A collection of performance quotes from leaders and thinkers to inspire high achievement, boost motivation, and drive success.
Whether you’re an individual striving for personal bests, a manager aiming to motivate your team, or a leader shaping organizational culture, having the right perspective is key to achieving peak performance. The following collection of performance quotes is curated from renowned thinkers, business magnates, and motivational speakers to ignite your drive and inspiration for success in every aspect of your professional journey!
(by Jonathan M. Pham)
Short Performance Quotes
- Don’t lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. – Ralph Marston
- An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises. – Mae West
- Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. – Denis Waitley
- The true measure of the value of any business leader and manager is performance. – Brian Tracy
- Champions keep playing until they get it right. – Billie Jean King
Famous performance quotes
Motivational Performance Quotes
- Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. – Lou Holtz
- The best way to inspire people to superior performance is to convince them by everything you do and by your own attitude that you are wholeheartedly supporting them. – Harold S. Geneen
- Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill
- If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. – Bruce Lee
- Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. – Steve Jobs
Outstanding performance quotes
Good Performance Quotes
- Performance is about making people believe what they can achieve. – Harjeet Khanduja
- Organizational performance is impacted the most by alignment. – Harjeet Khanduja
- All good performance starts with clear goals. – Ken Blanchard
- The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. – Jimmy Johnson
- Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company. – Zig Ziglar
Read more: 45 Workplace Wellness Quotes – Beyond the Paycheck
Quotes on good performance at work
High Performance Quotes
- The important thing is to dare to dream big, then take action to make it come true. – Joe Girard
- I like to set aggressive targets; without them, you will get ordinary performances. – Piyush Goyal
- Excellence is not a skill, it’s an attitude. – Ralph Marston
- Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. – Thomas Jefferson
- Performance yields compounded growth. Ordinary becomes outstanding just by ounce of performance. – Gagandeep Kaushal
Read more: 55 Growth Mindset Quotes – Insights for Business & Life
Quote for well done on your performance
Performance Quotes for Employees
- When people are financially invested, they want a return. When emotionally invested, they want to contribute. – Simon Sinek
- Employees who believe management cares about them as people are more productive. – Anne M. Mulcahy
- Train people well enough so they can leave; treat them well enough so they don’t. – Richard Branson
- Great vision without great people is irrelevant. – Jim Collins
- The best way to motivate people is by setting high standards and helping them meet them. – Tony Robbins
Read more: 123 Motivational Quotes for Employees From Managers
Performance quotes for work
Team Performance Quotes
- To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace. – Doug Conant
- If we win the hearts and minds of employees, we’re going to have better business success. – Mary Barra
- The strength of the team is each individual member. – Phil Jackson
- Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there. – Virginia Burden
- When you hand good people possibility, they do great things. – Biz Stone
Read more: 45 Team Building Quotes for Sustainable Growth
Quotes about high performing teams
Quotes About Measuring Performance
- If you want it to happen, measure it. If you want it repeated, recognize it. – H. J. Chammas
- Performance feedback works both ways. – Harjeet Khanduja
- Performance ratings indicate current performance—not predictive of future role readiness. – Titus Winters
- That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially. – Karl Pearson
- Information/Knowledge management is differentiated business competency and plays a crucial role in running a high-performance business. – Pearl Zhu
Read more: 60 Learning and Development Quotes to Fuel Growth
Quotes about performance measurement
Performance Review Quotes
- A really effective Performance Management programme is closely entwined with the needs of the organization and looks at talent development as central to the conversation, as well as embracing regular discussion and feedback. – Kevin Lyons
- Performance management is tightly integrated with the business—business has no option but to do it. – Harjeet Khanduja
- A performance management system is critical to track return on investment in people. – Adil Malia
- Done right, a performance review is one of the best opportunities to encourage and support high performers and constructively improve your middle- and lower-tier workers. – Kathryn Minshew
- Good performance accountability is about having a positive conversation between manager and employee. A manager is a coach and communicator, not command and controller. – Dave Ulrich
Read more: 40 Accountability Quotes – The Glue That Binds
Quotes about performance review
Performance Management Quotes
- Performance management continues to be an important cornerstone of business and individual growth and development. – Sameer Nagarajan
- Performance should be an expectation of employment and leaders must create an environment where maximum performance is possible. – Rob Burn
- Transparency and openness are key to any effective performance management system. – Vinod Bidwaik
- The self-driven talent performance management pursues the digital way to run a purpose-driven organization. – Pearl Zhu
- What we can control is our performance and execution—and that’s what we will. – Bill Belichick
Read more: 125 Management Quotes – Essential Wisdom for Excellence
Quotes about performance management
Performance Quotes for Leaders
- Good leaders deliver results. Great leaders develop people. – Adam Grant
- The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born. – Warren Bennis
- A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit. – Arnold H. Glasow
- Good leaders organize and align people around what the team needs to do. Great leaders motivate and inspire people with why they’re doing it. That’s purpose. And that’s the key to achieving something truly transformational. – Marillyn Hewson
- Mastery is great, but even that is not enough. You have to be able to change course without a bead of sweat, or remorse. – Tom Peters
Read more: 110 Leadership Quotes to Unlock Greatness
Top performer quotes
Other resources you might be interested in:
- 60 Talent Quotes: Inspire, Develop, and Lead
- 60 Coaching Quotes: Illuminate the Path to Greatness
- 55 Company Culture Quotes: Building a Great Workplace
- 65 Entrepreneur Quotes: Wisdom to Launch & Lead
- 60 Business Strategy Quotes: From Planning to Profit
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