin, British writer, art critic (1819-1900)

A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately they don’t have a J.O.B.
‘Fats’ Domino, US singer, pianist, composer (b. 1928)

Friday 25 March 2011

Quotes about Dreams

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.

Everything starts as somebody’s daydream.
Larry Niven, US science fiction author (b. 1938)

You see things and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’
George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, essayist (1856-1950)

I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star.’ But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.
Marilyn Monroe, US actress (1926-1962)


Marilyn Monroe

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Thomas Jefferson, US President (1741-1826)

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt, US United Nations delegate (1884-1962)

If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney, US artist, film producer (1901-1966)

It may be those who dream most do most.
Stephen Leacock, British-born Canadian humorist (1869-1944)

Our life is composed greatly of dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together.
Anais Nin, US author (1903-1977)

Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.
John Updike, US author (1932-2009)

We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter’s evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them, nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.
Woodrow Wilson, US President (1856-1924)

Rose-coloured glasses are never made in bifocals. Nobody wants to read the small print in dreams.
Eppie Lederer, known as Ann Landers, US advice columnist (1918-2002)

Dare to be wrong and to dream.
Friedrich von Schiller, German dramatist, poet (1759-1805)

Those who dream by day are cognisant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
Edgar Allan Poe, US poet, novelist (1809-1849)

Dreamers exist to keep the dreams alive until the non-dreamers are ready to dream.
Pierre LeClerc, French management consultant

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau, US essayist, poet (1817-1862)

The things that haven’t been done before,
Those are the things to try;
Columbus dreamed of an unknown shore,
At the rim of the far-flung sky.
Edgar Albert Guest, US poet (1881-1959)

It isn’t a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.
Benjamin Elijah Mays, US clergyman, author (1895-1984)

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realised, than lord among those without dreams and desires.
Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese philosopher, author, poet (1883-1931)

Thursday 24 March 2011

'Regret' reaches ABNA quarter final

Last year my thriller novel 11:59 reached the semi-final stage of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and was subsequently published by Wild Wolf.

This year I thought I would try my luck again with my newly-cmpleted ms of a historical novel about the railway pioneers George and Robert Stephenson, Mr Stephenson's Regret. I have just discovered that I have so far reached the quarter final stage of the 2011 Award, with the semi-finalists to be announced on 26 April.

At this stage an opening extract from the novel is read and commented upon by two specially-selected and independent ABNA reviewers. This is what the reviewers had to say about my extract.
ABNA Expert Reviewer 1
What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?
Interesting historical fare...well composed prose with imaginative descriptions, punchy verbs, believable characters, respect to time and place. The story flowed with authentic dialogue. I wanted more; I will read this if it is published. Historical fiction is a weighty endeavor as the author has to employ such lengthy research. This author has done the work as well as honing writing skills that are delightful to read.
What aspect needs the most work?
There are grammatical and punctuation mistakes, but too few to mention. They will be picked up by copy editors.
What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?
A fine historical drama highlighting the onset of the railway system in 1800's London. Strongly written characters, flawed and likeable alike, carry the plot, while inventive descriptive words, assorted verbs, and similes dance us through the pages. 
 
Very well written. Interesting conception. I wish you all the best. If published, I will purchase this book as I am interested in what is happening. 
 
Good luck. You deserve many accolades for this fine offering.
ABNA Expert Reviewer 2
What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?
The scene between Robert and Mr Robinson is very well done. Nice!
What aspect needs the most work?
What I have seen so far is well written.
What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?
This is nicely done. It's very evocative of the time period, the settings are very vivid and the characters well drawn. Very well written!


ABNA have now made the quarter final extracts available for general review. It would be really helpful to have reviews of my extract on site, so if you have time please visit, read and review. My category is Historical Fiction and my extract from 'Mr Stephenson's Regret' is no. 40. There is rather a long-winded link below which should take you direct to the Kindle download link. Many thanks.

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Stephensons-Regret-ebook/dp/B004TEYSXS/ref=br_lf_m_1000669141_2_40_ttl?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&pf_rd_p=1291986942&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000669141&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1SDTH0AR7YEPPNQ8299G

I have reprinted below the extract from Mr Stephenson's Regret that was submitted for the award. If you like, you could read the extract here and leave your review at the site above. Whichever way you go, I appreciate your time on this. 

Quotes about Doubt

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.

The only limit to our realisation of tomorrow will be the doubts of today.
Franklin D Roosevelt, US President (1882-1945)

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
François-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, French philosopher (1694-1778)

Voltaire

I love to doubt as well as know.
Durante degli Alighieri, known as Dante, Italian poet (1265-1321)

Tell people there are more than 300,000 billion stars in the universe and they will believe you without question. Tell them a porch railing has wet paint on it and they have to touch it to make sure.
Jaeger

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
René Descartes, French philosopher (1596-1650)

Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
William Shakespeare, English playwright, poet (1564-1616)

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Quotes about Discovery

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.


