A couple of months after I started working fulltime I thought I’d saved enough money to buy a new jacket, a couple of shirts and a pair of slacks. I went into a store on Yonge St. in Toronto and looking carefully at the price tags picked out some items that I had enough cash to buy. I took them to a man I thought was a clerk, but actually turned out to be the owner, a gentleman by the name of Max Gold. He asked me my name and where I worked. After I told him he said, “Lyman, let me show you some items that I think would look a lot better on you.” As he made each choice I kept a mental tally of the cost. “Mr. Gold,” I said, “these are too expensive. They add up to almost three times the amount of cash I have.” “That’s all right,” he said, “give me a down payment now and drop in each pay day and give me what you can until it’s paid off.” He went on to say, “You see, Lyman, when you buy something cheap, you may be happy when you pay for it, but you’ll be disappointed every time you use it. When you buy a quality article, you may be a little concerned when paying for it, but you’ll be pleased every time you use it.”
Good enough is the enemy of best.
The quality of your life will depend in large part on your commitment to quality in everything you do; do your best and the best will come back to you.
Quality is never an accident.
People forget how fast you did a job, but they’ll remember how well you did it.
Half right is also half wrong.
If you refuse to accept anything but the best you’ll be surprised at how often you’ll get it.
When you’re average, you’re as close to the bottom as you are to the top.
How much we do is important, but how well we do it is critical.
Pride in what you’re doing begets quality.
Being good at it is fine, but being proud of it is essential.
Seeking perfection is frustrating; seeking excellence is gratifying.
Quantity is what people count; quality is what people count on.
First-class people hire first-class people; second-class people hire third-class people.
Just because you have the recipe doesn’t mean you can bake the cake.
People are more apt to remember one great performance than a lifetime of average ones.