90 Mediocrity Quotes To Inspire You To Strive For Excellence

Looking for inspirational quotes about being mediocre? We have rounded up the best collection of mediocrity quotes, sayings, captions, (with images and pictures) to inspire you to never settle for mediocrity and always strive for excellence.

Also See: Complacency Quotes

Mediocrity comes from the word mediocre, which means average or ordinary. It is a feeling of acceptance and being okay with being indifferent. Mediocrity can be fatal and is the enemy of success.

Accepting mediocrity for the time, does not mean you stop hustling. It means embracing the current result of the situation. But this should not make you complacent in life. Accepting mediocrity is thus quite debatable.

Also See: Quotes About Winners

Being to laid back and putting in no efforts to improve, will only make your potential stagnant. So even if you think you are mediocre at work, studies or any aspects of life, then keep working hard to excel and get to the next level.

Mediocrity is the plug that holds us back to achieve our true potential. It puts us in a comfort zone where we get content with what we have. Some people even think, living a life of mediocrity is not a life to live. To excel in life one has to work hard towards there goals.

These motivational quotes are divided in these sections:-

  • Famous Mediocrity Quotes
  • Mediocre Quotes
  • Quotes On Mediocrity

If you like these famous quotes, also check our post on lazy people quotes and positive quotes to uplift your spirits every morning.

Famous Mediocrity Quotes

  1. “Don’t get comfortable with mediocrity.”                                                                                                     
    mediocre quotes
    mediocre quotes

  2. “Be fearful of mediocrity.” – Jonathan Elery

  3. “Only mediocrity escapes criticism.” – John Steinbeck

  4. “A life of mediocrity is a waste of life.” – Colleen Hoover

  5. “Mediocrity is the worst enemy of prosperity.” – Henry Ford                                                         
    mediocrity quotes
    mediocrity quotes

  6. “Only mediocrity of enjoyment is allowed to man.” – Hugh Blair

  7. “If you have to fear something, fear mediocrity” – Alex Bogusky

  8. “Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.” – Fulton J. Sheen

  9. “Never surrender to the momentum of mediocrity.” – Marlon Brando

  10. “Being realistic is the most common path to mediocrity.” – Will Smith

  11. “Mediocrity is self-inflicted. Genius is self-bestowed.” – Walter Russell                                             
    quote on mediocrity
    quote on mediocrity

  12. “It’s not failure. I’m afraid of it’s mediocrity that keeps me up at night.”

  13. “Stop letting your fear condemn you to mediocrity.” – Dr. Steve Maraboli

  14. “Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.” – A. W. Tozer

  15. “When mediocrity becomes the accepted norm, excellence dies a painful death.” – Rashida Rowe                                                                                                                                 
    quotes mediocrity
    quotes mediocrity

  16. “Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.” – Will Smith

  17. “The only way to get out of mediocrity is to keep shooting for excellence.” – Eric Thomas

  18. “You are born into genius, but have you resigned yourself to mediocrity?” – Robin Sharma                                                                                                                                                     
    quotes about mediocrity
    quotes about mediocrity

  19. “Nobody rises above mediocrity unless they use the brains of other people.” – Napoleon Hill

  20. “The difference between mediocrity and excellence is often a matter of effort.” – Diana Waring

  21. “Something deep in the human heart breaks at the thought of a life of mediocrity.” – C. S. Lewis

  22. “You will never see an eagle of distinction flying low with pigeons of mediocrity.” – Onyi Anyado

  23. “Don’t waste your life. No one chooses mediocrity but many settle for it. Never settle.” – Anonymous

  24. “Anyone in any walk of life who is content with mediocrity is untrue to himself.” – George S. Patton Jr

  25. “Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent easily recognizes genius.” – Arthur Conan Doyle

  26. “We often reward mediocrity because it is comforting. If they can do it, anyone can do it.” – Jessica Zafra

  27. “Don’t follow the crowd into a life of mediocrity. Take the road less traveled and live your dreams.” – ATGW

