Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.
Alan AldaRead
You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Success comes from effort and taking risks, often without a clear direction.
This quote by Alan Alda emphasizes the importance of hard work and the willingness to take risks in order to achieve personal growth and discover one's true self. It suggests that the journey may not have a clear path, but the experiences gained along the way can lead to wonderful revelations about who we are.
Themes
Hard WorkRiskSelf-DiscoveryJourneyGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote to inspire students at a graduation ceremony about the importance of hard work in their future.
More from Alan Alda
All quotes →Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.
Alan AldaRead
Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself.
Alan AldaRead
Here's my Golden Rule for a tarnished age: Be fair with others, but keep after them until they're fair with you.
Alan AldaRead
If you know what you're looking for, that's all you'll get - what's previously known. But when you're open to what's possible, you get something new - that's creativity.
Alan AldaRead
I found I wasn't asking good enough questions because I assumed I knew something. I would box them into a corner with a badly formed question, and they didn't know how to get out of it. Now, I let them take me through it step by step, and I listen.
Alan AldaRead
Similar quotes
If you want to obtain the secrets of such wonderful techniques, drill yourself, harden yourself, undergo severe training, abandoned body and mind; follow this course for years and you will naturally reach the profoundest levels. To know if water is hot or cold you must taste it yourself.
Yamaoka TesshuRead
Strength of mind is exercise, not rest.
Alexander PopeRead
The brightest light, the light of Italy, the purest sky of Scandinavia in the month of June is only a half-light when one compares it to the light of childhood. Even the nights were blue.
Eugene IonescoRead
Apt words have power to suage the tumors of a troubled mind.
John MiltonRead
What once seemed such a curse has become a blessing. All the agony that threatened to destroy my life now seems like the fertile ground for greater trust, stronger hope, and deeper love.
Henri NouwenRead
You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
Swami VivekanandaRead