Delia Ephron Quotes

I'm always prepared for the worst.

In a weird way, I'm always going to ground myself. I'm an insecure kind of pessimist, but I'm always kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The military has to think in terms of worst case scenarios. In a sense, they have to play the pessimist.

When one plan that you have, to get this or to get that, to advance in the world, or whatever it might be, when that seems in danger of veering off the path you have set for it, you have your emergency plan ready. And in simple language what that emergency plan is, what you put into operation, is called worry. If you can worry you are occupied, and what an incredible human situation it is!

I've gotten to the age where I'm comfortable with just about everything - except getting old!

I learned one of the very important lessons in life in the 9/11 attacks. It's good to have a plan for your future; it's even better to write your plan in pencil.

As a child, I thought, 'Once I am a grown-up, there will be no more fear, no more worries,' and it turns out that's not true.

I've had a lifelong waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop feeling when something good happens.

When things go well I'm always looking for the next hiccup.

I kind of spooked myself about getting older. It's not that bad really.

Even if you're an optimist, there's some part of you that just tries to toughen up and be pragmatic and go, 'This isn't gonna happen. This isn't gonna happen.' I really felt that way through the process of 'Korra' because I knew 'Avatar,' and I knew how wonderful it was, and I was so terrified.

When Savage died, that was hard on me. I didn't even hardly know Randy, but I just turned 51 this past December, and he was 58 when he died. I'm like, 'Hey man, just because I'm in that line of work, do I have an expiration date? Am I supposed to go?' I always wonder, but I don't harbor it.

99.999% of everything you worry about doesn't even come true anyway.

I'm just waiting for the day when my songs aren't flying. Because I kind of believe in Murphy's law - if something can go wrong, it eventually will.

I am always the type of person who is waiting for the other shoe to drop and for it to peter out and end. And if it does that's fine.

After you find out all the things that can go wrong, your life becomes less about living and more about waiting.

Another way to be prepared is to think negatively. Yes, I'm a great optimist. but, when trying to make a decision, I often think of the worst case scenario. I call it 'the eaten by wolves factor.' If I do something, what's the most terrible thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves? One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist, is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don't worry about, because I have a plan in place if they do.

Fear comes with middle age.

My mentors grow old and foolish. I am afraid.

An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb

Life is first boredom, then fear.

One of the best lessons I've ever gotten in my life is to anticipate nothing because it's always worse in your head than it really is.

I, myself, often wished to be spared the expectation of better days ahead or such.

The danger is different from the fear. ... [practice] what to do if things go wrong, as well as right.