Cyril Connolly Quotes

Some people are motivated by visualizing themselves reaching their dream. Some people are motivated by the nightmare of not reaching it. Do both.

Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.

The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.

You don't know what you're doing. You're just hoping that people won't make fun of you. I had no idea how it would turn out.

Success is seldom achieved by people who contemplate the possibility of failure

It's one of the worst nightmare situations we could create for a young character, having the people who are supposed to believe in you keep telling you you're nothing.

Don't listen to the malicious comments of those friends who, never taking any risks themselves, can only see other people's failures.

One reason people never attempt new things is their fear of failure.

If we [Microsoft Corporation] weren't still hiring great people and pushing ahead at full speed, it would be easy to fall behind and become a mediocre company. Fear should guide you, but it should be latent. I have some latent fear. I consider failure on a regular basis.

No matter how many people celebrate your gifts, don't ever think that you are more important to them than your gift is to them. This is why many people fail: They fail because they think that people came to follow them.

For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future; but an excuse can last for life.

O wise man, wash your hands of that friend who associates with your enemies.

Successful people just don't let failure define them or keep them from doing what they want to do. For example, I'd have people come up to me after my shows, and they'd say they want to do stand-up but are scared they're going to fail. I'd tell them, "You are going to fail, and anyone who is success has powered through many, many failures."

Surround yourself with supportive people. All the negative people, man you have to push them aside.

What people are afraid of isn't failure. It's blame. Criticism.

The people who are unemployed want to do the work, but the system is such a catastrophic failure that it cannot bring together idle hands and work. This is all hailed as a great success, and it is a great success - for a very small sector of the population.

In your hands you hold the seeds of failure - or the potential for greatness.

Success will come. Or it won't. But I think you can only make a go at it in a big way by fully being yourself and taking risks. People can feel risks.

People are dream killers--you've got to be careful who you give emotional access to.

I'm 48. For a while after 'The Jerk' (movie) I had a feeling of failure. I was a little scared. First people discover you and they love you. You get big and then you fail. And people are glad that you fail. But I've always come back and I've started to trust myself.

Most people, after one success, are so cringingly afraid of doing less well that they rub all the edge off their subsequent work.

One good maxim to keep in mind, and I can't remember who said it, "You meet the same people on the way down that you meet on the way up, but you're going the other way."

Big part of the challenge to innovation is that people too easily resign themselves to dying.

The greatest failure is not to try. Had I listened to all the people during the course of my life who said, "You can't. You'll fail. It won't work. You don't have...," I wouldn't be here today.