Dorothy Hamill Quotes

We're taught at such a young age that you can always be better and that you're never perfect and that you're never good enough.

I'm never, like I say, I'm never happy, I'm never satisfied, it's never good enough.

I still worry that I could be better. That's where standards come from, from not wanting to settle. The fear of not being good enough propels you.

I think there's a tremendous amount of guilt that goes on between mothers and daughters, no matter how good or bad their relationships are.

I looked up at my mom, and I was like, 'Well, Mom, uh, when you really think about it, C's aren't really that bad. C's are average.' And I've never seen my mom so upset, to this day. I just saw this flash of fire in her eyes, and she yelled, 'Average? You are never allowed to be average, because you look like me.'

I'm obviously slightly ill, because there is a burning desire to be perfect in me. It's probably the Catholic, or the ex-Catholic in me.

When I'm tough on myself, I'm never satisfied.

As a mother, I'm constantly feeling like a failure.

That's the thing with me: I'm never satisfied.

People - myself included - expect a certain standard from me. I always have to elaborate or improve on my playing. My success hasn't made me at all laid-back. That relentless drive is still there.

As women we try so hard to be perfect at everything, all the time. It's impossible.

I'm my hardest critic because I know what I can do and I strive to be as perfect as I can be even though I know it's not possible.

My parents were fantastic. I was an only child, so I had a lot of love and too much attention. I don't think I was spoilt. My mother was quite a disciplinarian, but I did have a lot of attention and quite a lot of pressure to do well at whatever I was doing.

When I see siblings in some families not get along, I just struggle with that. My wife says I need to be more real about it, but I just can't believe it when it happens.

Perfectionism rarely begets perfection, or satisfaction - only disappointment.

I know now that much of the pressure that resulted in my breakdown was self-imposed. I didn't let myself enjoy the opportunities I was given, choosing instead to doubt myself.

I guess when you come from a supportive family they always expect the best of you.

I think my own thinking is harsher than my mom's discipline.

I be thinking sometimes, maybe I'm just too hard on people. Maybe I want too much. But no, I don't. All my granny did was cook for me, tell me that she love me, gave me hugs every now and then.

Sometimes when people ask a lot of me, or they're not liking what I'm turning in, especially when I'm working one on one with someone, I can get really insecure.

I used to focus so much on winning. I used to be such a perfectionist.

I am very hard on myself. I know the slightest loss of concentration, the slightest mistake will be punished. I try to limit it as much as possible.

I can be a nag. And my mother can be a nag. It's a nagging relationship, but we know that it's loving.

It's a blessing and a curse, 'cause I'm never satisfied, so I continually want to outdo myself. But still, I'm never happy.

Striving is exhausting. Sometimes I do say things like, 'I wish I were not quite this driven to be excellent.' It's not a comfortable life. It's not relaxed. I'm not relaxed as a person. I mean, I'm not unhappy. But... it's the opposite of being comfortable.