Risk is a part of life we all have to manage. The uncertainty that accompanies every risk we take has the potential to inhibit action and prevent positive changes.
Throughout the ages, many have tried to put into words exactly what risk is and what it means to them. Some have been more successful than others—cutting to the heart of the matter, appealing to sensibility, or just putting an idea that’s difficult to explain into words we all can understand.
Today, I want to share 10 quotes that have had the greatest impact on me and how I think about the concept of risk.
I’m a big fan of quotes. They have the power of being both succinct and unifying. Quotes pass nuggets of wisdom through generations. For better or worse, a quote has the power to take a person’s whole life and boil it down to one searing passage for us to remember. They help us connect with the experiences of others, and expand our thinking of our own experiences.
And now I’ll get out of the way and let the words speak for themselves.
If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business because we’d be too cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down. – Annie Dillard
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T. S. Eliot
Creative people who can’t help but explore other mental territories are at greater risk, just as someone who climbs a mountain is more at risk than someone who just walks along a village lane. – R. D. Laing
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. – Helen Keller
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. – Pablo Picasso
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I… I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. – Robert Frost
Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers. – Mignon McLaughlin
If you never budge, don’t expect a push. – Malcolm S. Forbes
Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
These words remind me to remain authentic to my self and true to my desires while judging the weight of my life’s risks.
Derived, with permission from the full list of 99 Quotes About Risk to Inspire You to Great Things By Tyler Tervooren