Jennifer Egan Quotes

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

There is always a point when one senses one's lack of skill, the doubt.

I'm in a complete state of panic before I begin something because I'm sure that it's going to be a complete disaster. I'm going to do a worse job than anybody could ever imagine anybody doing on the planet Earth.

Anything you can suck at should make you nervous.

I always think that I'm not going to be right for a movie or that there's someone else who can do it better.

My biggest fear is that I'm not good enough. I have this voice in my head that I've been battling for years that says, 'You're not really talented enough. You don't really deserve this.'

There are several times when I walked into a room and just felt like such a sham. That's the problem with auditioning.

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.

Being insecure - I'm a master, a virtuoso - they can be handing me the keys to the kingdom and all I can think is, I hope I don't drop the key.

I don't even know why I'm saying this in an interview situation, but I always feel like I'm not good enough for some reason. I wish that wasn't the case, but left to my own devices, that voice starts speaking up.

Ninety percent of the time when I'm working, there's this very palpable sensation that I'm doing everything wrong and should just give up.

I always think I'm terrible. So it's always a relief when I find out that I wasn't. I've had roles where I realized that I was in way over my head - and that is my biggest fear.

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.

Well, I think again, the worst part of it was just leading up to it, before we got on set, at least for me... dreading this idea that I was just going to suck and I really had strong feelings about that. I just didn't want to be that weak link.

Am I about to feel really, really stupid?

When I come up against the real world, I just vacillate.

I used to second guess myself all the time. I can sit there and work in circles when I'm nervous about what I'm doing.

I knew I wasn't a baseball writer. I was scared to death. I really was afraid to talk to players, and I didn't want to go into the press box because I thought I was faking it.

I'm usually convinced that what I'm working on is a total disaster.

I second-guess myself all the time. I make a decision and then wonder if I made the wrong choice.

Sometimes I panic and think I can't really write.

Pressure is something you feel when you don't know what you're doing.

Lack of confidence - every time I start a new piece of work, it seems I have to spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it.

Fear comes in two packages fear of failure, and sometimes, fear of success.

I was always self-conscious about the fact that I didn't have as much comedy experience as other people at 'SNL,' and I kept thinking they were going to realize they'd made a mistake by hiring me.