Paul Auster Quotes

One must not love oneself so much, as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us, and those that fend off danger will lose their lives.

It's very scary to become someone new, to take that path less followed.

You remember that I told you it was safer not to know. But,' he went on, as his hands moved wuth their sure and practiced motion, 'I will tell you just a little, because you were so very brave.' Brave?' Annemarie asked, surprised. 'No, I wasn't. I was very frightened.' You risked your life.' But I didn't even think about that! I was only thinking of-' He interrupted her,smiling. 'That's all that brave means-not thinking about the dangers. Just thinking about what you must do. Of course you were frightened. I was too, today. But you kept your mind on what you had to do. So did I.

To gain your heart's desire you have to lose some part of your old life, your old self. To do that you have to have courage; without it, you can't make the leap. And if you don't make the leap you have only three choices: You can hate yourself for not taking the chance, you can hate the person from whom you've sacrificed your happiness, or you can hate the one who offered you happiness, and blame them for your lack of courage, convince yourself it wasn't real.

In order for people to be happy, sometimes they have to take risks. It's true these risks can put them in danger of being hurt.

I would have perished had I not perished.

I think to be courageous, you have to be afraid. For me, it feels very courageous when I go skiing because I'm very, very afraid to ski. It's dangerous! I feel very scared. But when I'm acting, I don't feel very scared.

To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner.

It's only when you risk failure that you discover things. When you play it safe, you're not expressing the utmost of your human experience.

I find it somewhat liberating to jump, to dive into things that are the opposite of me.

I always say, you know, if I sit here and close my eyes and say, 'When did I learn the most in my life, in my career?' It'll always be when I close them and everything I think of is when I took a risk. It's when I think I learned the most.

Look, I would say that anyone who does this work and doesn't have a strain of idealism is an adrenaline junkie or completely narcissistic. There is no other justification. You're risking your life, and if anything happens, it's our families who suffer tremendously.

A lot of people ask me when I do a stunt, 'Jackie, are you scared?' Of course I'm scared. I'm not Superman.

Getting to a place of comfort can be uncomfortable.

When I decided to stay in Iraq, I decided to take the fear out of my body and put it into a freezer.

The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open.

If we are intended for great ends, we are called to great hazards.

The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live.

To keep oneself safe does not mean to bury oneself.

The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it.

I'm that sensitive, honest guy who likes people, wants to know why, and who puzzles everyone by continually putting himself in harm's way.

In all of my books, I'm taking them on an emotionally challenging and sometimes physically dangerous process with a bit of fun and anarchy along the way. With the power comes responsibility.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Get more confidence by doing things that excite and frighten you.

My motto in life is 'Take risks;' you don't have a voice if you don't. You have to venture outside your boundaries. That's what life's all about.