Quotes About Self-doubt

Life really does favor the obsessed. Great fortune truly does shine on those mesmerized by their gorgeous ambitions. And the universe most definitely supports the human being unwilling to surrender to the forces of fear, rejection and self-doubt.

As you rise toward virtuosity, you'll become anxious about failure, threatened by a concern of not being good enough and insecure about blazing new paths. So, your amygdala—an almond-shaped mass of gray matter in the brain that detects fear—gets all fired up. And you begin to tear down the productivity you've built up. We all have a subconcious saboteur that lurks within our weakest selves, you know?

The closer you get to your genius, the more you'll face the sabotage of your fears

I'd become a bully. The something Ã¢â'¬â€œ the resolve Ã¢â'¬â€œ that had let me send in those first pieces, put them in the envelope and post them; that resolve Ã¢â'¬â€œ it was something like that Ã¢â'¬â€œ or ambition; whatever it was, it was gone. Ambition was a decision, not a trait. There were no more decisions. I couldn't think of anything that I could do.

He looked at them and wondered if they were the fools, or if he was.

All he could hear was a small voice inside his head that was saying you were wrong. Completely wrong. It was a voice he had heard before, but that didn't make it any easier to hear again, because he had built his whole career on hearing it fewer times than the next guy. It was like a box score in his mind, and his average had just taken some serious damage. Which upset him. Not because of vanity. It upset him because he was a professional who was supposed to get things right.

The worst evil which can befall the artist is that his work should appear good in his own eyes.

Washington Irving once introduced Charles Dickens at a dinner given in the latter's honor. In the middle of his speech Irving hesitated, became embarrassed, and sat down awkwardly. Turning to a friend beside him he remarked, There, I told you I would fail, and I did. If you believe you will fail, there is no hope for you. You will.

It's knowing I'll never have what she has--a beauty so powerful it brings things to you. I fear I will always have to chase things I want. I'll always have to wonder whether I'm truly wanted or whether I've just been settled for.

And yet, you're still alone. All that trying and still you stand apart, watching from the other side of the glass. Afraid to have what you truly want because what if it's not enough after all ? So much better to wrap yourself up in the longing. The yearning. The restlessness. Poor Gemma. She doesn't quite fit, does she? Poor Gemma--all alone.

Because I'm not enough, she thought. That was the terrible echo shouting up at her: Fraud, fraud, fraud. She got drunk and talked too much and danced on tables. She had a temper and a sharp tongue, and she often blurted out things she instantly regretted. Worst of all, she suspected that was who she truly was—not so much a bright young thing as a messy young thing.

I don't know how to accomplish such a look. I find myself with a new fear: that I shall never, ever be this lovely.

It's knowing that I'll never have what she has—a beauty so powerful it brings things to you. I fear I will always have to chase the things I want. I'll always have to wonder whether I'm truly wanted or whether I've just been settled for.

It was a machine that required constant feeding- Henry hated the machine, and he hated himself for wanting the sort of admiration it promised, as if he had no worth unless someone was there to applaud it

Imagine living each day and not being able to trust your own mind. Imagine having it lie to you, trick you, tell you you're worthless or that the world would be better off without you in it. It would be like… like always hearing an awful radio playing inside your head, one that you can't seem to turn off.

There are very real forces that whisper lying innuendos that assault your mind, your will, and your emotions in the hope of causing you to turn on yourself and then to turn on others.

can't do this. I suck at this. Which is why they're making me go. Not to improve my swimming—who cares about that?—but to work on that whole playing-well-with-others thing. Another one of my broken bits. I don't want to socialize with other kids. I don't trust 'em, I don't like 'em, and best I can tell, the feeling's mutual.

I wonder if that's how I look to others; like I'm normal and functional, too, when in fact, I feel completely emptied out.

I'm filled with the age-old terror of making a mistake, looking foolish. How is it we all leave high school, but high school never leaves us? Bob

Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You've got to believe you can play a shot instead of wondering where your next bad shot is coming from.

I'm not afraid of anyone, but sometimes I'm afraid of myself. The mental part is very important.

Sometimes we get so afraid of hitting bad shots (making bad pitches), we don't let ourselves hit (pitch) good ones.

I don't really feel that I deserve all my applause.

When you're expected to win and you have the press saying that you are going to win the Olympic gold medal, and you're the only sure thing in the Olympics, it can undermine your confidence.