Attaining Perfection Quotes

And you will, by the dignity of your Conduct, afford occasion for Posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to Mankind, had this day been wanting, the World had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining. ~ George Washington

You won't get perfect by beating yourself up; you'll only get dented. ~ TemitOpe Ibrahim

Without a doubt, one of the things which keeps us from attaining perfection is our tongue. When one has reached the point of no longer committing faults in speech, he has surely reached perfection, as was said by the Holy Spirit. The worst defect in talking is talking too much. Hence, in speech be brief and virtuous, brief and gentle, brief and simple, brief and charitable, brief and amiable. ~ Saint Francis De Sales

I do not like the Broadway theatre because it does not know how to say hello. The tone of voice is false, the mannerisms are false, the sex is false, ideal, the Hollywood world of perfection, the clean image, the well pressed clothes, the well scrubbed anus, odorless, inhuman, of the Hollywood actor, the Broadway star. And the terrible false dirt of Broadway, the lower depths in which the dirt is imitated, inaccurate. ~ Julian Beck

Too often we sit back and speak platitudes of the nitty-gritty bits of writing; the editing, the story structure, the verbal sparring vs. banter, the character development, the world-building become more important to us than the tune rhythm of the tale. And when you lose the music of the story, all the footwork in the world is not going to make up for the loss of continuity and heart.
We need to take a step back in our souls and conjure the image of what this story is: the notes and beats and things woven into it's fullness. See, that's what is so easy to lose sight of as we write. We forget that, in a way, this story is a full story in itself. We tend to try to build the story piece by piece, line upon line, precept upon precept, but that--as any true writer knows--is not entirely practical. A story does have its own identity. To some extent, the story exists in your mind as a whole. Its own being. To chance sounding sappy: Your story is a full piece of music waiting for you to dance it into existence. Don't make the mistake of leaving out all the music.
It is tempting to want to have everything arranged to perfection so that little editing will be done. But if you are keeping in mind the way your story needs to run--feeling it and dwelling in the beauty of its passion and color and vibe--the footwork will take care of itself. Certainly it will require practice and your technicalities will need a little work--everyone's does. But you will have captured the essenc ~ Rachel Heffington

'Secretariat' was such a magnificent animal, unbelievably beautiful and powerful. It's always nice to see something that close to perfection, a reason to celebrate. ~ John Malkovich

I've always been amazed that asteroids can fly in groups for millions of years and never touch each other or connect. They are dead rock so they find their perfect orbit and stick to it. We also wanna find that place of perfection but we're not asteroids, we change and that's the problem. The more you try to create a paradise the more you will resent the prison and all you're left is dreams of a future that never happened.' ~ René Wagner Ash/Kanwulf

The spiritual and the physical had been blended in us with a perfection that must remain incomprehensible to the matter-of-fact, crude, standard-brained youngsters of today.
Long after her death I felt her thoughts floating through mine.
Long before we met we had had the same dreams. ~ Vladimir Nabokov

What is perfect, anyway? The absence of perfection and the existence of human nature in place of something we want to do or we don't want to do, is an excuse, not an exoneration. ~ Allie Burke

If the love object is divine perfection, then one's own self is elevated by joining one's destiny to it ... All our guilt, fear, and even our mortality itself can be purged in a perfect consummation with perfection itself. ~ Ernest Becker

Our perfection certainly consists in knowing God and ourselves. ~ Angela Of Foligno

It is equally impossible to forget our Friends, and to make them answer to our ideal. When they say farewell, then indeed we beginto keep them company. How often we find ourselves turning our backs on our actual Friends, that we may go and meet their ideal cousins. ~ Henry David Thoreau

She smiled brightly, and the sum of their entire relationship could be condensed into that exchange: two actors playing their parts to perfection. Sad that it took so long for him to finally see that. ~ Alessandra Torre

Perfection is an illusion. Yet perfectionists demand it from others while being far from flawless themselves. The margin of error of the human condition is often our greatest area of excellence and discovery. ~ Stewart Stafford

For each of them, the most important thing in living was to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most loved to do ... ~ Richard Bach

What we call our joy, God calls our perfection. Each human being has come into the world with the message of perfection. Each human being will one day realize the highest Truth. Each human being is destined to be fulfilled. It is the birthright of our soul. ~ Sri Chinmoy

It's not worth it!
It's not workin'!
You wanted it to be picture perfect! ~ Thousand Foot Krutch

Where imperfection ceaseth, heaven begins. ~ Philip James Bailey

Church is a gathering of nobodies to worship the only real Somebody: Christ, our Head. The King of creation, raised from the dead, seated with the Father, Commander of heaven, exercising complete authority over all time and space, perfect in His justice, infinite in His mercy, holy in His perfection, the only perfect Somebody who died for nobodies like you and me. ~ Charles R. Swindoll

you are boys, your God is a woman. If you are women, your God is a boy. If you are men, your God is a maiden. The God is where you are not. So: it is wise that one has a God; this serves for your perfection. A maiden is the pregnant future. A boy is the engendering future. A woman is: having given birth. A man is: having engendered. ~ C. G. Jung