The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust, French author (1871-1922)

Marcel Proust


It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover.
Henri Poincare, French mathematician (1854-1912)

No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.
Isaac Newton, British physicist, mathematician (1642-1727)

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi, US biochemist (1893-1986)

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
A A Milne, British author (1882-1956)

The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.
Arthur Koestler, British author (1905-1983)

It will come unexpectedly from the depths of tortured silence in a shot of sudden exhilaration – that Eureka moment.
David Williams, British management author, presenter (b. 1950)

The only way round is through.
Robert Frost, US poet (1874-1963)

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.
Daniel J Boorstin, US media author, historian (1914-2004)

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Quotes about Customers

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.


It is not the employer who pays your wages. Employers only handle money. It is the customer who pays your wages.
Henry Ford, US automobile manufacturer, engineer (1863-1947)

Companies can’t give job security, only customers can.
Jack Welch, US executive, utility chief (b. 1935)

Consumers are statistics. Customers are people.
Stanley Marcus, US retail executive (1905-2002)

To please people is a great step towards persuading them.
Philip Dormer Stanhope, British statesman (1694-1774)

In the age of email, supercomputer power on the desktop, the Internet, and the raucous global village, attentiveness – a token of human kindness – is the greatest gift we can give someone.
Tom Peters, US management author, presenter (b. 1942)

It is not your client’s or prospect’s job to remember you. It is your responsibility to make sure that they do not have the chance to forget you.
Patricia Fripp, British/US management consultant, speech coach (b. 1945)

No matter what strategy leaders inside the organisation devise, what customers see is at the front line.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, US academic, management author (b. 1943)

The customer is a rear-view mirror, not a guide to the future.
George Colony, US research head

Don’t just ask what your customers want. Think ahead of them, and create what they didn’t know they wanted.
David Williams, British management author, presenter (b. 1950)

Good will, like a good name, is got by many actions and lost by one.
Francis Jeffrey, British literary critic, judge (1773-1850)

An untreated complaint is like an untreated wound; it festers and gets worse.
Geoff Burch, British management author, presenter (b. 1951)

Geoff Burch


The next time you face a customer who has every right to be upset, say something like this: ‘I don’t blame you for feeling as you do. If I were you, I’d feel exactly the same way. What would you like me to do?’ These are magical, healing words, and you’ll be surprised how reasonable people become when they believe you are on their side.
H Jackson Brown Jr, US author, moralist (b. 1940)

Your customer has one fundamental reason for doing business with you; so that he himself can do more business.
David Bland

Monday 21 March 2011

Quotes about Curiosity

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.

When a finger points at the moon the imbecile looks at the finger.
Zen koan

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.
Samuel Johnson, British poet, critic, lexicographer (1709-1784)

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.
Albert Einstein, German physicist (1979-1955)

I roamed the countryside searching for the answers to things I did not understand. Why shells existed on the tops of mountains along with the imprints of coral and plant and seaweed usually found in the sea. Why the thunder lasts a longer time than that which causes it and why immediately on its creation the lightning becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel. How the various circles of water form around the spot which has been struck by a stone and why a bird sustains itself in the air. These questions and other strange phenomena engaged my thought throughout my life.
Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, architect, engineer (1452-1519)

Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.
Augustine, Latin scholar, high priest (354-430 AD)

We keep moving forward, opening up new doors, and doing new things, because we are curious – and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
Walt Disney, US artist, film producer (1901-1966)

Change pace. Go to work next Thursday and declare it a miniature golf day. Showing a training film this afternoon? Order popcorn for every participant. Curiosity has a lot to do with looking at the world through slightly cockeyed glasses.
Tom Peters, US management author, presenter (b. 1942)

Tom Peters

I like to think that I walk through life with my eyebrows continually raised.
Warren Bennis, US academic, management author (b. 1925)

Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.
William Ward, British author, theologian (1812-1882)

Complacency is the enemy of curiosity.
Charles Handy, Irish management consultant, author (b. 1924)

Sunday 20 March 2011

Quotes about Criticism

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.

To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood.
George Santayana, US philosopher, poet (1863-1952)

Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, a stranger.
Franklin P Jones, US journalist, humorist (1908-1980)

I can take any amount of criticism, so long as it is unqualified praise.
Noel Coward, British actor, playwright, composer (1899-1973)

We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
Denis Diderot, French philosopher (1713-1784)

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Albert Einstein, German physicist (1879-1955)

Too many of us take pleasure in discouraging people by pointing out their mistakes and getting excited about their failures rather than focusing on their strengths and getting excited about their possibilities.
John C Maxwell, US clergyman, author (b. 1947)

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.


People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives.
J Michael Straczynski, US science fiction writer, producer (b. 1954)

Evaluation of performance, merit rating, or annual review nourishes short-term performance, annihilates long-term planning, builds fear, demolishes teamwork, nourishes rivalry and politics. It leaves people bitter, crushed, battered, desolate, despondent, rejected, feeling inferior, some even depressed, unfit for work for weeks after receipt of rating, unable to comprehend why they are inferior.
W Edwards Deming, US statistician, author (1900-1993)

Don’t find fault, find a remedy.
Henry Ford, US automobile manufacturer, engineer (1863-1947)