  28. “Once you have experienced excellence, you will never again be content with mediocrity.” – Thomas S. Monson

  29. “If you want to earn a million bucks a year, eliminate mediocrity from your thinking and your life.” – John Assaraf

  30. “And they talked about the mediocrity of provincial life, so suffocating, so fatal to all noble dreams.” – Gustave Flaubert

  31. “Without enthusiasm, you are doomed to a life of mediocrity, but with it you can accomplish miracles.” – Og Mandino

  32. “Better for everyone that you do what you’re really good at and love to do than be yet another example of mediocrity.” – John Williams

  33. “People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.” – Andre Carnegie

  34. “Don’t settle for mediocrity. Take a chance. Take a risk. Find that passion. Rekindle it. Fall in love all over again. It’s really worth it.” – Brian Cranston

  35. “Some men throw their gifts away on a life of mediocrity, great men throw everything they have into their gifts and achieve a life of success.” – Greg Werner

  36. “The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconstancy. The signature of greatness is a disciplined and consistent focus on the right things.” – James C. Collins

  37. “Beware the mediocrity that threatens middle age, its limitations of thought and interest, it’s dullness of fancy, it’s too external life, and mental thinness.” – Margaret Fuller

  38. “The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.” – Colin Powell

  39. “Push yourself to do more and to experience more. Harness your energy to start expanding your dreams. Yes, expand your dreams. Don’t accept a life of mediocrity when you hold such infinite potential within the fortress of your mind. Dare to tap into your greatness.” – Robin Sharma

  40. “Mediocrity is the most effective mask a superior spirit can wear, because to the great majority, which is to say, to the mediocre, it will not suggest a disguise:–and yet it is precisely for their sake that he puts it on–so as not to arouse them, and, indeed, not infrequently to avoid this out of pity and benevolence.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Mediocre Quotes 

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” very rights quoted by Neale Donald Walsch. Life becomes predictable when you keep living your routine type life. The unknown is a place where magic happens and where dreams come true.

Doing the bare minimum will not get us even close to be successful. Settling for mediocrity may be tempting but it will not get you anywhere. So thrive, hustle and keep working hard for excellence.

If you like these great mediocre quotes, then also check our collection of embrace change quotes and self reflection quotes to to help you get the right perspective in life.

  1. “The only sin is mediocrity.” – Martha Graham

  2. “Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre.” – Albert Camus

  3. “To be popular one must be a mediocrity.” – Oscar Wilde

  4. “Mediocrity inspires neither great love nor hate.” – Vanna Bonta

  5. “Merely to have survived is not an index of excellence.” – Anthony Hecht

  6. “When you tolerate mediocrity, you get more of it.” – Frank Sonnenberg

  7. “Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.” – Benjamin Disraeli

  8. “Mediocrity is excellent to the eyes of mediocre people.” – Joseph Joubert

  9. “Don’t settle for mediocrity; never let good enough be good enough.” – Unknown

  10. “Each moment spent in mediocrity, is a moment lost in greatness.” – Ed Latimore

  11. “Be the best, but get ready to be attacked. Only mediocrity is safe.” – Paulo Coelho

  12. “Beware the lollipop of mediocrity; lick it once and you’ll suck forever.” – Brian Wilson

  13. “Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better.” – Gordon B. Hinckley

  14. “Mediocrity is always invisible until passion shows up and exposes it.” – Graham Cooke

  15. “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein                                                                                                                                     
    mediocrity quotes images
    mediocrity quotes images

  16. “Stumbling towards greatness is better than sprinting towards mediocrity.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

  17. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi

  18. “Mediocrity doesn’t just happen. It’s chosen over time through small choices day by day.” – Todd Henry

  19. “Mediocrity has no greater consolation that in the thought that genius is not immortal.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

  20. “Most of the world is seeking comfort and familiarity, which are traps that cause you to settle for the mediocre.” – Grant Cardone

  21. “Mediocrity doesn’t mean average intelligence, it means an average intelligence that resents and envies its betters.” – Ayn Rand

