Donald Knuth Quotes

With me, satisfaction is always very fleeting with our work. I always get a little restless with it.

Success can create more madness than happiness.

Joni Mitchell seems destined to remain in a state of permanent dissatisfaction - always knowing what she would like to do, always more depressed when it's done.

It's a bit of a headache being a perfectionist. You're never satisfied.

The long days are no happier than the short ones.

I don't feel any pressure from fans. But I'm always in some kind of state of emotional turmoil. I would not describe myself as happy-go-lucky. That's not to say that I'm not happy.

Why do we work so hard to feel so terrible.

With every job I watch, I can't find peace with what I've done. It's never good enough in my mind. I will never be happy if I'm in that mindset, unless I get a review that starts: 'Once in a generation.'

I'm never really happy with anything I do.

I'm never content, and I don't know if that's a curse or a good thing.

Sometimes it seemed like it was never good enough, no matter what I did.

By the time you get what you always wanted, you want something else.

Striving is exhausting. Sometimes I do say things like, 'I wish I were not quite this driven to be excellent.' It's not a comfortable life. It's not relaxed. I'm not relaxed as a person. I mean, I'm not unhappy. But... it's the opposite of being comfortable.

I have this problem where I'm never satisfied with what I do.

If you desire, you are restless.

I was nervous from the very beginning, and it got worse as the years went on. I was conscientious and wanted to do more, always, than I was able. I don't think, when I was playing, that I was ever happy - beginning at 4 o'clock any afternoon.

I am never sure that anything's good enough. Something that is good today will not be good tomorrow.

I'll never be satisfied in classical ballet. It'll never be good enough. I'll never be happy with most of my product.

I associate my motion picture career more with being unhappy and scared, or being under the gun, than with anything pleasant.

Basically, in our society, you can never fix anything enough. The minute you get your head above water about one thing, they let you know that 12 other things about you suck. It's like playing 'Self-Esteem Whack-A-Mole.'

Nothing is ever enough for me. I'm always thinking what is wrong, what needs to be fixed.

I'm never, like I say, I'm never happy, I'm never satisfied, it's never good enough.

I don't very often think I've done a good job. I don't like the majority of what I do. I shouldn't say I don't like it, but I'm not satisfied with almost everything that I do.

We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.

What I have crossed out I didn't like. What I haven't crossed out I'm dissatisfied with.