By Stanistani

Some days it’s hard to get motivated. You need inspiration, you need the wisdom of the ages. Why not turn to Wikipedia for that nugget of wisdom that will define your day?

Excellence

Excellence is a talent or quality which is unusually good and so surpasses ordinary standards. It is also used as a standard of performance as measured e.g. through economic indicators. In modern public relations and marketing, “excellence” is a much overused buzzword that tries to convey a good impression often without imparting any concrete information (e.g. “center for excellence in …”, “business excellence”, etc.).

Well, pooh (e.g. “Winnie the”). That’s not horribly inspiring so far, or “unusually good.” But I’m here for the wisdom of the ancients, so let’s examine the History of Excellence (imagine Greek column here).

History

The Ancient Greeks had a concept of arete which meant an outstanding fitness for purpose. This occurs in the works of Aristotle and Homer. Aristotle once said. “We are what we repeatedly do . . . excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Another related concept was eudaimonia which was the happiness which resulted from a life well-lived, being prosperous and fulfilled. The equivalent concept in Muslim philosophy is ihsan.

There we go! “We are what we repeatedly do . . . excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” –Aristotle

Carve that into my desk! Tattoo it on my arm!

Wait a minute… I have read a lot of books in my day, and I do believe I’ve seen that quote somewhere before. When I was a young boy, I was gifted a set of books written by Will and Ariel Durant (wonderful popularizers of history and such in their day, check them out). One

…continue reading What Wikipedia Repeatedly Does