Ayaan Hirsi Ali Quotes

I conquered my stage fright a long time ago. In my line of work, it's kind of a pre-requisite that you not feel bad about looking stupid in front of a lot of people.

Public speaking is scary, I think. I've gotten way better at it. If I have to do a speech and be like, 'I'm a YouTuber,' then that's easy, but if I have to get up there and pretend I know something in front of adults, it's never fine. In front of adults, it's like, 'Ahhhh they're going to judge me.'

I'm a horrible public speaker.

Getting up in front of an audience is my biggest motivation.

It's a little nerve-wracking to stand up on stage all by yourself.

The confidence and charisma it takes to stand up in front of a group of children absolutely terrifies me.

I can never remember being afraid of an audience. If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them.

I've never given a speech without being terrified first.

I find doing speeches nerve wrecking.

Training is fabulous because it gives you a basis, a strong structure, so that when you're unbelievably nervous and you think that you can't get a word out, you will get the word out.

There is nothing more fearful for the average person in our society than to stand before a group of people and speak.

I'm not a natural born performer.

When I used to work in television, a tip was rather than looking down the barrel of the camera and imagine people watching, which is terrifying, imagine your most discerning friend observing you, and imagine you're just talking to them.

I was always drawn to standing up in front of people.

I was not happy with myself as a human being when I was very young - I was afraid of people; I was afraid of talking, I didn't know how to express myself other than by being on stage.

I don't think enough people admit that there's just something fun about being in front of people. And that's not a self-centered, egotistical thing.

Doing stand-up is not normal. People fear public speaking above all other things, and I am no different.

Getting up in front and talking to the people who build my cars is the worst. I get so damn nervous.

Whenever people have trouble public speaking, it's because they are just thinking about themselves.

The great risk is always saying, "how will I communicate what I'm trying to get across to a room full of strangers sitting in the dark watching a stage?"

I think fear is one of the natural states of most actors, to be honest.

I used to be afraid of looking at the audience.

It took me a long time to be alright with smiling onstage.

I was always an exhibitionist. I liked it when everyone laughed. But I didn't do plays in high school. I was too nervous.

The first time I got up in front of an audience was terror, abject terror, which continued for another four or five years. There still is, a little bit.