I don't feel competition at all. I just feel like I want to be the best. In everything that Michael (Jackson) did, he was the best. When he was dancing, when he was singing, he always wanted to be the best, and that's me... He's the guideline.
You don't become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.
Once you have found out what you love to do, there is only one goal: to be the best in the world at it.
Intense interest in any subject is indispensable if you're really going to excel in it.
Carlos Castaneda always said, "If you're going to do something, do it impeccably."
The desire of excellence is the necessary attribute of those who excel. We work little for a thing unless we wish for it.
There are people who've prepared their whole lives for real heavy success and bask in it. They're so good at it and they obviously love it. I'm just happy to be making a record.
One should never forget that by actually perfecting one piece one gains and learns more than by starting or half-finishing a dozen.
Excellence is not an aspiration. Excellence is what you do in the next five minutes.
There is one single thread binding my way together...the way of the Master consists in doing one's best...that is all.
When you're young, you start looking at what you want to do - not just who you want to be, but what you want to do. And I think the tenacity to say, "I'm going to perfect that," is the beginning of a work ethic. It's the beginning of a talent.
The hard discipline, with the exception of one great good point, is fraught with evil. The good point is that men can do one or two things well with very little effort, having practiced them every day through generations.
Strive for excellence in few things, rather than good performance in many.
