The fear of not finding a quote...

November 28, 2009 6:22 PM

Trying to remember a specific quote about fear of success, and my google-fu is failing.

The quote was longer than most quotes, and went something to the effect of "We are not afraid of failing, but we are afraid of succeeding and becoming everything we can be...." There were religious overtones to it, but I can't remember much more than that. Any ideas?

posted by frwagon to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Best answer: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

–Marianne Williamson

Perhaps?
posted by alligatorman at 6:24 PM on November 28, 2009 [9 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you alligatorman. That's the EXACT one I'm looking for!
posted by frwagon at 6:25 PM on November 28, 2009

No problem. And in case you're wondering, my Google query was:

fear of success quote :-p
posted by alligatorman at 6:29 PM on November 28, 2009

I think the Williamson quote is often attributed to Nelson Mandella. Perhaps he quoted her in a speech.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:11 PM on November 28, 2009

I had seen the same quote previously attributed to Nelson Mandela, and today I learned that this is incorrect. Thanks frwagon and alligatorman.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 7:17 PM on November 28, 2009