Perfection Sayings and Quotes

Being perfect is a lofty goal, and some would argue, an unattainable one. Everyone has a different opinion about what perfection looks like for them. Strive to be and achieve the best with the wise and insightful perfection quotes below.

Perfection' is man's ultimate illusion. It simply doesn't exist in the universe.... If you are a perfectionist, you are guaranteed to be a loser in whatever you do. David D. Burns
Perfection is perfectly simple; fouling things up requires true skill. Douglas Horton
Perfection is worth striving for, even if it is ultimately unattainable in this life. Joseph B. Wirthlin
So much perfection argues rottenness somewhere. Beatrice Potter Webb
Fix your eyes on perfection and you make almost everything speed towards it. William Ellery Channing
No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves. William Hazlitt
Perfection is an undiscovered jewel. Edward Counsel
Producing perfection from imperfection is, after all, the highest of art forms. Frank Herbert
A certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect. Haruki Murakami
Perfection is immutable. But for things imperfect, change is the way to perfect them. Owen Feltham
We adore perfection because we can't have it; it would disgust us if we had it. Perfect is inhuman, because human is imperfect. Fernando Pessoa
The thing about perfection is it's unknowable. It's impossible. But it's always right in front of you. Kevin Flynn
The more perfect a thing is, the more susceptible to good and bad treatment it is. Dante Alighieri
The perfecting of one's self is the fundamental base of all progress and all moral development. Confucius
The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light. Matthew Arnold
Perfection is the child of time. Joseph Hall
Perfection itself is imperfection. Vladimir Horowitz
Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children. Sylvia Plath
Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor. Anne Lamott
It is an absolute and virtually divine perfection to know how to enjoy our being rightfully. Michel de Montaigne
Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A minute of perfection was worth the effort. A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection. Chuck Palahniuk
I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business. Michael J. Fox
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. Edwin C. Bliss
Even if it's not perfect, set it aside and move on to the next thing. The idea of "perfection" exists only in your mind, and may not be the same for everyone. Haemin Sunim
One of our deepest fears is that when we show ourselves as we are, we will be rejected. We find it hard to open the door of our heart even to our closest friends. Because we carry that burden alone, it can't help but weigh us down. When someone opens the door to their heart and shows themselves as they are, do not judge them; warmly accept them. None of us is perfect. Haemin Sunim
Perfection does not exist. To understand it is the triumph of human intelligence; the desire to possess it the most dangerous kind of madness. Alfred De Musset
Whether it is for riches or thinness, fitness or knowledge or fame, the desire for perfection shuts out all other people and pleasures one by one. It is an addiction like cocaine: even more deadly in proportion to its purity. F. Forrester Church
Perfectionism is not a happiness habit... As a recovering perfectionist I can testify that perfectionism is the absolute bane of happiness. Christine Carter