First-rate Quotes

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.

Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground floor.

As horrible as jail was, there were some first-rate guys in there.

What's terrible is to pretend that second-rate is first-rate. To pretend that you don't need love when you do; or you like your work when you know quite well you're capable of better.

A first-rate organizer is never in a hurry. He is never late. He always keeps up his sleeve a margin for the unexpected.

A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

There is more credit and satisfaction in being a first-rate truck driver than a tenth-rate executive.

I will say that Edward Norton, who plays the scout master, would be a first-rate Eagle Scout. He's got all those techniques. If your plane crashes into the jungle somewhere, he would be the guy you would want to have with you.

I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people.

We class schools into four grades: leading school, first-rate school, good school and school.

A theatre receives recognition through its initiative, which is indispensable for first-rate performances.

You might lose your spontaneity and, instead of composing first-rate Gershwin, end up with second rate Ravel.