Are you a perfectionist? If so, you run the
risk of making yourself chronically unhappy. The following quotations are
intended to encourage you think carefully about the difference between
excellence (which is to be greatly admired) and compulsive perfectionism (which
is destructive).
Perfectionism is
a Burden…Self Acceptance is a Gift
"Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for
perfection is demoralizing."
Harriet Braiker
"When everything has to be right, something isn't."
Stanislaw Lec
"When one is estranged from oneself, then one is estranged from others,
too."
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
"The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself."
Mark Twain
"Learn to be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all
that you are not."
Henri Frédéric Amiel
Avoiding the Trap of Perfectionism
"Perfection does not exist.
To understand this is the triumph of human intelligence; to expect to possess it
is the most dangerous kind of madness."
Alfred de Musset
"Perfectionism is a dangerous state of mind in an imperfect world."
Robert Hillyer
"If you're looking for perfection, look in the mirror. If you find it
there, expect it elsewhere."
Malcolm Forbes
"It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else’s
eyes."
Sally Field
"The most freeing thing is to like your
imperfections."
Mary Tyler Moore
"Have patience with all things, but mostly with yourself. Don’t lose
courage considering your own imperfections, but instantly begin remedying them.
Every day begin the task anew."
St. Francis de Sales
