Rick Riordan Quotes

I think anytime you put the weight of the world on yourself saying, 'I have to perform,' or, 'I have to get a completion. I have to throw a touchdown,' nine times out of 10, I think you're going to fail.

I remember, playing in college especially, I cried in almost every game I played. I just felt so much stress and pressure that I was letting everyone down if I didn't score a goal or win the game. I carried that weight with me into every game.

It has gotten worse as I'm becoming more successful. My nerves. Just because there's a bit more pressure, and people are expecting a lot more from me.

Stress is something that is sort of out of your control. You get stressed out over looking at the finish line. Stress is something that is an outside thing. Stress is an anxiety.

I feel like I want to take care of everyone and I also feel this terrible guilt if I am unable to. And I have felt this way ever since all this success started.

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.

I was so worried about winning, it was as if I was caught up in my own web.

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

Listen, if you start worrying about the people in the stands, before too long you're up in the stands with them.

I think if you start to think too much about things that are completely out of control, it will just drive you crazy as an actor.

A lot of people have to deal with the feeling that their worlds are caving in.

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.

Every human being you see in the course of a day has a problem that's sucking up at least 70 percent of his or her radar.

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

Life is shining a light through a magnifying glass on me, looking for me to stumble. I think that's my biggest fear.

There is such a hype and a big build up to me, and it's very hard to meet those expectations. That's been a big stress in my life.

I think so many people live their whole life in fear and doubt and shame.

I feel pressure because I feel like I have a lot of parents in my life; I have a lot of people who are scared that I'm going to do something wrong.

When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me, and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day.

Decision-making is very scary for me.

I'm always living at least a year ahead of where I'm really at, and that can really lead you to some negative thoughts and some bad vibes.

I think when I start thinking about results, I stop playing the right way because I start getting too nervous.

When you're doing so much, there's so much on your mind. The bigger the artist you become, you have to think a lot more. I'm trying not to overthink everything!

It's in me to get steaming and to think too much, worry too much about the future, the past.