J. Tillman Quotes

So many people define themselves by what they've accomplished or not accomplished.

To an outsider, I just seem like a list of accomplishments. To me, all there is is how often I fail.

I always wondered if I was supposed to be excellent at something or not. I think, because of that, I have a lot of insecurities about myself.

I always wanted to be an actress. And it wasn't ego. I felt so little about myself, considered myself such a sparrow. Not just my size. I thought I was so plain... I did plays not to show off but because if I did that - I didn't realize it at the time - I would be somebody other than this person I didn't really approve of.

I don't judge my self-worth as a football player. Football is something I love. It's a fun career deal, but it's not what I want to do with my life, because I see football as a game.

The younger me was motivated by a need to please others, by the pressure to climb the corporate ladder and make money, and by a fear of failure - all of which became more and more intense as I navigated the competitive landscape.

It's always my biggest insecurity - disappointing myself or my partner.

If I die and you remember me as an athlete, I failed at life.

I think most of my childhood, adolescence, and teenage years, I was struggling to feel validated - which led to a lot of my career choices as well.

I felt puny and absurd, a ludicrous midget. Easy enough to talk of soul and spirit and existential worth, but not when you're three feet tall.

I was scared of running off to be a comedian and then having to come back with my tail between my legs.

People say they want to be in risky environments and do all kinds of exciting stuff. But they don't actually know what risk means: that risk actually does bring failure and mistakes.

People always say that I'm just a beautiful face. So immediately, I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be recognized to be more than that.

I made the mistake of pouring my entire identity into one single dream and convincing myself that I was not capable of anything else or creating any other dream.

I couldn't stand the thought of not succeeding; failure was more than I could deal with.

Too great a sense of identity makes a man feel he can do no wrong. And too little does the same.

Neither of us are workaholics. I think the key thing is to accept that if you only exist through what you do, then you become what you do, and this is very wrong.

I have to figure out why I worked at a job I hated for years. I have to find out why I can’t see what everyone else sees in me. I don’t feel beautiful. When I look in the mirror, I never saw beautiful. For this to happen to someone like me, it’s devastating, Jonas. I don’t want you to think it’s vanity, it isn’t. I can’t see me and I need to be able to do that. I need to find out what I’m like and what I want. I have to be comfortable in my own skin before I can be in a relationship the way you want.

Great names abase, instead of elevating, those who do not know how to bear them.

Insecurities are about as useful as trying to put the pin back in the grenade.

Horrible experiences lead us to wonder whether the person who experiences them might not be something horrible.

I believe that a lot of people in our society today, people who have been hurt and even people who haven't been hurt, get their worth and value from what they do, what they look like, what they own, what kind of job they have, what kind of house they live in, how much money they have, what social circles they're in, what level of education they have, especially even how other people respond to them. They feel better about themselves if everybody is giving a smiling nod to the way they look and all their choices.

It's very advantageous to be sensitive with your work - and, yet, being sensitive, in reality, when criticized, it can annihilate you. It can destroy you. And with the internet there sometimes is a lot of harm, which I find must be very difficult for youngsters coming on - it can be very harsh; the criticism. And, sometimes, it can be a little cruel - which makes it hard for young performers coming on.

If you are unwilling to fail, sometimes publicly and even catastrophically, you will never be rich.

My life is bigger than basketball.