Victor Hugo

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.

French Author

Hank Ketcham

Anyone in the humor business isn't thinking clearly if he doesn't surround himself with idea people. Otherwise, you settle for mediocrity - or you burn yourself out.

American Cartoonist

Robert Louis Stevenson

Most of our pocket wisdom is conceived for the use of mediocre people, to discourage them from ambitious attempts, and generally console them in their mediocrity.

Scottish Writer

Ernst Lubitsch

I sometimes make pictures which are not up to my standard, but then it can only be said of a mediocrity that all his work is up to his standard.

German Director

John W. Thompson

I'm an intensely competitive guy who is driven by the idea that accepting mediocrity or accepting defeat is not the way you succeed in life.

American Businessman

Andrew Carnegie

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.

Scottish Businessman

Oscar Wilde

Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.

Irish Poet

Anne Rice

The world doesn't need any more mediocrity or hedged bets.

American Novelist

Thomas Carlyle

The world is a republic of mediocrities, and always was.

Scottish Philosopher

Benjamin Disraeli

Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.

British Statesman

Using 'mediocrity' implies disappointment or lack of excellence.

Negative Connotation

'Mediocrity' suggests being in the middle, not being the worst possible.

Not The Worst

In some cultures, 'mediocrity' is a harsh criticism for not striving to improve.

Cultural Humility

When a person admits to their own 'mediocrity', it shows humility.

Self-Reflection

'Mediocrity' can be neutral, describing an ordinary level without criticism.

Not Always Negative

Using 'mediocrity' too often might suggest a critical or negative worldview.

Avoid Overuse

 all the queries right the people want to be their best put their best foot forward but it turns out in the 18th century before we didn't really care about that at all they didn't want to be their best they want to be their best so what happens is of course this is just a mistake right it's not that they strive for mediocrity is just that the earth used to be written differently well kind

What we learned from 5...

 and this is really the best of all the queries. So people want to be their best, put their best foot forward. But it turns out in the 18th century, people didn't really care about that at all. They didn't want to be their best, they wanted to be their beft. So what happened is, of course, this is just a mistake. It's not that strove for mediocrity,

 there are nasty bits and nice bits and we could make the nice bits bigger and the nasty bits smaller and that gives us a kind of purpose in life. The universe is absurd, but we can still construct a purpose, and that's a pretty good one, and the overall mediocrity of reality

Why does the universe...

 I think this is mostly what we do. Our creativity comes from without, not from within. We are not self-made. We are dependent on one another, and admitting this to ourselves isn't an embrace of mediocrity and derivativeness. It's a liberation from our misconceptions,

Creativity is a remix PIPE...

 where performance is poor and there are large social disparities. And then we can debate, you know, is it better to be there, where performance is strong at the price of large disparities? Or do we want to focus on equity and accept mediocrity?

Andreas Schleicher: Use...

 who treats life as a game, and you become a cold, calculating creature who slips into a sort of mediocrity where you realize there's a difference between your desired self and your actual self. You're not earning the sort of eulogy you want,

David Brooks: Should you...

 within we are not self-made we are dependent on one another and omitting this to ourselves isn't an embrace of mediocrity and derivative miss it's a liberation from our misconceptions and it's an incentive to not expect so much from

Embrace the remix -...

 We don't trust the judgment of teachers enough to let them loose on their own. Scripts like these are insurance policies against disaster. And they prevent disaster. But what they assure in its place is mediocrity.

Barry Schwartz: Our loss...

 it will always be ugly or dull. Bridges -- beauty enriches life. Doesn't it? It enhances our well-being. Ugliness and mediocrity does exactly the opposite.

Bridges should be...

 I'm not doing this for praise. I write the code that fits the world today. Big mediocrity in every way. We've entered planet domination mode.