John W. Gardner Quotes

There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.

Whenever there's a role that scares me, I get panicked and nervous. I know that greatness might come because I'm going to get out of my own element and comfort zone.

True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful.

Everyone has a 'risk muscle.' You keep it in shape by trying new things. If you don't, it atrophies. Make a point of using it at least once a day.

He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

What all my years in improvisation taught is that - if you're going to grow as a performer - you have to try some new things. You've got to be willing to take a few risks.

I find myself going to places where I really have no business, speaking to these people in a whole other field that I have no extensive knowledge of. But I do it very often because it scares me.

I really try to put myself in uncomfortable situations. Complacency is my enemy.

I've learned in my life that it's important to be able to step outside your comfort zone and be challenged with something you're not familiar or accustomed to. That challenge will allow you to see what you can do.

It seems like the more I live, the more I realize that saying 'yes' is almost never a mistake. If you say no, it might feel safe, but then you end up going nowhere.

I've arrived at the place if I'm not taking a career risk, I'm not happy. If I'm scared, then I know I'm being challenged.

You need the willingness to fail all the time.

I need to learn how to face challenges.

I can only put myself in the process and try to learn through the process. Sometimes it will go well and sometimes it won't.

I've permitted myself to learn and to fail with some regularity. And that is probably the one thing I was given, and that I'm still grateful for.

The more I do, the more frightened I get. But that is essential. Otherwise why would I go on doing it?

It's difficult because we tend to overrate the pain of failure. We fear it too much. That's research that emerges from psychology. We think it's going to be worse than it really is. And, I think, as we get a bit older, really after we leave school or college, we quickly stop experimenting.

Maybe you will be afraid and maybe you will fail, but the courage to take risks in any part of your life is, I feel, a very worthwhile way to live.

Well, the idea is that failure is an inevitable partner on the road to success and, if you're not willing to confront failure, you can never find out how good you are.

I'm always looking for a new thing that really terrifies me that I think I can't do it and accomplish that.

Too many people don't do things for fear of falling. You'll never get good unless you fall. Experiences and new accomplishments are feelings we should never lose.

It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something.

If a person is not willing to make a mistake, you're never going to do anything right.

I have always considered the price of perfection prohibitive and allowed mistakes as a part of the learning process. I prefer a dash of daring and persistence to perfection.