41 Quotes About Taking Risks

There are many good reasons to take risks and try something new in life. These quotes about taking risks capture the dedication and commitment that is needed to succeed during any major change.

“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”

“Accept that all of us can be hurt, that all of us can–and surely will at times–fail. I think we should follow a simple rule: if we can take the worst, take the risk.”

“All my life I have gone out on a limb, but I have turned the limb into a bridge, and there is cool, clear water flowing under.”

“Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.”

“Courageous risks are life-giving, they help you grow, make you brave, and better than you think you are.”

“Devote today to something so daring even you can’t believe you’re doing it.”

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”

“Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.”

“Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.”

“I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare.”

“I needed the push. Now, more than ever, young women need more seasoned women to provide that encouragement, to take a risk, to go for it. Once a glass ceiling is broken, it stays broken.”

“If it’s a good idea, go ahead and do it. It’s much easier to apologize than it is to get permission.”

“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.”

“If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.”

“If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.”

“If you play it safe in life you’ve decided that you don’t want to grow any more.”

“If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.”

“If you try to guard yourself against every unlikely danger, you’ll never stretch beyond your comfort zone. Don’t let the ‘what-ifs’ run your life. Follow your dreams and have at it.”

“If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on.”

“If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.”

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might has well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”

“It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.”

“It’s better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.”

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

“Only those who play win. Only those who risk win. History favors risk-takers. Forgets the timid. Everything else is commentary.”

“Opportunity dances with those on the dance floor.”

“Please know I am quite aware of the hazards. 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.”

“Revolutionaries don’t get job security.”

“Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.”

“Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.”

“Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.”

“That’s the risk you take if you change: that people you’ve been involved with won’t like the new you. But other people who do will come along.”

“The human soul has need of security and also of risk. The fear of violence or of hunger or of any other extreme evil is a sickness of the soul. The boredom produced by a complete absence of risk is also a sickness of the soul.”

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.”

“The only limits in your life are those that you set yourself.”

“The only real risk is the risk of thinking too small.”

“We tend to be held back from our goals by the simplicity of our comfort zones… but just how comfortable are we? Wouldn’t we be more content living in our dreams?”

“What you risk reveals what you value.”

“When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.”

“You can’t outwit fate by standing on the sidelines placing little sidebets about the outcome of life. Either you wade in and risk everything you have to play the game or you don’t play at all. And if you don’t play you can’t win.”

“You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don’t win, at least you can be satisfied that you’ve tried. If you don’t accept failure as a possibility, you don’t set high goals, and you don’t branch out, you don’t try–you don’t take the risk.”

Risk taking requires the ability to take chances and be creative with your solutions.