  22. “Being mediocre and average should scare you more, a lot more than people thinking you are different or weird.” – Matt Monge

  23. “Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and some people have mediocrity thrust upon them.” – Joseph Heller

  24. “We’ve found in all our research studies that the signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change; the signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.” – Jim Collins

  25. “Don’t let the mediocrity that surrounds you affect the creative machinery of your rich mind. Like how the incandescent beauty of the magnificent lotus is unaffected by the swampy mud that surrounds it.” – Rajesh

Quotes On Mediocrity 

  1. “Passionately protest mediocrity.” – Anonymous

  2. “Are you really happy or just comfortable?” – Anonymous

  3. “Awards are merely the badges of mediocrity.” – Charles Ives

  4. “The absence of risk is a sure sign of mediocrity.” – Charles de Foucauld

  5. “Mediocrity requires aloofness to preserve its dignity.” – Charles G. Dawes

  6. “Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.” – Colin Powell

  7. “The world doesn’t need any more mediocrity or hedged bets.” – Anne Rice

  8. “Jealousy is the tribute which mediocrity pays to genius.” – Fulton J. Sheen

  9. “In the republic of mediocrity genius is dangerous.” – Robert Green Ingersoll

  10. “Focus on competition has always been a formula for mediocrity.” – Daniel Burrus

  11. “Mediocrity’s easy, the good things take time, the great need commitment.” – Bob Seger

  12. “What the crowd requires is mediocrity of the highest order.” – Antoine-Augustin Preault

  13. “My life goal is to silence the voice in my head that screams out for mediocrity.” – Anonymous

  14. “It’s always the same: mediocrities are over-valued and great men are rejected.” – Anton Webern

  15. “Don’t settle for mediocrity when you were created for greatness. Know who you are.” – Anonymous

  16. “You either do what is hard and succeed, or you do what is easy and live in mediocrity.” – Eric Thomas

  17. “Average performers accept mediocrity. Iconic producers are obsessed with mastery.” – Robin Sharma

  18. “The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.” – William Arthur Ward

  19. “Go for the gold: better one great column and some undistinguished ones than constant mediocrity.” – Allan Sloan

  20. “A talent somewhat above mediocrity, shrewd and not too sensitive, is more likely to rise in the world than genius.” – Charles Horton Cooley

  21. “By and large, talent is in such short supply that mediocrity can be taken for brilliance rather more than genius can go undiscovered.” – Charles Saatchi

  22. “The greatest secret in the world is that you only have to be a small, measurable amount better than mediocrity…and you’ve got it made.” – Og Mandino

  23. “Don’t embrace mediocrity; its main charm is to make you fall in love with failure. Speed off… Excellence awaits you at the end of your journey!” – Israelmore Ayivor

  24. “Fine is the very definition of mediocrity. It’s what’s polite. It’s what’s socially acceptable. We need to live brighter and deeper than just fine, my darling!” – Lauren Beukes


  25. “We gain nothing by being with such as ourselves. We encourage one another in mediocrity. I am always longing to be with men more excellent than myself.” – Charles Lamb

  26. “Mediocrity is always in a rush; but whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing with consideration. For genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.” – Amelia Barr

  27. “Why is it that when a baby is born, we often refer to him or her ‘the miracle of life’ but then we accept mediocrity for our own lives? Where along the way did we lose sight of the miracle that WE are?” – Hal Elrod

  28. “Perfection, fortunately, is not the only alternative to mediocrity. A more sensible alternative is excellence. Striving for excellence is stimulating and rewarding; striving for perfection–in practically anything–is both neurotic and futile.” – Ed Bliss

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It is important to move away from what you already know and give yourself a chance to all the possibilities and explore the new opportunities waiting for you.

Having the courage to step outside your solace and fight the fear of doing things that can discomfort you is the mantra of being successful and progress in life.

Don’t forget to read our collection of really uncomfortable quotes and powerful quotes about You Live And You Learn to inspire you to take lessons everyday from life and grow from your experiences.

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