Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy motive; but the desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger, or more intelligent than a fellow being or fellow scholar easily leads to an excessively egoistic psychological adjustment, which may become injurious for the individual and for the community. Therefore, the school and the teacher must guard against employing the easy method of creating individual ambition, in order to induce the pupils to diligent work ... The most important motive for work in the school and in life is the pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community. In the awakening and strengthening of these psychological forces in the young man, I see the most important task given by the school.

The wise man doesn't compete; therefore nobody can compete with him.

Competitions are for horses, not artists.

It is in the blood of genius to love play for its own sake, and whether one uses one's skill on thrones or women, swords or pens, gold or fame, the game's the thing.

When two souls compose a single song, The muse fans Livid wrath before long.

He may well win the race that runs by himself.

Potter is potter's enemy, and craftsman is craftsman's rival; tramp is jealous of tramp, and singer of singer.

A country's competitiveness starts not on the factory floor or in the engineering lab. It starts in the classroom.

Man is a gaming animal. He must be always trying to get the better in something or other.

Man has risen so far above all other species that he competes in ways unique in nature. He fights by means of complicated weapons; he fights for ends remote in time.