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

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.

When I teach writing, I have a mantra: 'Be a first-rate version of yourself, and not a second-rate version of another writer.'

If we remain complacent, we'll be a second-rate competitor.

But no work from a first rate mind is ever really second rate.