greatness

"We attain freedom as we let go of whatever does not reflect our magnificence. A bird cannot fly high or far with a stone tied to its back. But release the impediment, and we are free to soar to unprecedented heights."

For no matter what we achieve, if we don’t spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect, we cannot possibly have a great life. But if we spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect – people we really enjoy being on the bus with and who will never disappoint us – then we will almost certainly have a great life, no matter where the bus goes. The people we interviewed from the good-to-great companies clearly loved what they did, largely because they loved who they did it with.

It is unethical not to know. It is unethical not to think. It is unethical not to love. It is unethical not to live an impassioned life. It is unethical not to attain greatness. It is unethical to succumb to the fear of envy and the conspiracy of mediocrity. It is unethical not to self-bestow genius. It is unethical not to be the first monkey.

It does not matter that only a few in each generation will grasp and achieve the full reality of man's proper stature-and the rest will betray it. It is those few that move the world and give life its meaning-and it is those few that I have always sought to address. The rest are no concern of mine; it is not me or The Fountainhead that they will betray: it is their own souls.

...why be an average person? All the great achievements of history
have been made by strong individuals who refused to consult statistics
or to listen to those who could prove convincingly that what they
wanted to do, and in fact ultimately did do, was completely impossible.

...why be an average person? All the great achievements of history
have been made by strong individuals who refused to consult statistics
or to listen to those who could prove convincingly that what they
wanted to do, and in fact ultimately did do, was completely impossible.

...why be an average person? All the great achievements of history
have been made by strong individuals who refused to consult statistics
or to listen to those who could prove convincingly that what they
wanted to do, and in fact ultimately did do, was completely impossible.

...why be an average person? All the great achievements of history
have been made by strong individuals who refused to consult statistics
or to listen to those who could prove convincingly that what they
wanted to do, and in fact ultimately did do, was completely impossible.

Everyone would like to be the best, but most organizations lack the discipline to figure out with egoless clarity what they can be the best at and the will to do whatever it takes to turn the potential into reality.

A great company will have many once-in-a-liftetime opportunities.