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With great risks come great rewards!
To grow, to prosper, to be truly happy, and to achieve great things in life, you have to take risks from time to time.
You have to step outside your comfort zone to become the person you want to be and fulfill your purpose in life.
Here are 95 inspiring quotes about the risk that will inspire you to take risks to move forward, achieve great success, and fulfill your dreams.
95 Awesome Quotes About Risk-Taking:
#1. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
#2. “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
#3. “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”
— Peter Drucker
#4. “Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were, and say, ‘Why not?”
— George Bernard Shaw
#5. “Only those who play win. Only those who risk win. History favors risk-takers. It forgets the timid. Everything else is commentary.”
– Iveta Cherneva
#6. “Take the first step in faith, you don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
#7. “Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks. Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she won’t suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when the person looks back, she will hear her heart.”
– Paulo Coelho
#8. “Creative risk-taking is essential to success in any goal where the stakes are high. Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution, which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize the opportunity.”
– Gary Ryan Blair
Related: 75 Awesome Quotes To Motivate You For Success In Life And Business
#9. “The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
– Mark Zuckerberg
#10. “Living with fear stops us from taking risks, and if you don’t go out on the branch, you’re never going to get the best fruit.”
– Sarah Parish
#11. “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
#12. “Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.”
– Mark Twain
#13. “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
— Goethe
#14. “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
— Pablo Picasso
#15. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go.”
— T.S. Eliot
#16. “Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
#17. “Most men either compromise or drop their greatest talents and start running after, what they perceive to be, a more reasonable success, and somewhere in between, they end up with a discontented settlement. Safety is indeed stability, but it is not progression.”
― Criss Jami
#18. “But he’d learned long ago that a life lived without risks pretty much wasn’t worth living. Life rewarded courage, even when that first step was taken neck-deep in fear.”
― Tamera Alexander
#19. If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.
— Jim Rohn
#20. “Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
— Helen Keller
#21. “The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety.”
— Goethe
#22. “Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast.”
— Tom Peters
#23. “The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
— William Jennings Bryan
#24. “I can accept failure. Everybody fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying. Fear is an illusion.”
— Michael Jordan
#25. “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
— Anais Nin
#26. “Pearls don’t lie on the seashore. If you want one, you must dive for it.”
— Chinese proverb
#27. “Opportunity dances with those on the dance floor.”
— Anonymous
#28. “Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.”
— Frederick Wilcox
#29. “Yes, risk-taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called ‘sure-thing-taking.’”
— Jim McMahon
#30. “If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.”
— Geena Davis
#31. “Remember, a dead fish can float down a stream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.”
— W.C. Fields
#32. “Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.”
— Anonymous
#33. “Danger can never be overcome without taking risks.”
— Latin Proverb
#34. “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
— Wayne Gretzky
#35. “Those who achieve the extraordinary are usually the most ordinary because they have nothing to prove to anybody. Be Humble.”
― Aaron Lauritsen
#36. “To live a life of excellence, you will have to take risks. You will have to step into new territory and climb new mountains. If you’re up to something that’s as big as you are, it’s going to be scary. If it feels perfectly safe, you are probably underachieving. To leave your mark in the world, you will have to stand someplace you’ve never been willing to stand before. And you will have to have the courage to aspire to excellence.”
― Debbie Ford
Related: 60+ Best Inspirational Quotes on Overcoming Life’s Challenges
#37. “It is no secret that the greatest treasures are found in the most remote, inaccessible, and difficult places where we must pursue them with great energy and even greater risk. It’s the same with our lives.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough
#38. “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.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
#39. “I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.”
— Maya Angelou
#40. “There is freedom waiting for you, on the breezes of the sky, and you ask ‘What if I fall?’ Oh but my darling, what if you fly?”
— Erin Hanson
#41. “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.”
— Rosalynn Carter
#42. “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.”
— Katherine Mansfield
#43. “Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.”
— Mary Tyler Moore
#44. “If you opt for a safe life, you will never know what it’s like to win.”
― Richard Branson
#45. “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.”
— Nora Roberts
#46. “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.”
— Diane Conway
#47. “Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.”
— Gertrude Stein
#48. “If you play it safe in life you’ve decided that you don’t want to grow anymore.”
— Shirley Hufstedler
#49. “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.”
— Joyce Brothers
#50. “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?”
— Michelle C. Ustaszeski
#51. “You can’t outwit fate by standing on the sidelines placing little side bets 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.”
— Judith McNaught
#52. “It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”
— J.K. Rowling
#53. “Life is sacrifice and risk-taking, and nothing that doesn’t entail some moderate amount of the former, under the constraint of satisfying the latter, is close to what we can call life. If you do not undertake a risk of real harm, reparable or even potentially irreparable, from an adventure, it is not an adventure.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb
#54. “Safety is an illusion and perhaps it’s better to challenge it sometimes, to see how far we can go, to learn about the stuff we are made of.”
― Tania Aebi
#55. “What you risk reveals what you value.”
— Jeanette Winterson
#56. Courageous risks are life-giving, they help you grow, make you brave, and better than you think you are.”
— Joan L. Curcio
#57. “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! just get on.”
— Sheryl Sandberg
#58. “People who swim very well in troubled waters are respected and celebrated than those who swim excellently in calm waters.”
― Israelmore Ayivor
#59. “If you are trying to look clean, neat, and avoid casting your nets in trouble waters, you will catch no fish.”
