Quotes about Excellence

There have been men indeed splendidly wicked, whose endowments threw a brightness on their crimes, and whom  scarce any villany made perfectly detestable, because they never could be wholly divested of their excellencies; but such have been in all ages the great corrupters of the world, and their resemblance ought no more to be preserved, than the art of murdering without pain.

9And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Learn to say no to the good so you can say yes to the best.

Man is endowed with a singular excellence, for God formed him in his own image and likeness, in which we see a bright refulgence of God's glory.

How detestable, I ask you, is this madness: that man, finding God in his body and soul a hundred times, on this very pretense of excellence denies that there is a God?

Now God's image is the perfect excellence of human nature which shone in Adam before his defection, but was subsequently so vitiated and almost blotted out that nothing remains after the ruin except what is confused, mutilated, and disease-ridden. Therefore in some part it now is manifest in the elect, in so far as they have been reborn in the spirit; but it will attain its full splendor in heaven.

And this is the main difference between the gospel and philosophy: for though the philosophers speak excellently and with great judgment on  the subject of morals, yet whatever excellency shines forth in their precepts, it is, as it were, a beautiful superstructure without a foundation; for by omitting principles, they offer a mutilated doctrine, like a body without a head.

The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.

It's easy to fall into the trap of just cranking out things that are good enough to sell.

There is no greatness apart from self control. Development that does not include self government will only guarantee our mediocrity.

The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail.

All great virtues become great men.