A deadly streak of passivity of a kind that sometimes goes with perfectionism.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Perfectionism can lead to a state of inaction or passivity that is harmful or deadly.
- In plain terms
- Trying to be perfect sometimes makes you do nothing.
- What can you take from it?
- Perfectionism can paralyze you into inaction.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What stops you from starting?
- Are your standards too high?
Another view
Not all passivity stems from perfectionism.
More from Wilfrid Sheed
Off she'd go to the hospital, a place I believe she secretly liked because they treat you like a child there.
Permalink to quote #41 Through the burgeoning university network, it was suddenly possible to think of oneself as a national poet, even if the nation turned out to consist entirely o…
Permalink to quote #43 It is a fallacy to think that carping is the strongest form of criticism: the important work begins after the artist's mistakes have been pointed out, and the …
Permalink to quote #40
Related quotes
Nothing would be done at all, if a man waited till he could do it so well, that no one could find fault with it.
John Henry Cardinal NewmanJohn Henry Cardinal Newman quote #12 Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment.
Robert BenchleyRobert Benchley quote #21 Action is the parent of results; dormancy, the brooding mother of discontent.
Dinah Maria MulockDinah Maria Mulock quote #55