Daily Inspiration Quote by Vin Scully

“Good is not good when better is expected” has the clipped, scoreboard clarity of a broadcaster who spent a lifetime translating pressure into plain English. Vin Scully isn’t preaching perfectionism for its own sake; he’s naming the psychological trap that elite performance creates. “Good” is a moving target. The moment a standard rises - because you’ve done it before, because the team is stacked, because the city’s paying attention - yesterday’s success becomes today’s baseline, and anything short of it feels like failure.

The line works because it smuggles in two competing truths. It honors excellence (better is possible, so reach) while exposing how expectation can quietly poison satisfaction. Scully’s genius, on the mic, was always this balance: romantic about the game, unsentimental about its outcomes. In sports, “expected” isn’t just personal ambition; it’s a public contract. Fans, media, and history all co-author the demand. When “better” is expected, “good” stops being a compliment and becomes an accusation: you left something on the table.

The subtext is also generational and professional. Scully broadcast through eras when consistency was sacred, when showing up every day mattered as much as flashes of brilliance. He’s talking about craft - the daily work of meeting the standard you helped create. It’s a warning and a pep talk, delivered in the same seven words: excellence isn’t a destination, it’s the rent.