Ry Cooder Quotes

When I'm challenged, I grow. I never want to be in a situation where I'm not challenged and not afraid. One of my favorite feelings is stepping into a film and knowing that I'm a little bit afraid of what I have to accomplish.

I could have easily been too afraid to say 'yes' to Chicago, because it requires so much I haven't done before. If I am a flop at singing and dancing, maybe my love for it will carry me through.

I had a job on college campus. I lost that job, but on my way home I heard an inner voice that said go out for the baseball team. I was a walk-on, and I was actually petrified as a walk-on because you're not an athlete.

When you remove the risk, you remove the challenge. When you remove the challenge, you wither on the vine.

My comfort zone is like a little bubble around me, and I've pushed it in different directions and made it bigger and bigger until these objectives that seemed totally crazy eventually fall within the realm of the possible.

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.

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.

I admire when people take the harder path, not because they are masochistic and want to beat themselves up, but because you actually kind of learn more and I think you grow more.

You don't want to look back and have any regrets because things are too hard.

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.

I thought comedy would be the hardest thing I could do, and if I could do that, I could do anything.

I just did a film in which I had to be a dancer and I was able to do all kinds of extraordinary things. A lot of people turn 50 and talk about what they're not going to do anymore. I embarked on something that I'd wanted to do when I was 5.

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

I'm not gonna play a part that doesn't instill some kind of fear in me. If I read a part, and suddenly, I'm thinking halfway through, 'I'm not sure I could get away with this,' I think of everything I can think of to keep me from doing it, that's the one I should do.

I'd tell my 20-year-old self, 'Don't be afraid to do it all. Whatever you're interested in, just go for it. Don't wait around for a better time.'

The project you are most scared to do is the one that holds your greatest growth.

If I go to Hollywood, I will have to start all over again - which is fine and makes me humble.

Work is exciting when it's challenging. It should be something that makes me afraid initially and prompts me to ask myself whether I'll be able to do it or not.

Every year is a roller coaster. I've enjoyed the struggle of having new coaches and having to prove myself over again. Being able to figure out ways to solve problems, to overcome obstacles - that's been fun.

To arrive in a city like Milan as a young man was a huge challenge.

I am always scared when I start something new. That hasn't changed.

If you've not got the doubts to go and prove people wrong, that's when you get into that comfort zone and stop progressing.

There's a thing you confront when you're going into something new and you come to this sort of abyss, and then you push yourself. It makes you try different things.

Success will come. Or it won't. But I think you can only make a go at it in a big way by fully being yourself and taking risks. People can feel risks.

Failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. This way, it is about answering to yourself.