Leadership Quote of the Week: Annie Dillard on Taking Risks
“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.”
10 Comments
I love this quote! It’s so easy to listen to those doubts babbling in the back of your head and not take chances.
Then again, we wouldn’t have the Iraq War, either.
Hold on. Is this quote not from Ray Bradbury?
http://www.despair.com/overconfidence.html
http://www.despair.com/risks.html
http://www.despair.com/regret.html
Heck, the whole site.
Take calculated risks. Not just risks. You have love affairs – but love affairs with convicted mass murderers on the lam have greater associated risk than high-school crushes.
Just sayin’
Good quote, almost as good as when Ray Bradbury said it.
No, that’s a stupid quote, the metaphor is completely broken – can you really make a set of wings in the 15 or 20 seconds you’re plummeting to your death?
Wouldn’t you have to be well-prepared, you know, with mid-air wing-making kit? If you had that amount foresight before jumping, why didn’t you buy a parachute instead?
Looks like there might be a reference to a primary source.
“Please listen to the talks with an open mind and a receptive heart. If we listen only with our intellect, comparing and judging what is said to what we already think we know or what we have heard others say, we may miss the chance to truly receive the message that is being transmitted.”
http://www.plumvillage.org/practice/html/huggingMeditation.htm
and I think its Bradbury’s saying
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/raybradbur122053.html
The supposed Annie Dillard quote of the week “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.” is in great part plagiarism and should be correctly attributed.
First you jump off the cliff and you build wings on the way down.
-Ray Bradbury
How dare she take that as her own! I suggest you remove it from your web site, and let her know why.
I agree with the sentiment wholeheartedly – regardless of the plagiarism!
Diskgrinder, I understand why you would want to be that prepared but when it comes to the big games it never works out that way, you need to be able to leap and then make it work.