John Slattery Quotes

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.

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do.

What have you always wanted to do but been afraid to attempt? Whatever it is, it may be your greatest opportunity in life.

It took me realizing that a broken heart has never actually killed anyone to find the courage to ask for what I want, in just about every situation. That was part of my own growing up.

The only things you regret are the things you don't do.

That's why I made a comeback in 1988. I knew there were chances of not making it, but I didn't want to end up at sixty years old and say I should have tried when I was thirty-eight.

I believe in taking chances and living your life. Sometimes doors open and others close and you have to figure out which one you're going to take. I'm always for the one that's challenging.

I was terrified to go solo. It's lonely doing it by myself. But I wanted to challenge myself.

I don't mind if I fail or if I succeed. No matter what, I want to look back with no regrets.

I remember all the stages in my career where I almost didn't have enough confidence to try for something, almost didn't have the guts to follow something I was excited about doing, because I didn't know anyone else who'd done it, or other people made me question it.

To be held back by fear is to miss out on challenging yourself in different ways.

What is it that you're not doing - in your work, in your life - because you feel you need permission? If someone had given you that permission as a youngster, what do you think you'd be doing now?

The idea of taking command of your life and doing something that you're not sure if you can do and you're not really sure if you should do it, I think is pretty timeless. We all face those doubts often, if not constantly.

Your biggest failure is the thing you dreamed of contributing but didn't find the guts to do.

I find myself going to places where I really have no business, speaking to these people in a whole other field that I have no extensive knowledge of. But I do it very often because it scares me.

I feel myself becoming the fearless person I have dreamt of being. Have I arrived? No. But I'm constantly evolving and challenging myself to be unafraid to make mistakes.

At first, I was scared to show fear because you can never be sure how people will perceive you. But I dared myself to do that, to stand out. Now I'll talk about being beaten up or robbed or making a stupid decision because of a girl or whatever.

Living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don't go out on the branch, you're never going to get the best fruit.

I think what I would say to my younger self, and probably to younger, just starting-out writers is that a lot of times you're just afraid to put yourself out there, and it's uncomfortable because it's working up the courage to do something, to push yourself to do those things.

I started with the firm conviction that when I came to the end, I wanted to be regretting the things that I had done, not the things I hadn't.

I think when you move past your fear and you go after your dreams wholeheartedly, you become free.

I had grand visions of being in professional sports. But when reality set in, I went, 'Oh, OK. I'll just move to Hollywood and be an actor.' I didn't want to look back on my life and wonder, 'What if I had done this? Or I had done that?'

Risk means everything from being honest about your faith, to moving, to quitting a job that's paying you a fortune but it's not what's in your heart. Risking things is one of the biggest fears we have.

I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.

Most of the time, I do what I'm offered, but after I worked for it. I think I try much harder for the things that scare me and inspire me. The things that scare and inspire you are things that are different from what you did before.