DARING / CHALLENGE

Related States & Conditions | Syntonic | Dystonic

The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success comes only later.
Kongfuzi
c. 551-c. 479 BCE, Chinese Philosopher, Educator, Political Theorist

Only by great risks can great results be achieved.
Xerxes
c. 519-465 BCE, Persian King

Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
Herodotus
c. 485-c. 425 BCE, Greek Historian
Histories

Fortune helps those who dare.
Virgil
70-19 BCE, Roman Poet
Aeneid , X, Line 284

Valor grows by daring, fear by holding back.
Publilius Syrus
c. 42 BCE, Roman Writer

We don't dare because things are difficult;
Things are difficult because we don't dare.
Seneca
c. 4 BCE-65 CE, Roman Philosopher, Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Rhetorician, Statesman

Admire those who attempt great things – even if they fail.
Seneca

He that leaps the wide gulf should prevail in his suit.
Walter Scott
1771-1832, Scottish Writer, Historian

To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can.
Sydney Smith
1771-1845, English Cleric, Essayist, Journalist, Wit

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 coarse, 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
1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson

To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily; to not dare is to lose one's self entirely.
Soren Kierkegaard
1813-1855, Danish Philosopher, Theologian

A man sits as many risks as he runs.
Henry David Thoreau
1817-1862, American Essayist, Writer, Naturalist

The Path that leadeth on is lighted by one fire – the light of daring burning in the heart. The more one dares, the more he shall obtain.
Helen Blavatsky
1831-1891, Russian Writer, Translator, Co-Founder of Theosophy
in Wisdom of the Ages at Your Fingertips , MCR Software, 1995

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
1835-1910, American Writer, Humorist, Journalist

It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all.
William James
1842-1910, American Psychologist, Philosopher
The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy

It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent.
Vincent van Gogh
1853-1890, Dutch Painter

An idea that isn't risky is hardly worth calling an idea.
Oscar Wilde
1856-1900, Irish Poet, Dramatist, Critic, Wit

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure … than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
1858-1919, 26th US President

Don't be afraid to take a big step. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
David Lloyd George
1863-1945, British Prime Minister

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
André Gide
1869-1951, French Writer, Critic, Dramatist, Poet, 1947 Nobel Laureate

You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is.
Will Rogers
1879-1935, American Humorist, Actor, Rancher, Writer, Wit

Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.
George S. Patton, Jr.
1885-1945, American Militarist

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T. S. Eliot
1885-1965, American/British Poet, Dramatist, Critic

The time when you need to do something is when no one else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can't be done.
Will Durrant
1885-1982, American Philosopher, Historian, Writer

Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.
Katherine Mansfield
1888-1923, New Zealander Writer
The Journal of Katherine Mansfield

Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.
Dale Carnegie
1888-1955, American Writer, Trainer

Difficulty attracts the man of character because it is in embracing it that he realizes himself.
Charles De Gaulle
1890-1970, French Militarist, President

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
James B. Conant
1893-1978, American Chemist, Educator

On the edge of destiny, you must test your strength.
Billy Bishop
1894-1956, Canadian Aviator

I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.
Amelia Earhart
1898-1937, American Aviatrix

Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one's better abilities or idea, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk – and to act.
Maxwell Maltz
1899-1975, American Writer

Then the time came when the risk it took
To remain tight in a bud was more painful
Than the risk it took to blossom.
Anaïs Nin
1903-1977, French/American Writer

An individual, like a people, like a continent, dies out when he shrinks from both rash plans and rash acts, when, instead of taking risks and hurling himself toward being, he cowers within it, takes refuge there: a metaphysics of regression, a retreat to the primordial!
E. M. Cioran
1911-1995, Romanian/French Philosopher, Writer
The Temptation to Exist , 1956

Self-confidence is the result of a successfully survived risk.
Jack Gibb
1914-, Canadian/American Psychologist

To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.
James Baldwin
1924-1987, African-American Writer, Dramatist, Poet, Civil Rights Activist
"My Dungeon Shook," The Fire Next Time , 1962

The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, live and love.
Leo Buscaglia
1924-1998, American Educator, Writer

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
Robert Kennedy
1925-1968, American Legislator

If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.
Neil Simon
1927-, American Dramatist

You never live so fully as when you gamble with your own life.
Anthony deMello
1931-1987, Indian Jesuit Priest, Writer

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
Dalai Lama
1935-, Tibetan Leader, 14th Dalai Lama, Teacher, Writer

All life itself represents a risk, and the more lovingly we live our lives the more risks we take … Of the thousands, maybe even millions, of risks we can take in a lifetime the greatest is the risk of growing up.
M. Scott Peck
1936-, American Psychiatrist, Writer
The Road Less Travelled , 1978

Risk brings its own rewards: the exhilaration of breaking through, of getting to the other side, the relief of a conflict healed, the clarity when a paradox dissolves. Whoever teaches us this is our agent of liberation. Eventually we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom. Finally, we must take charge of the journey, urging ourselves past our own reluctance and misgivings and confusion to new freedom.
Marilyn Ferguson
1938-, American Writer, Mind Researcher
The Aquarian Conspiracy , 1980

If those who made it did not have the courage and vision and made that "imaginary leap into the darkness", nothing would have happened. It is time we take creative risks.
Trevor Rhone
1940-, Jamaican Dramatist, Writer, Filmmaker
in The Sunday Gleaner , 2001

Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.
Louis Boone
1941-, American Marketing Educator, Writer

If you run, you might lose. If you don't run, you're guaranteed to lose.
Jesse Jackson
1941-, African-American Cleric, Civil Rights Activist

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
Muhammad Ali
1942-, African-American Boxer

Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make it a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.
Billie Jean King
1943-, American Tennis Player

You have to take risks … We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.
Paulo Coelho
c. 1947-, Brazilian Writer
By the River Piedra I Sat down and Wept , Alan R. Clarke, tr., 1996

The universe will reward you for taking risks on its behalf.
Shakti Gawain
1948-, American Therapist, Writer

Some people just seem to be natural risk-takers; they keep on reaching, they keep on doing, until they get what they've wanted and dreamed about. They have a mind-set that accepts risk as a way of life. They are unwilling to settle for the "bird in the hand" if it is not the right bird.
Phillip C. McGraw
1950-, American Psychologist, Litigation Consultant, Writer
Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing What Matters , 1999

If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.
Geena Davis
1957-, American Actress

If you are never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take chances.
- Julia Soul

Risk is what separates the good part of life from the tedium.
- Jimmy Zero
American Rock Musician

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