― Israelmore Ayivor
#60. “Successes are those highlights of life we look back on with a smile. But it’s the day-to-day grind of getting them that defines the laugh lines etched until the end of time. Enjoy each moment along the way”
― Aaron Lauritsen
#61. “People regret not achieving enough success in life, they should regret missing many opportunities in life.”
― Amit Kalantri
#62. “I truly believe that everything that we do and everyone that we meet is put in our path for a purpose. There are no accidents; we’re all teachers – if we’re willing to pay attention to the lessons we learn, trust our positive instincts and not be afraid to take risks or wait for some miracle to come knocking at our door.”
— Marla Gibbs
#63. “Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks.”
— Yo-Yo Ma
#64. “If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.”
— Richard M. Nixon
#65. “My style is to stay on the offensive: to take risks, to recover very fast when you make a mistake, but to keep moving forward.”
— Newt Gingrich
#66. “You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.”
— Paulo Coelho
#67. “The Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to empower individuals and communities, as it creates new opportunities for economic, social, and personal development. But it also could lead to the marginalization of some groups, exacerbate inequality, create new security risks, and undermine human relationships.”
— Klaus Schwab
#68. “Be willing to step outside your comfort zone once in a while; take the risks in life that seem worth taking. The ride might not be as predictable if you’d just planted your feet and stayed put, but it will be a heck of a lot more interesting.”
— Edward Whitacre, Jr.
#69. “The ground beneath you is shifting, and either you get sucked in by holding on to old ways, or you take a giant step forward by taking some risks and seeing what happens.”
— Bonnie Hammer
#70. “If you take risks and face your fate with dignity, there is nothing you can do that makes you small; if you don’t take risks, there is nothing you can do that makes you grand, nothing.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
#71. “You don’t climb mountains without a team, you don’t climb mountains without being fit, you don’t climb mountains without being prepared and you don’t climb mountains without balancing the risks and rewards. And you never climb a mountain on accident – it has to be intentional.”
— Mark Udall
#72. “Gamble, cheat, lie, and steal. Let me explain: Gamble for your best shot in life – dare to take risks. Cheat those who would have you be less than you are. Lie in the arms of those you love. And finally, steal every moment of happiness.”
— Caitlyn Jenner
#73. “In chess, you try to do your best, but there are instances where you make mistakes or you try and take risks that you shouldn’t. And I think losing games is a good thing because you learn more from when you lose than when you win.”
— Hikaru Nakamura
#74. “My motto in life is ‘Take risks;’ you don’t have a voice if you don’t. You have to venture outside your boundaries. That’s what life’s all about.”
— Kelly Wearstler
#75. “One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honor or observation.”
— Walter Scott
#76. “No matter the risks we take, we always consider the end to be too soon, even though in life, more than anything else, quality should be more important than quantity.”
— Alex Honnold
#77. “Optimistic people play a disproportionate role in shaping our lives. Their decisions make a difference; they are inventors, entrepreneurs, political and military leaders – not average people. They got to where they are by seeking challenges and taking risks.”
— Daniel Kahneman
#78. “Any doctor will admit that any drug can have side effects and that writing a prescription involves weighing the potential benefits against the risks.”
— Mark Udall
#79. “I don’t believe in pitfalls. I believe in taking risks and not doing the same thing twice.”
— Guy Laliberte
#80. “Heart is what drives us and determines our fate. That is what I need for my characters in my books: a passionate heart. I need mavericks, dissidents, adventurers, outsiders, and rebels, who ask questions, bend the rules and take risks.”
— Isabel Allende
#81. “At this point, I feel like I can allow myself to be goofy and take more risks, and even if I do fall on my face, I know it’s not the end of the world and at least I tried to do something different.”
— Dave Franco
#82. “Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.”
– Denis Waitley
#83. “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
#84. “Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide?”
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau
#85. “There can be no vulnerability without risk. There can be no community without vulnerability. There can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.”
– M. Scott Peck
#86. “You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. 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.”
– Alan Alda
#87. “I’m of the mind that life is a risk. Every time you leave your house it’s a risk, and I see no reason to go through life with my hands tied behind my back for any reason. I’d be foolish to let something stop me from doing what I love to do.”
– Thomas Jane
#88. “The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”
– Leo F. Buscaglia
#89. “He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.”
– Paul Tillich
#90. “This nation was built by men who took risks—pioneers who were not afraid of the wilderness, businessmen who were not afraid of failure, scientists who were not afraid of the truth, thinkers who were not afraid of progress, dreamers who were not afraid of action.”
– Brooks Atkinson
#91. “If you want to stand out, don’t be different. Be outstanding.”
– Meredith West
#92. ‘How does one become a butterfly?’ she asked pensively. You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”
– Trina Paulus
#93. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”
– T. S. Eliot
#94. “Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right.
To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
#95. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
– Steve Jobs
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed these risk-taking quotes.
You have to take action if you want to get any results.
There is no other way out.
Never give in to fear, uncertainty, and doubt. You must continue taking risks to recover from setbacks and failures you get in the way of your success.
Be bold, be courageous, take risks, and never give up.
And nothing in this world is going to stop you from making the impact you want to make in your community and the world.
What are your favorite risk-taking quotes? Do let me know in the comments.
And don’t forget to share these quotes with your family, friends, and loved ones so that they also get inspired to take risks to achieve their goals.
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