If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.
Meaning of the quote
If you're afraid of upsetting anyone, you'll end up aiming for the easiest, most basic level of success. You won't take risks or try to be great, because you'll be too worried about what others might think. Instead, you should focus on doing your best, even if it means some people might get a little upset. That's the only way to truly achieve something remarkable.
About Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter had a fascinating life as the 39th President of the United States. From his early days in Georgia to his post-presidency humanitarian work, Carter’s story is one of service, activism, and a continued commitment to peace and progress.
More quotes from Jimmy Carter
My decision to register women confirms what is already obvious throughout our society-that women are now providing all types of skills in every profession. The military should be no exception.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
We cannot be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
We must make it clear that a platform of ‘I hate gay men and women’ is not a way to become president of the United States.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
You just have to have a simple faith.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
It’s not necessary to fear the prospect of failure but to be determined not to fail.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
I look forward to these confrontations with the press to kind of balance up the nice and pleasant things that come to me as president.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
You can not divorce religious belief and public service. I’ve never detected any conflict between God’s will and my political duty. If you violate one, you violate the other.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can’t get my wife to go swimming.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
People make a big fuss over you when you’re President. But I’m very serious about doing everything I can to make sure that it doesn’t go to my head.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Testing oneself is best when done alone.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
For this generation, ours, life is nuclear survival, liberty is human rights, the pursuit of happiness is a planet whose resources are devoted to the physical and spiritual nourishment of its inhabitants.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
What has happened at Guantanamo Bay… does not represent the will of the American people. I’m embarrassed about it, I think its wrong. I think it does give terrorists an unwarranted excuse to use the despicable means to hurt innocent people.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
You can’t divorce religious belief and public service I’ve never detected any conflict between God’s will and my political duty. If you violate one, you violate the other.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
If you’re totally illiterate and living on one dollar a day, the benefits of globalization never come to you.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
I hate to see complacency prevail in our lives when it’s so directly contrary to the teaching of Christ.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing… you are talking about the Internet, you are talking about cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn’t affect two-thirds of the people of the world.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Sadat was a great and good man, and his most bitter and dangerous enemies were people who were obsessed with hatred for his peaceful goals.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Unless both sides win, no agreement can be permanent.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
To deal with individual human needs at the everyday level can be noble sometimes.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. People have the right to expect that these wants will be provided for by this wisdom.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
I thought then, and I think now, that the invasion of Iraq was unnecessary and unjust. And I think the premises on which it was launched were false.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature’s gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
There should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
I think what’s going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A. I wouldn’t say it’s the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
At the Carter Center we work with victims of oppression, and we give support to human rights heroes.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation. As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: ‘We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.’
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Whatever starts in California unfortunately has an inclination to spread.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981
The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.
president of the United States from 1977 to 1981