quotations about competition
It is in vain for us to devise schemes by which competition can be put out of civilized life. Competition is the condition of life.
LYMAN ABBOTT
Problems of Life: Selections from the Writings of Rev. Lyman Abbott
In previous ages a nation's life and culture could be protected to some extent by the growth of armies in national competition. Today we must abandon competition and secure cooperation. This must be the central fact in all our considerations of international affairs; otherwise we face certain disaster.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
"The Real Problem is in the Hearts of Man", New York Times Magazine, June 23, 1946
The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself.
WASHINGTON ALLSTON
Memoirs and Essays
If you can't win, make the fellow ahead of you break the record.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Competition is warfare. Mostly it is played by prescribed rules--there is a sort of Geneva Convention for competition--but it's thorough and often brutal.
ANDREW S. GROVE
The New Yorker, Oct. 1997
Strip away all the assumptions about what competition is supposed to do, all the claims in its behalf that we accept and repeat reflexively. What you have left is the essence of the concept: mutually exclusive goal attainment (MEGA). One person succeeds only if another does not. From this uncluttered perspective, it seems clear right away that something is drastically wrong with such an arrangement. How can we do our best when we are spending our energies trying to make others lose--and fearing that they will make us lose?
ALFIE KOHN
No Contest: The Case Against Competition
I feel sorry for those who live without competition ... fat, dumb, and unhappy in cradle-to-grave security.
DONALD M. KENDALL
How to Manage
Competition is a lot like cod liver oil. First it makes you sick. Then it makes you better.
AMERICAN MICRO DEVICES
advertising headline, 1996
When a man can do better than everyone else in the same walk, he does not make any very painful exertions to outdo himself. The progress of improvement ceases nearly at the point where competition ends.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
Characteristics
Competition, founded upon the conflicting interests of individuals, is in reality far less productive of wealth and enterprise than co-operation, involving though it does the constant apparent sacrifice of the individual to the common interests.
ROBERT HUGH BENSON
A City Set on a Hill
Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.
BALTASAR GRACIAN
The Art of Worldly Wisdom
Competitive people are always trying to usurp the position of the "one-up" person. They cannot stand for anyone to win "over" them, for it puts them in a one-down position in their head. Instead of saying, "I lost the game," they say, "I am an inferior person." Therefore, they must win in order to not be inferior to anyone.
HENRY CLOUD
Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You
I found that competition was supposed to be a menace and that a good manager circumvented his competitors by getting a monopoly by artificial means.
HENRY FORD
My Life and Work
Taste the relish to be found in competition -- in having to put forth the best within you to match the deeds of risk-taking, hard-working competitors.
HENRY J. KAISER
Reader's Digest, 1950
Free competition is worth more to society than it costs.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR.
Vegelahn v. Guntner, 1896
Competition is merely the absence of oppression.
FRÉDÉRIC BASTIAT
Economic Harmonies
Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.
DAVID SARNOFF
attributed, Dynamics of Leadership In Public Service: Theory and Practice
Competition is dangerous, socially offensive, considered right and normal, because you are brought up to that value system. What kind of competition did Jesus have? What kind of competition is there in your body? Suppose your brain said, "I'm the most important organ!" And the liver said, "I am. And I want a Free Enterprise system!" You'd rot away in a month if every organ of your body went out for itself.
JACQUE FRESCO
interview with Larry King, 1974
Healthy competition keeps you alert--keeps you driven: You'll notice things that you might not have noticed before. When everyone else is in gear, there's not time for you to sit in neutral.
PHIL MARTIN
Play Hard--Have Fun: A Philosophy for Life
You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your tricks of war.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
attributed, The 100 Greatest Heroes