Risk Quotes
Risk is the fundamental currency of progress and the defining line between mediocrity and greatness. To embrace risk is to acknowledge that the future is unwritten and that we have the agency to shape it through bold action.
"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."
Context
Source: Book: Meditations, Book 5
Related Themes
"When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor."
"It is not the critic who counts... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood."
"Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it's having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome."
"It's not whether you're right or wrong that's important, but how much money you make when you're right and how much you lose when you're wrong."
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
Context
Source: Speech: Address to Harrow School, 1941
Related Themes
"If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late."
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all."
"It’s not just about winning. It’s about not losing."
"The riskiest thing we can do is just maintain the status quo."
"You can't have a high return without a high risk."
"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration."
"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."
"Never was anything great achieved without danger."
"Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage in war than audacity."
"If you're not working on the most important problem you think you can solve, why not?"
"He who will win knows when to fight and when not to fight."
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."
"There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction."
Context
Source: Speech: Address to the American Newspaper Publishers Association (1961)
Related Themes
"Fortunes require leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication."
"Only the paranoid survive."
Why these quotes matter
Understanding risk is crucial because avoiding it entirely often leads to stagnation and missed opportunities. By reframing risk as a necessary component of growth rather than a danger to be avoided, individuals and organizations can unlock their full potential and achieve asymmetric returns.
How to apply them daily
Apply these ideas by auditing your current decisions to identify where fear is dictating your path. Start taking small, calculated risks daily to build your tolerance, and use data to distinguish between perceived danger and actual probability.
Search More
Search for Your Favourite Topics & Authors
Jump to another topic, author, or pillar without leaving the archive.
"Ultimately, the greatest risk is taking no risk at all. Embracing the uncertainty of the future is the only way to shape it."
