Katharine Cornell Quotes

When I try to be perfect, it makes me not have fun.

I'm neurotic. I complain all the time. I'm a workaholic. And I'm never satisfied.

A lot of times, in the beginning of my career, I put pressure on myself just because I wanted to perform so well. I just wanted to be perfect.

I stress out a lot. Being a perfectionist doesn't help with that!

It's a bit of a headache being a perfectionist. You're never satisfied.

I struggle with perfection.

I'm always thinking 'Don't mess this up.'

Writing on assignment, with lots of money handed to you before you even began, got very scary for me. My dread of not being perfect, something I got from a childhood surrounded by powerful, successful people, began to infect everything I wrote.

Even when I had a run of successful prime-time shows, I couldn't sit down and enjoy my success. I would beat myself up and scrutinise everything. I'm a natural-born worrier.

I've worried more and more as the years have gone on. The more you're seen to be doing well, the more stress there is. You feel you ought to consider things more, and be more fussy - there's further to fall. All these little worries.

Running a successful, growing company in Silicon Valley can create an ironic sort of depression and delusion. The better you're doing, the higher the stakes, and higher expectations for you to win. Maybe that's why people say it's so hard. But that doesn't make it hard. That just makes it distracting.

There is such pressure on kids these days to be the best at everything.

If I didn't swim my best, I'd think about it at school, at dinner, with my friends. It would drive me crazy.

I put so much pressure on myself to be perfect. Between homework and sports and drama and being social, I slept about four hours a night through high school and college.

I want to be perfect. I don't want to fail. And you always fail.

I'm a junkie for exhaustion, and I'm a junkie for setting up my expectations too high and then trying to meet them.

I'm actually constantly a bit nervous because I never want to disappoint anyone, you know?

I'm always looking to the next thing. There are always hurdles, whether it's the White House dinner or hosting charity events or that night's show: Until they're over, I worry, then I move right on to the next thing. It's hard for me to enjoy the moment. I'm just thinking about not failing.

I'm tortured because I care. I'm always upset about not doing things as good as I think I could have because I care.

I think I'm slightly OCD. I'll be desperate to get a part, but as soon as I do, the sense of pride wears off almost immediately, and fear of not doing a good job sets in. I'll think, 'This is a dream come true,' and then, 'It's not OK until I get a good review.'

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 feel the pressure of getting something right.

I think, all my life, I've grown up and had high expectations, but that becomes so stressful.

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 try not to focus too much on the expectations there are of me.