Quotes and passages on competition

Real learning comes about when
the competitive spirit has ceased.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

The only competition worthy of a wise person is with him- or herself. Washington Allston Memoirs and Essays

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

Take someone who doesn't keep score, who's not looking to be richer, or afraid of losing, who has not the slightest interest even in his or her own personality: that person is free. Rumi Competition doesn't create character; it exposes it. unattributed

Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Thank God for competition. When our competitors upset our plans
or outdo our designs, they open infinite possibilities of our own work to us.

Gil Atkinson

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I make us better by competing with you.

Toba Beta
My Ancestor Was
an Ancient Astronaut

Even in the face of massive competition, don’t think about the competition.
Literally don’t think about them. Every time you’re in a meeting and you’re
tempted to talk about a competitor, replace that thought with one about
user feedback or surveys. Just think about the customer.

Mike McCue

Competition was as much respecting your
opponent's work as introspecting on your own.

Faraaz Kazi
Truly, Madly, Deeply

When one can do better than everyone else in the same walk, one
does not make any very painful exertions to outdo oneself. The progress
of improvement ceases nearly at the point where competition ends.

William Hazlitt
Characteristics

A competitive world offers two possibilities. You can lose.
Or, if you want to win, you can change.

unattributed

Competition creates better products; alliances create better companies.

Brian Graham

Competition is easier to accept if you realize it is not an act of oppression or abrasion--I've worked with my best friends in direct competition.

Diane Sawyer

Competition is a sin.

John D. Rockefeller

You were placed on this earth to create, not to compete.

Robert Anthony

So many times people are afraid of competition, when it should bring
out the best in us. We all have talents and abilities, so why
be intimidated by other people's skills?

Lou Holtz

Competition affects all our lives--whether you think you're winning or losing. Hard times make us tighten up a little in terms of competition. We find ourselves keeping score, wondering who's got more and why.
   How do you see the world? As a limited or unlimited pie?
   Sometimes you may view the world as a limited pie. If anyone near you expands his or her piece of the pie, it takes away from yours. It makes you fear other people's success. How do you feel when a friend has a big success? Happy for him or her? Or does your stomach tighten?
   Actually, most things are part of an unlimited pie. If other people are successful you can be happy for them. They expand outward from the center of the pie; there is no rim to stop them. They don't take from you.
   Competition affects every day of your life. Other people are either friends who offer support, or possible competitors who threaten your score.

Jennifer James
Success Is the Quality of Your Journey

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Don’t ever let anyone tell you that something is too competitive.
Once you subtract the people who don’t work very hard, or the
people who aren’t as good as you, your competition shrinks dramatically.

Maggie Mason

Life is a competition not with others, but with ourselves. We should
seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives; each day to master
some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair a mistake;
each day to surpass ourselves.

David B. Haight

The healthiest competition occurs when average
people win by putting in above-average effort.

Colin Powell

To be true, I must fully accept that at this moment, I can only
be what I am . . . no more, no less; however, with the inevitable
passing of each moment of time, I will gradually, but surely
change . . . to become more or less, better or worse, stronger
or weaker. My choice is the direction of change: it is mine
alone. The only true competition is this rivalry with my changing
self. It is the very basis of the grand eternal plan.

C. Smith Sumner

Life is not a competition with others. In its truest sense it is rivalry
with ourselves. We should each day seek to break the record of our
yesterday. We should seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives;
each day to master some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair past
follies; each day to surpass ourselves. This is, simply, progress.

C. Smith Sumner

Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal.
A creative person is motivated by the desire to achieve,
not by the desire to beat others.

Ayn Rand

There is competition, but it is used in a good way. It is positive
to want to go first, provided the intention is to pave the way
for others, make their path more easy, help them, or show the
way. Competition is negative when we wish to defeat others,
to bring them down in order to lift ourselves up.

The Dalai Lama

You are to become a creator, not a competitor; you are going to get
what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every
other person will have more than he or she has now.

Wallace D. Wattles

The experience of competition can be a positive force in our lives.
In fact, it can be a necessary part of the continuing progress,
improvements, and vigor of our social and economic development.
On a personal level, competing with another in sports or business
can provide you with an opportunity to sharpen and expand your
skills. In addition, it often brings into focus those areas that need
further development. You can gather a tremendous amount of
experience and useful information quickly either by engaging in
competition or observing others competing.
The problem lies not in competition but in our attitude toward
whatever we're doing. So often we tend to measure ourselves and
our self-worth by how well we do against our opponents. If we lose
the game, we may believe we're losers. If we come in second, we
could feel we're second-rate. It's important to remember that
productive competition with another can serve as a yardstick that
measures our performance, not our value as a person.

John Marks Templeton
Worldwide Laws of Life

Competition. It's a word that makes many of us very edgy,
and it's a situation that we have probably been living with
since we were very small.
   For some people competition is a thrill, a stimulation, a
challenge. For others, it's a source of sadness and anger and
apprehension. For still others, it's a mixture of all those things.
   It's not possible to go through life without competing. As
one woman told me, "Competition is a part of our everyday life,
whether we're competing for a job, or on the soccer field,
or for love."
   There are many kinds of competition, to be sure. But I think
that love does have something to do with them all. In fact, I
believe that if we've ever wanted someone's love, then we've
known what competition really means.

Fred Rogers
The World According to Mr. Rogers