E. L. Doctorow Quotes

I'm a bit of a pessimist, oh yeah, and I always think the film I'm about to make is going to be a disaster.

I'm afraid to fail again.

Doubt is most often the source of our powerlessness. To doubt is to be faithless, to be without hope or belief. When we doubt, our self-talk sounds like this: 'I don't think I can. I don't think I will.'... To doubt is to have faith in the worst possible outcome. It is to believe in the perverseness of the universe, that even if I do well, something I don't know about will get in the way, sabotage me, or get me in the end.

Underconfidence breeds underachievement.

So I feel that lack of qualification. And I'm scared. And I have a tendency to think things may not/probably won't work out. That's my basic mindset.

I am not comfortable telling people I am trying stand-up because to me that implies confidence. I'm - well, I'm not.

To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so.

I'm probably the most pessimistic actor I know. I'm always sure I'll never work again.

Well, I certainly did not think that I could do worse.

To expect defeat is nine-tenths of defeat itself.

Losers are people who are afraid of losing.

I don't think I am any good. If I thought I was any good, I wouldn't be.

So far I haven't really been prominent enough to get critical attention focused on me. So, of course, I fully expect bad reviews, but I will be wracked with misery as a result.

It's kind of a rule of thumb for me to self-doubt going into any kind of project. I always think that I shouldn't be doing it and I don't know how to do it and I'm going to fail and that I fooled them. I always try to find a way out.

It's funny, I never think I'm doing that well. I've never, ever. I just constantly think, 'This isn't working out.'

I feel like I'm not smart enough to answer the questions I'm asked.

I think I've failed every test I've ever taken. If there was a failure I would have been it.

The 'Okay-I'll-give-it-a-try-but-I-don't-think-it-will-work' attitude produces failures.

I don't want to carry the burden of a flop. I don't fall into that trap.

I hate getting things wrong and I hate failing.

Art scares me. I don't feel cool enough to be an artist.

We're not very confident performers, and if we don't get a laugh we get insecure.

I don't think anyone would want to come to my gallery show.

I'm a pessimist by nature. I don't think things are ever going to work out, I'm not particularly ambitious.

Accepting that the odds are against you is the same as accepting defeat before you begin.