A Quote by Henry Clay Payne

It is better to fall short of a high mark than to reach a low one.

Henry Clay Payne

Quote Topics

Better Fall High Low Mark Reach Short Than

Quote Author

Henry Clay Payne
Politician
November 23, 1843 - October 4, 1904

A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savor of it. Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aim much higher than the mark, not to reach by their strength or arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach.

Niccolo Machiavelli

You reach for the stars and you work your butt off to achieve your dreams. If you fall short, you fall short, but you say you gave it your best.

Frank Vogel

It is safer to try to understand the low in the light of the high than the high in the light of the low. In doing the latter one necessarily distorts the high, whereas in doing the former one does not deprive the low of the freedom to reveal itself as fully as what it is.

Leo Strauss

The only failure is the failure to learn from conscious and deliberate efforts to make things better, even if those attempts fall short of the mark.

Stewart D. Friedman

The archer who overshoots his mark does no better than he who falls short of it.

Michel de Montaigne

Maturity is the ability to harness your abilities and your energies and do more than is expected. The mature person refuses to settle for mediocrity. He/she would rather aim high and miss the mark than low-and make it.

Ann Landers

Now more than ever I am aware that a person's significant birthdays can either mark the passage of time, or they can mark changes they've made in their lives to reach their potential and become the person they were created to be. With each passing year, I want to make good choices that make me a better person, help me become a better leader, and make a positive impact on others.

John C. Maxwell

And I’m not confused about the lack of, or the need for, imagination in low or high places. We could do better we must do better. There are far worse things to drop on people than crayolas.

Robert Fulghum

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.

Michelangelo

Every man has at times in his mind the Ideal of what he should be, but is not. This ideal may be high and complete, or it may be quite low and insufficient; yet in all men, that really seek to improve, it is better than the actual character... Man never falls so low, that he can see nothing higher than himself.

Theodore Parker

Ambition devours gold and drinks blood and climbs so high by other men's heads, that at the length in the fall, it breaks its own neck; therefore, it is better to live in humble content than in high care and trouble.

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

I have very short arms. I can't really reach down and pick things off the floor when they fall. I can't really reach up and get things out of the cupboard.

Fredrick Brennan

They say for every high high there must be a low low low low low

Bat for Lashes

Everything that I have done has always been predicated on doing the best that I can with the ability that God has given me, trying to reach as far as I possibly can. And if I fall a little bit short, then I'm still farther ahead than if I hadn't reached at all.

Don Shula

Buying a share of a good business is better than buying a share of a bad business. One way to do this is to purchase a business that can invest its own money at high rates of return rather than purchasing a business that can only invest at lower ones. In other words, businesses that earn a high return on capital are better than businesses that earn a low return on capital.