Mara Wilson Quotes

I never felt I was quite the ticket academically. I always felt I had to put in an enormous amount of effort not to be disappointing. So I worked really hard, but at the time it suited me, because I didn't do very much else.

I was a dummy in school.

I think like a lot of people, you look back on your life and say, 'Gee, why didn't I apply myself?' If I would have spent as much time studying as I did conniving, trying to do as little as possible, I probably would have got the A's.

When I went to college, I was doing well in school, but I didn't have any drive to study.

My grades in high school were not very good. I was that kind of perfectionist that figured if you can't do it perfectly, why do it at all? So my grades weren't great, but I feel like, is there any other way that I could have gotten into NYU? I don't know. I think that it definitely worked in my favor in some ways.

I second-guess and overthink and rethink every single thing that I do.

So fear helps me from making mistakes, but I make lot of mistakes.

But I think it is always difficult to have high expectations of yourself or anyone else.

Leave undone whatever you hesitate to do.

I was a very good student. Procrastinating gives me anxiety, and getting a B really ticked me off. Sure, I didn't always want to do my homework, but I actually really liked school. As nerdy as it sounds, I love learning.

I've never felt completely satisfied with what I've done. I tend to see things too critically. I'm trying to get over that.

I'm so super-critical of everything that I do.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I'll watch myself back on 'Xtra Factor' and want to do it again because of a few hiccups.

I was in high school, trying to get out of high school. The only thing slowing me up was grades.

I've never been one who agonizes over my work.

I still worry that I could be better. That's where standards come from, from not wanting to settle. The fear of not being good enough propels you.

I wasn't very good in academics, but I could have been if I could have studied well. I was a smart kid.

Sometimes I get insecure about being a real director because I look at the great directors, and they have such command. But maybe that keeps me critical of myself. Maybe it keeps me moving forward.

I do have high standards. I look at everything I have done and think, 'Why wasn't that better?' Part of my motivation is from crippling self-doubt - I have got to prove myself wrong.

My mind is always going. I'm always thinking what I need to do, what I haven't done, what I did do, what I didn't do as well as I could - I'm relentless that way with myself.

I am never satisfied with myself and that is what keeps me going - I have no post-satisfaction.

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

One of the by-products of being a perfectionist and constantly trying to improve myself are sobering feelings of low-grade anxiety and a nagging sense of inadequacy. But this is not anxiety without a purpose. No, this anxiety keeps me humble. It creates a healthy tension that serves as the catalyst that drives me to fulfill my limited potential.

School, I never truly got the knack of. I could never focus on things I didn't want to learn.

In primary school I was terrible. I don't think I was particularly well behaved in high school, but I started to apply myself.