Patience is a process of perfection. The Savior Himself said that in your patience you possess your souls. Or, to use another translation of the Greek text, in your patience you win mastery of your souls. Patience means to abide in faith, knowing that sometimes it is in the waiting rather than in the receiving that we grow the most. This was true in the time of the Savior. It is true in our time as well, for we are commanded in these latter days to "continue in patience until ye are perfected. ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf

As creators, our pursuit of perfection might be misguided, particularly if it comes at the expense of the things that matter. ~ Seth Godin

Dear Human:
You've got it all wrong.

You didn't come here to master unconditional love. This is where you came from and where you'll return.

You came here to learn personal love.
Universal love.
Messy love.
Sweaty Love.
Crazy love.
Broken love.
Whole love.
Infused with divinity.
Lived through the grace of stumbling.
Demonstrated through the beauty of... messing up.
Often.

You didn't come here to be perfect, you already are.

You came here to be gorgeously human. Flawed and fabulous.

And rising again into remembering.

But unconditional love? Stop telling that story.

Love in truth doesn't need any adjectives.
It doesn't require modifiers.
It doesn't require the condition of perfection.

It only asks you to show up.
And do your best.
That you stay present and feel fully.
That you shine and fly and laugh and cry and hurt and heal and fall and get back up and play and work and live and die as YOU.

Its enough.

It's Plenty. ~ Courtney A. Walsh

Gardeners work with an ever-receding ideal of perfection; no sooner is something growing well than they see how to place it better or give it a better neighbor. To other's eyes, all may look as well as could be expected, but a good gardener's eye sees more to be improved. ~ Robin Lane Fox

my inpefections have made me this inperfect human that i am right now ...im happy about it some how i think i have reach perfection in this most inperfect way, ~ Melanie Rojas

Those who profit from adversity possess a spirit of humility and are therefore inclined to make the necessary changes needed to learn from their mistakes, failures, and losses ... When we are focused too much on ourselves, we lose perspective. Humility allows us to regain perspective and see the big picture ... Humility allows us to let go of perfection and keep trying. ~ John C. Maxwell

You're going to give yourself to me, Morgan. You're going to trust me because you told me you did. And do you know why?"
Morgan shook his head.
"Because you're perfect and for some reason you find me worthy of your perfection. Because you're a gift and I will not let you forget that." I brushed my lips against his. His dark eyes searched mine. "And do you know the most important reason?"
"No."
"Because I love you. ~ Adrienne Wilder

The Vedas teach that the soul is divine, only held in the bondage of matter; perfection will be reached when this bond will burst, and the word they use for it is, therefore, Mukti - freedom, freedom from the bonds of imperfection, freedom from death and misery. ~ Swami Vivekananda

Lester Levenson used to say, 'Release and allow yourself to see the perfection where the seeming imperfection seems to be.' During this process, welcome your thoughts, your sensations, your feelings, and the stories that you tell yourself. Just allow them all to be here, and know that everything is okay as it is. Part of what happens when we release this is that we start to recognize the perfection underlying our thoughts and feelings. Begin by making yourself comfortable and focusing your attention inwardly. Now, bring to mind ... an issue that's currently up in your awareness. As you think about that situation, problem, intention, or goal, allow yourself to get in touch with your feelings about it right in this very moment.
~ Hale Dwoskin

We don't have to be perfect to be a blessing. We are asked only to be real, trusting in His perfection to cover our imperfection, knowing that one day we will finally be all that Christ saved us for and wants us to be. ~ Gigi Graham

And in this constancy, in this complete indifference to the life and death of each of us, there lies hid, perhaps, a pledge of our eternal salvation, of the unceasing movement of life upon earth, of unceasing progress towards perfection. ~ Anton Chekhov

Be intent upon the perfection of the present day. ~ William Law

There is no limit to how good you can get in pursuit of perfection. ~ Sachin Kumar Puli

Because there is a word for perfection, people will always imagine that they know it. ~ Idries Shah

We should know that Allah has created us to live an eternal life with no death, a life of pride and ease with no humiliation, a life of security with no fear, a life of richness with no poverty, a life of joy with no pain, a life of perfection with no flaws. Allah is testing us in this world with a life that will end in death, a life of pride that is accompanied by humiliation and degradation, a life that is tainted by fear, where joy and ease are mixed with sorrow and pain. ~ Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya

Where do we people go if not towards the perfection of our own illusion? ~ Sorin Cerin

I had no confidence in myself. I was a fraud. Who was I to pick up a pen and expect anything good to come from it? I expected perfection as soon as the pencil hit the paper, and since that's impossible, I couldn't get myself to start. Then I felt guilty about not starting which made me want to start even less. ~ Felicia Day