John W. Gardner Quotes

The biggest mistake is being too afraid of making one.

I've made lots of mistakes. Probably the worst one - I would say they tie. It's either when I didn't move fast enough on something, or I didn't take a big enough risk.

The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you'll make one.

Unwillingness to risk failure is always there, but it gets harder when you feel you have more to lose.

My great fear has always been complete and utter failure. Hence, you see, all the dispossessed people in my fiction, and why I try to earn as much money as I can. It's a defense. I don't enjoy it or do anything with it.

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

Eighty percent of all choices are based on fear. Most people don't choose what they want; they choose what they think is safe.

The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.

Successful people have a bigger fear of failure than people who've never done anything because if you haven't been successful, then you don't know how it feels to lose it all. You don't have that fear. So why do you think people get stuck in those boxes? It's that fear of going back down.

I always performed out of fear of failure - and that's a tough way to play. It was as if my back was to the wall and I was constantly surrounded by very dangerous people that were not friendly to me.

The fear of mistakes is the fast track to irrelevance.

I'm terrorized by a fear of failure. Failure is always there.

People say they want to be in risky environments and do all kinds of exciting stuff. But they don't actually know what risk means: that risk actually does bring failure and mistakes.

Every book takes you to the terror, that terrible place of possible failure.

You're unwilling to go out on a limb because it just might break underneath you.

Fear of failure is a far worse condition than failure itself, because it kills off possibilities.

But I didn’t dare. That has always been my trouble. I’ve never dared enough.

The number one cause of failure in this country is the fear of failure.

Because people are afraid of fear, they give up acre after acre of their own life.

Fear too often spells failure.

Suppose you should fail. Is that so terrible? Not to have tried is a worse failure.

To acknowledge the presence of fear is to give birth to failure.

People avoid action. Often because they are afraid of the consequences, for action means risk and danger. Danger seems terrible from a distance; it is not so bad if you have a close look at it

One reason people never attempt new things is their fear of failure.

FEAR IS THE MIND-KILLER. FEAR IS THE LITTLE-DEATH THAT BRINGS TOTAL OBLITERATION.