Paul F. Tompkins Quotes

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?'

I was working in customer service and had a verbally abusive boss. One day, I decided to quit and pursue my acting passion with everything I had. One week after quitting, I booked 'One Life to Live.'

I think people thought I was crazy for leaving Mexico when I had any project I wanted falling at my feet. But I risked everything to come to Los Angeles, where no one knew who I was, and start all over again. It was a very hard step to take. However, it was the moment I thought it was right to take a risk in my career.

I started studying at 26. Before that, I never thought of acting as something that I would ever try.

From the time I was 16, I wanted to live in Paris. When I graduated college and didn't have a job, I went to take the LSAT because I didn't know what else to do. I walked out in the middle of the test and eventually found an internship in Paris at L'Oreal.

I could have easily been too afraid to say 'yes' to Chicago, because it requires so much I haven't done before. If I am a flop at singing and dancing, maybe my love for it will carry me through.

I feel more like I'm a person who has so much to offer in different capacities that it would be a danger for me not to give myself a chance to spread my wings in all different directions.

Once I accomplish one thing and I'm satisfied, I try something else. I may be 50 and doing something totally outside of music and acting. Maybe I'll become a kindergarten teacher.

I really chose a path after 'Grown Ups' of doing different things that I hadn't tried before, and just trying to take on those challenges.

At 17, I realized that it's going to be a tough decision to make, but I had the clarity of thought to walk out of cricket and try my luck in acting.

If you start worrying about risks, you might as well stay inside the womb.

I quit my job when I was earning Rs 1.5 lakh per month, when my position was at a peak, I had a H1-B and could have gone offshore and lived comfortably. But I knew I would achieve something if I followed my heart, and gave that all up.

When I walked away from my role as Angie in 'Eastenders' all those years ago, it was a huge risk, but I always had this great desire to do so many things.

When I left I knew I was gonna go back to WWE. But I needed to go because whatever I was doing wasn't working. I needed to take a chance on myself and get better. The only way to do that was take some risks and go somewhere.

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.

If you don't like what you're doing, get out.

So now, I exhort you with this truth: Don't spend all your life playing it safe! Safety is very comfortable, but it may be keeping you from God's perfect plan for your life.

...life is all about chances. You might be safer not taking any. But playing it totally safe means you're only existing. Not living. I want to live.

Venture nothing, and life is less than it should be.

I never wanted to be the person who said, "I woulda, coulda, shoulda." Life is way too short, and you may not last that long. I dropped out of Yale after two years to pursue one of the most uncertain careers - modeling. That seemed like a crazy decision, especially coming from where I came from and given what Yale is. Most people I knew told me so. But I was following what my heart was telling me I needed to do. I took the risk. It could easily have not worked out, but it did. Phew!

You might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

I left my apartment in London and I sold everything. I literally had $1000 and a suitcase when I got on the plane. The next day I enrolled in my first acting class. We had some great people, Jim Carrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Molly Ringwald. It was very inspirational.

If you don't throw yourself into something, you'll never know what you could have had.

Instead of failure being the outcome, failure became not trying. And it forced me at a young age to want to push myself so much further out of my comfort zone.

One of the reasons for putting yourself on the line, is that life is not simply treading water... I always felt that once you reach a certain point, you have to try and move ahead.