Performance Anxiety Quotes

“I...took some pride in 'not fulfilling my potential,' in part because I was terrified that if I tried my hardest, the world would learn I didn't actually have that much potential.”
― John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

“Going on stage always felt like being shot out of a cannon. My stomach would tighten as I got closer to the backstage area. You wondered why you put yourself through all the stress. Then BOOM! You're on, adrenalin pumping, and thinking: "THIS is why I do it!”
― Stewart Stafford

“Then it occurred to me that I could walk outside and contrive to take a spill, or squeeze out the window on the rear staircase oh HmH and fall several meters to the steep embankment below, being sure to land on the bad ankle and hurt it, so I’d not have to play. That I could carefully plan out a fall from the courts’ observation transom or the spectators’ gallery of whatever club C.T. and the Moms sent us to to help raise funds, and fall so carefully badly I’d take out all the ankle’s ligaments and never play again. Never have to, never get to. I could be the faultless victim of a freak accident and be knocked from the game while still on the ascendant. Becoming the object of compassionate sorrow rather than disappointed sorrow.



I couldn’t stay with this fantastic line of thought long enough to parse out whose disappointment I was willing to cripple myself to avoid (or forgo).”
― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

“Then it occurred to me that I could walk outside and contrive to take a spill, or squeeze out the window on the rear staircase on HmH and fall several meters to the steep embankment below, being sure to land on the bad ankle and hurt it, so I’d not have to play. That I could carefully plan out a fall from the courts’ observation transom or the spectators’ gallery of whatever club C.T. and the Moms sent us to to help raise funds, and fall so carefully badly I’d take out all the ankle’s ligaments and never play again. Never have to, never get to. I could be the faultless victim of a freak accident and be knocked from the game while still on the ascendant. Becoming the object of compassionate sorrow rather than disappointed sorrow.



I couldn’t stay with this fantastic line of thought long enough to parse out whose disappointment I was willing to cripple myself to avoid (or forgo).”
― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

“To all of you who suffer from stage fright agonies, take heart. You suffer because you are not a potato. Does a potato possess your abilities, your sensitivity, or richness of imagination? Do you want to present like a potato? Do people pay to hear potatoes speak? Your imagination makes your life harder but, when you have conquered your fears, it will set you apart.”
― Ruth Bonetti, Speak Out - Don't Freak Out