Tom Noonan Quotes

A lot of people in Hollywood, and everywhere pretty much, operate on fear. No one wants to get fired, so everyone's scared to take a chance. There's money involved, and there are careers and reputations on the line.

People tend to settle for the fiver rather than going for the pot of gold.

The thing is most people are afraid to step out, to take a chance beyond their established identity.

We really only have two choices. Play it safe, or take a chance. For me, pulling back because of fear has always made me feel worse.

When I teach seminars, I tell people, 'Your stuff has to look like something that's out there, because otherwise nobody will take a chance on you.'

If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.

The quickest way may not necessarily be the best.

Caution is the path to mediocrity.

We can easily become as much slaves to precaution as we can to fear. Although we can never rivet our fortune so tight as to make it impregnable, we may by our excessive prudence squeeze out of the life that we are guarding so anxiously all the adventurous quality that makes it worth living.

being afraid to take chances is scarier than actually doing things that challenge you.

The good is always the enemy of the best.

There's a tremendous bias against taking risks. Everyone is trying to optimize their ass-covering.

I am persuaded that foolish writers and foolish readers are created for each other; and that fortune provides readers as she does mates for ugly women.

We suffered failures of imagination just like everyone else, our daring was wanting, and our daily contentment too nearly adequate for us to give it up.

We have to pick and choose between good and a little bit better.

You can not achieve success without the risk of failure. If you are not afraid to fail, than you have a chance, but you are never going to get there unless you risk it.

If we all leap before we crawl, we might fall.

Mix sheer hypocrisy with mediocrity, You play it safe every time.

The pervasive attitude is that it's crazy to invite more danger into your life.

We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure.

If your standards are low, you're going to stop pretty early on in the process.

All too often, the security of a mediocre present is more comfortable than the adventure of trying to be more in the future.

The good is the enemy of the best.

If you don't take a chance-you won't have a chance.

Do not be one of those who, rather than risk failure, never attempts anything.