Paula Scher

Graphic designer

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
When you’re working and you make mistakes, particularly when you’re young, you make discoveries because you do things that are inappropriate and wrongheaded, but within the wrongheadedness you find an unexpected way to go. These things are truly the breakthroughs.

Debbie Millman, Psychology Today, 'Brainstorm' column, 1 May 2009 source ↗

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Robert Ballard American oceanographer who discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1985
People not believing me. It's getting a little easier, but it's funny how people will say, "I don't think you can do that." Then you do it, and they say "That was great" and you say, "Well, I've got this other idea." "Naw, I don't think you can do that." So you do it again. When I said I was going to find the Titanic , no one believed it. When I said I was going to find the Bismarck , everyone believed it, and then I failed in my first attempt to find the Bismarck . So people expect you to succeed, but they don't want to stick their own necks out, and so risk-taking can be very lonely at times. You know that classic saying, which is very true: "Failure is an orphan, but success has many fathers." I'll tell you, when I'm most at risk, I look around, and there are not a whole lot of people there. But as soon as I succeed, they say, "We were always there." And I say, "Yeah, but 500 miles behind me."
Recorded Academy of Achievement interviewer, Academy of Achievement interview, San Diego, California, 1 May 1991 source ↗
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Basketball player and author
I had self doubts when I was a freshman in high school. I was 14 years old and not very mature, and there were a few incidents in my freshman year. I learned in a very competitive environment. The high school environment that I played in was very intense, and I learned how to be stoic and go out and compete.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interviewer, Academy of Achievement interview, 1 January 1989 source ↗
Li Na Chinese professional tennis player, 1999–2014
As hard as it's been to come to this decision, I am at peace with it. I have no regrets. I was not supposed to be here in the first place, remember? Not many people believed in my talent and my abilities, yet I found a way to persevere, to prove them (and sometimes myself!) wrong.
Recorded Open letter, 'My dear friends', Fox Sports Australia, 19 September 2014 source ↗
Mikhail Gorbachev General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1985–1991; President of the Soviet Union 1990–1991
A period of transition to a new quality in all spheres of society's life is accompanied by painful phenomena. When we were initiating perestroika we failed to properly assess and foresee everything. Our society turned out to be hard to move off the ground, not ready for major changes which affect people's vital interests and make them leave behind everything to which they had become accustomed over many years. In the beginning we imprudently generated great expectations, without taking into account the fact that it takes time for people to realize that all have to live and work differently, to stop expecting that new life would be given from above.
Recorded Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 5 June 1991 source ↗

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