Quotes About Risk

He had ridden his horse into the saloon on a dare from a whore – his practice was always to accept dares; it spiced life up a little.

There was no degree of competence that would assure anyone of survival, and no scale that would tell a commander which man would live and which man would die.

For all you know it invites people to rob us. (Woodrow Call's disparaging comment on the Latin sign Gus McCrae affixed to their wagon.)

Without risk there was no power, not for a grown man.

None of it was sensible, yet he had to admit there was something about such follies that he liked. The sensible way, which he had pursued once or twice in his life, had always proved boring ... There was much more enterprise in certain follies, it seemed to him.

I'd rather go outlaw than be a doctor or a lawyer.

One little shot during a card game in Arkansas had started things happening—things he couldn't see the end of.

None of it was sensible, yet he had to admit there was something about such follies that he liked. The sensible way, which he had pursued once or twice in his life, had always proved boring, usually within a few days. In his case it had led to nothing much, just excessive drunkenness and reckless card playing. There was more enterprise in certain follies, it seemed to him.

Louis's excitement was growing unbearable. Was this really what he had needed all along? Not the droud and wire, but the risk of his life to prove its value! Louis adjusted his flying belt and dropped over the railing.

She risks her own life, Louis thought, then blames me for not getting angry. An attention-getting device? How long has she been doing it? Anyone else would die young, with a habit like that!

Yes. No risk is insane now, given the position your insanity has put us in. Louis burst out laughing (a puppeteer teaching courage to Louis Wu?) and sobered as suddenly.

He was sure now. Teela Brown had never been hurt; had never learned caution; did not understand fear. Her first pain would come as a horrifying surprise. It might destroy her entirely. The gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable fools. She'd be hurt over Louis Wu's dead body.

First ponder, then dare.  - Helmuth von Moltke

The cultivation of mindfulness is ultimately a matter of life and death, not in a scary way, but in the sense that we are always at risk, in every moment, for missing what is deepest and richest in our lives, the texture of the tapestry itself. We might say (every pun intended) that the richness lies right beneath our noses in any and every moment.

Leap of faith. Shit, no parachute. —Katherine Yunker

next time you fall in love, don't be such a coward?

I almost always wear a helmet." "Brian!" She slapped the table. "Do you have any idea what the fatality rate is for motorcycle riders? And that's with proper headgear. I should bring you to the ME's office sometime. If you saw what I saw—" "I'm sure it's bad." She

You talk of the mines of Australia, They've wealth in red gold, without doubt; But, ah! there is gold on the farm, boys— If only you'll shovel it out. (Chorus:) "Don't be in a hurry to go! Don't be in a hurry to go! Better risk the old farm awhile longer, Don't be in a hurry to go!

Never bet your money on another man's game.

There was no protection, no quota system when it came to luck. It was like that moment in math when a child learns that the odds of heads or tails is always one-in-two, no matter how many times one has flipped the coin and gotten heads. Every flip, the odds are the same. Every day, you could be unlucky all over again.

the madness of exchanging mediocre but safe happiness for great happiness but possible disaster.

Boys and girls hid in the library stacks or behind the gym and flew at each other with no promise of love or even kindness, tasting one another in clumsly attempts to steal pleasure before they could be hurt or hated.

To gain your heart's desire you have to lose some part of your old life, your old self. To do that you have to have courage; without it, you can't make the leap. And if you don't make the leap you have only three choices: You can hate yourself for not taking the chance, you can hate the person from whom you've sacrificed your happiness, or you can hate the one who offered you happiness, and blame them for your lack of courage, convince yourself it wasn't real.

Sticks and stones will break your bones, but failure will get you killed.