John W. Gardner
John W. Gardner
John William Gardner,was Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfareunder President Lyndon Johnson...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEducator
Date of Birth8 October 1912
CountryUnited States of America
excellence mediocrity phases
Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every phase of life.
failure learning want
There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.
attitude integrity people
A nation is held together by shared values, shared beliefs, shared attitudes. That is what enables a people to maintain a cohesive society despite the tensions of daily life. This is what enables them to rise above the conflicts that plague any society. That is what gives a nation its tone, its fiber, its integrity, its moral style, its capacity to endure.
educational moving weather
Mastery is not something that strikes in an instant, like a thunderbolt, but a gathering power that moves steadily through time, like weather.
education teacher philosopher
An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.
children age six
It is not easy to be crafty and winsome at the same time, and few accomplish it after the age of six.
character world-love pay
The world loves talent but pays off on character.
leadership style quality
Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities. There are quiet leaders and leaders one can hear in the next county. Some find strength in eloquence, some in judgment, some in courage.
greatness perfection people
Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them.
men ideas goal
The idea for which this nation stands will not survive if the highest goal free man can set themselves is an amiable mediocrity. Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every phase of life.
creativity imagination creative
The creative individual has the capacity to free himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. He is capable of questioning the assumptions that the rest of us accept.
real creativity law
Americans have always believed that-within the law-all kinds of people should be allowed to take the initiative in all kinds of activities. And out of that pluralism has come virtually all of our creativity. Freedom is real only to the extent that there are diverse alternatives.
believe passion thinking
But if we believe what we profess concerning the worth of the individual, then the idea of individual development within a framework of ethical purpose must become our deepest concern, our national preoccupation, our passion, our obsession. We must think of education as relevant for everyone everywhere - at all ages and in all conditions of life.
degrees roles united-states
In the United States, to an unprecedented degree, the individual's social role has come to be determined not by who he is but by what he can accomplish.