Quotes About Perfectionism

We're just too good at our job." "Damn it," Valkyrie scowled. "I hate being too good at our job.

You don't always have to go so far as to murder your darlings – those turns of phrase or images of which you felt extra proud when they appeared on the page – but go back and look at them with a very beady eye. Almost always it turns out that they'd be better dead. (Not every little twinge of satisfaction is suspect – it's the ones which amount to a sort of smug glee you must watch out for.

I certainly didn't feel like writing anymore. I couldn't explain why, but the only emotion that I could arouse were feelings of anger and after staying mad all day and half the night, I was just plain tired. Mad at what? Just about everything, for just about everything was done wrong or it wasn't done perfectly. Since nothing but perfection was acceptable, I stayed mad.

The forger was too exacting, too superficial. Only the real artist has the false beginning.

Some people, a lot of people, in fact, are disqualified to lead because they cannot work through and with the half-people who are available to work with them. And the parents who try to raise perfect children are certain to raise neurotics, with much greater damage possible.

Drafting is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.The closer you get to the end, the more you start to worry about the beginning.

If you expect perfection from people your whole life is a series of disappointments, grumblings, and complaints.

Since Madonna is positioned as always "cooler than thou", we all are primed for schadenfreude if something in her fabulous life goes amiss.

To test if you are worrying too much about looking good, observe how you feel when you find out you've made a mistake or don't know something.

It took me a long time to figure it out. That I was the one who had put my dad on that pedestal. I did that, not him. And then I despised him for not being perfect. For being human.

I'm definitely a person who worries too much over every little thing.

I had to watch a YouTube video multiple times to figure it out and it still looks lopsided and sad.

I feel that I have to do everything better just to be judged as okay. It is something I wish I could let go of. It's something that I wish just wasn't there.

When people saw the real me, they wanted me to succeed. It was a fleeting thought, and I wish I had caught it and internalized it. I still thought people expected perfection.

There's something wrong with a mother who washes out a measuring cup with soap and water after she's only measured water in it.

Housework, if it is done properly, can cause brain damage.

Now he would never write the things that he had saved to write until he knew enough to write them well. Well, he would not have to fail at trying to write them either. Maybe you could never write them, and that was why you put them off and delayed the starting. Well he would never know, now.

You know you're writing well when you're throwing good stuff into the wastebasket.

I used to refer to myself as a 'theoretical anorexic,' just as crazy when it came to body image, but saved by a lack of self-discipline. My daughters do everything better than I do - they're smarter, more beautiful, happier. What if they end up better at anorexia, too?

Making lists of favorite things is, for me, a task ridden with anxiety. What if I've accidentally excluded something I love? What if I discover something new tomorrow that I love even more?

But I always feel that whatever I do, I could do better. I suppose it is perfectionism.

I feel that's a good thing as an actor that you do not feel satisfied. Whenever I go back and watch myself on screen, I find multiple reasons to redo that scene. That's an occupational hazard that most actors face. You can never come to terms with it.

Maybe it's my age that makes me very conscious of loose threads, but I don't think that's an earmark of a fine product. And whenever I have a deep-seated feeling like that, I convey it to the person who made it. Sometimes they curse me, and sometimes they thank me.

You have to appreciate the finer points of your work; criticise, too, if needed. I am also my own worst and most honest critic. I can say things which nobody will ever dare say. Even the best of friends will stop at a point, whereas I can go beyond.