James D. Watson Quotes

Risk it; go for it. Life always gives you another chance, another go at it. It's very important to take enormous risks.

From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.

There is the morass, wherein you plunge up to your knees, or the walking over the stubborn, dwarfish shrubbery, whereby one treads down the forests of Labrador; and the unexpected bunting or sylvia which perchance, and indeed as if by chance alone, you now and then see flying before you, or hear singing from the ground creeping plant.

My dogs are more important than my family.

I do think taking the 20s to take the most chances you can is important, because you're not going to hurt anyone else during that time. And if you do have a partner, you need a couple years to rehearse that relationship.

But you've reached them, and I've always wanted to reach people. I'm the first one to say I love my fans because they love that I took a chance.

A traveller must buy his own experience, and success or failure depends mainly on personal idiosyncrasies.

I prefer to be alive, so I'm cautious about taking risks.

Artists like cats; soldiers like dogs.

Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.

The scars of others should teach us caution.

If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.

I have done everything I have ever wanted to do. I have swum with tiger sharks, been charged by lions and elephants. I have been shot three times, chased by crocodiles and, God be praised, I've made enough money that I can continue to do all the things I want to for as long as I am able.

I think there's a difference between a gamble and a calculated risk.

You can't tell them anything, but hopefully they will learn from the example and won't have to go through it.

A lot of people don't get second chances.

The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again I'd make all the same mistakes - only sooner.

I'm going to write a book, continue acting, continue motivational speaking and just share with people who I am and what I've learned in my second chance of life and pass it on to people in their first chance of life.

You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.

I'm an incredibly lucky girl. For someone who has made some very foolish mistakes and had some tough lessons to learn very quickly, I am still incredibly lucky.

Without any intended hubris, I've lead a pretty exciting life. What I've tried to do in Mission Compromised is draw on those experiences to create a sense of excitement and realism within the story.

I don't think I really have any wisdom. Stay out of trouble. Good luck. Stay away from women because they will burn you, haha.

A rattlesnake that doesn't bite teaches you nothing.

The family motto of the House of Marlborough from which I descend is Faithful but Unfortunate. But I, by my enterprise, nay daring, have reversed the motto, [to] Faithless but Fortunate.

Like many people of my generation, I feel like I survived my adolescent mischief only by a miracle, and it seems too much to hope for that the same miracle would befall my children - therefore, I want to make sure they take fewer chances than I did.