Dervla Kirwan Quotes

I'm a perfectionist, which I think is a mistake.

I always had the sense that nothing was never good enough - striving for perfection. My mother and I had a sort of typical mother-daughter relationship.

I have to say that I've always believed perfectionism is more of a disease than a quality. I do try to go with the flow but I can't let go.

I think I have serious latent Catholic guilt issues.

Perfectionist? That's not something I am.

Perfectionists are their own devils.

Sometimes I get frustrated with my own self because I'm such a perfectionist.

I'm ultimately a perfectionist who doesn't believe in perfection.

When I'm tough on myself, I'm never satisfied.

As a mother, I'm constantly feeling like a failure.

I don't think there's any such thing as perfection. But I'm a perfectionist. I don't believe in the idea of perfection, but I will strive to achieve it.

A cultivated and decent man cannot be vain without setting a fearfully high standard for himself, and without despising and almost hating himself at certain moments.

I'm such a perfectionist. I can be like, 'This has to be like this. And this, and this and this.' But then you realize a lot of things that you thought mattered, they really don't matter.

Many people love in themselves what they hate in others.

More than anything else I recall being, or trying very deliberately to be, a perfect child. Not a Goody Two-shoes, but a kid who did good, who worked hard and met every expectation. I strove to achieve in the excessive way that psychotherapists tend to regard with concern.

Perfectionism attaches to what is valued in the culture.

I'm cursed with this puritanical streak that makes me want everything to be about something. It's a terrible affliction.

I have a perfectionist mentality; I want things to be right. But I've had a little duel over the years with that mentality. Because it can inhibit you.

A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.

But I always feel that whatever I do, I could do better. I suppose it is perfectionism.

It really annoys me that I'm vain, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to discard that tendency.

I have an unfortunate personality.

I don't believe in perfection. I don't think there is such a thing. But the energy of wanting things to be great is a perfectionist energy.

Perfection, to me, means you spend much too much time trying to be perfect.

My dad was very critical and had very high expectations without a lot of the details filled in. It was, 'I expect you to achieve greatness in grades, in athletics, in whatever you do.'