Second Guessing Quotes

“We need not be afraid of second-guessing our firm convictions or our holy truths because they often look like dazzling poppies or scented daffodils wilting after a while as if they had never existed. (“Measuring space”)”
― Erik Pevernagie

“The best people are always the worst. They drive everyone mad by being so good at second-guessing everything bad.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“Do not bother yourself with what ifs”
― Jocelyn Murray, Corfe Castle

“When our hopes for performance are not completely met, realistic optimism involves accepting what cannot now be changed, rather than condemning or second-guessing ourselves. Focusing on the successful aspects of performance (even when the success is modest) promotes positive affect, reduces self-doubt, and helps to maintain motivation (e.g., McFarland & Ross, 1982).... Nevertheless, realistic optimism does not include or imply expectations that things will improve on their own. Wishful thinking of this sort typically has no reliable supporting evidence. Instead, the opportunity-seeking component of realistic optimism motivates efforts to improve future performances on the basis of what has been learned from past performances.”
― Sandra L. Schneider

“When you get down to it, though, explaining what you believe isn't all that easy. If you say that you believe something to be true, you might mean one of two things—that you're still weighing the alternatives, or that you accept it as a fact. I don't logically see how one single word can have contradictory definitions, but emotionally, I completely understand. Because there are times I think what I am doing is right, and there are other times I second-guess myself every step of the way.”
― Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

“Everything in her life, she could see now, had taken the same turn—as for love, she often puzzled and puzzled, without ever allowing herself to be fully sad, as to what could be wrong with the formula. It does not work, she thought. At times there were moments when she asked herself if she could have been in the wrong: she would almost rather think that. What she thought she regretted was her lack of guard, her wayward extravagance—but had she all the time been more guarded than she imagined, had she been deceitful, had she been seen through? For what had always happened she could still not account. There seemed to be some way she did not know of by which people managed to understand each other.”
― Elizabeth Bowen, The Death of the Heart

“The best way to get an idea across to the public, however outlandish, is to have the courage to present it to them in the first place. It’s easy to get sidetracked by overthinking something or trying to second-guess the general populace because of doubts and fears. They will be the ultimate authority on what they like and don’t like in the end.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Hope may be an illusion, but it's what keeps you from jumping in the river or swallowing hemlock. Hope is a beautiful lie and it requires talent to create it for others. And back then on that day when they say it first began, I truly believed that the creation of hope was the greatest of all the arts, the noblest of all the lies. I was wrong.”
― Karen Maitland, Company of Liars

“Sometimes things call out to us and we know them with total certainty. Yet, the certainty eludes us and we’re left with the angst of the unknown regarding something that, in fact, we know.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough, The Eighth Page: A Christmas Journey

“Here is how the universe works, whether it is in business or personal relationships. The more you second guess, doubt, and try to cover everything that could go wrong “before” you enter it, the more you will discover the need to do it. However the more you approach life and each new connection with open arms and trust, the more positive and elevating souls will enter your path in which none of the doubt is needed. Even the negative moments are positive lessons.”
― Carl Henegan, Darkness Left Undone

“To be intuitive is to possess a godly characteristic: to be bad at second-guessing the good.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“I was afraid to be confident for a long time. I had to quit second guessing everything because I worried so much about being wrong or worse, offending anyone. It was never intentional, but I wasted far too much energy and time holding myself back.”
― Emilyann Allen (pseudonyms Emilyann Phoenix and Emilyann Girdner)

“When people don't trust you, they may walk with you but they second guess every step you take- don't believe what you say is what you mean...”
― Assegid Habtewold, The 9 Cardinal Building Blocks: For continued success in leadership

“Advancing towards a person’s dreams with confidence enables a person to move beyond restrictive boundaries and meet with uncommon success. Liberated from personal insecurities and eliminating useless second guessing enables a person to live an imagined life.”
― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls