Perfectionism Quotes

“There was more than one type of perfectionist. And that I qualified because the kind of perfectionist I was, was the kind that abandoned everything if I wasn’t good enough at it. And that’s why I couldn’t finish tasks.”
― Mary H.K. Choi, Yolk

“Maybe that’s what all lives were, though. Maybe even the most seemingly perfectly intense or worthwhile lives ultimately felt the same. Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. To be the world, witnessing itself. Maybe it wasn’t the lack of achievements that had made her and her brother’s parents unhappy, maybe it was the expectation to achieve in the first place.”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

“Doing your best can be exhausting enough without doing everyone else's best while you're at it.”
― Sarah Knight, You Do You: How to Be Who You Are and Use What You've Got to Get What You Want

“In the pursuit of perfection, I forgot I was already enough.”
― Caroline George, The Summer We Forgot

“Perfection does not exist. To understand it is the triumph of human intelligence; the desire to possess it is the most dangerous kind of madness.”
― Alfred de Musset

“We get to--have to--finally release the perfectionism and expectations, expectations being resentments under construction. We can't get bogged down in this stupid stuff. It's actually a miracle just to be here at all, with a few truly great friends, and to keep muddling through, grateful if not sometimes perplexed.”
― Anne Lamott, Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage

“Imperfection facilitates improvement, perfection facilitates stagnation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hometown Human: To Live for Soil and Society

“A small step of progression is a thousand times better than a delayed step of perfection. Perfectionism procrastinates and paralyzes progress.”
― Tony Warrick

“Until you realize perfection is an ideal and not a reality, you will never have self-confidence.”
― J.S. Felts, Ageless Wisdom: A Treasury of Quotes to Motivate & Inspire

“Do not let perfection and order become your masters! These are the two most dangerous traps set for the spiritual Murid. True spirituality proceeds from an honoring and awareness of chaos and imperfection. Who would dare untangle a rainforest?”
― Laurence Galian, The Sun at Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries of the Ahlul Bayt Sufis

“There is no place for perfection in a civilized society, for anything that claims perfection, ends up claiming supremacy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hometown Human: To Live for Soil and Society

“We may accept a falsity that doesn't claim perfection, but we must never accept anything that claims perfection, not even a truth.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hometown Human: To Live for Soil and Society

“Perfect life is just an illusion and to spend hours scrolling down the Facebook feed means you are making the fantasy world part of your own somehow.”
― Jyoti Patel

“Perfections are the appreciations of the sights.”
― Ben Jr Grey

“Whatever you do, do it right or don’t”
― Emmanuelle Snow, Pink and Country

“Journey to the Heart of Beauty; do not be obsessed with mental and egoic ideas of form and perfection. Get your hands and feet dirty, dance in the rain, and rejoice in the Life that is Living Itself through the Uniqueness of You!”
― Laurence Galian, The Sun at Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries of the Ahlul Bayt Sufis

“Tout ce qui vaut la peine d'être fait mérite et exige d'être bien fait.”
― Nicolas Poussin

“Perfection....it functions as a form of myopia, a preoccupation with self-image that can stunt emotional growth.”
― Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith

“Billy Gould has always felt if something was worth doing, it was worth doing badly. Worry about doing it too well, he believed, & you may well be crippled by your ambition”
― Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish

“In the West, we strive for perfection in so many ways—and often we are left feeling inadequate. Perfectionism is just the desire to feel whole and complete. Our yoga practice reminds us that we are already there.”
― Hania Khuri-Trapper, Rest & Return: Weekly Reminders to Pause, Reflect, and Just Be

“By far, the hardest part regarding a work of art, apart from the start, is knowing precisely when to stop...It's growing up, finding that most glowing and top spot, ascending to where its highest peak is reached...before descending for the deepest, darkest drop.”
― Criss Jami

“It's okay to admit that something can be "best" just because it makes you happy, and not because you had to tear yourself apart to get there.”
― Morgan Rogers

“Better a mess that exists than a perfect, utopian, non-existent reality that only lives in somebody's dream and waits to become a reality some unknown day.”
― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

“Then, about a year and half too late, it hit me. I was never going to be perfect. And what had all my efforts gotten me, really, in the end? A boyfriend who pushed me away the minute I cracked, making the mistake of being human. Great grades that would still never be good enough for girls who Knew Everything. A quiet, still life, free of any risks, and so many sleepless nights to spend within it, my heart heavy, keeping secrets my sister had empowered herself by telling.

This life was fleeting, and I was still searching for the way I wanted to spend it that would make me happy, full, okay again. I didn’t know what it was, not yet. But something told me I wouldn’t find it here.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Another eight-week program modeled on Kabat-Zinn’s stress-reduction course. This version of mindfulness training puts more emphasis on sport-specific skills like concentration and embracing rather than avoiding pain, and addresses common athlete pitfalls like perfectionism by teaching self-compassion.”
― Alex Hutchinson, Endure By Alex Hutchinson & The Rise of Superman By Steven Kotler 2 Books Collection Set

“There is a very thin line between wisely striving for your best and foolishly striving for perfection.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“A good Technician was rarely wrong. A top Technician was never wrong.”
― Isaac Asimov, The End of Eternity

“The image of perfection I portrayed was nothing more than a figurative house, built for protection from the elements of my inner suffering.”
― Oriana Allen, The Truth in Our Scars: Untangling Trauma to Discover Your Secret Self

“Be prolific, not perfect.”
― Richie Norton, Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping

“If something isn’t presentable at its ninety per cent, it wouldn’t be much different either at cent per cent”
― B.S. Murthy, Benign Flame: Saga of Love