Muriel Rukeyser Quotes

I still get real nervous when I go in front of more than two people.

I do still get extremely nervous before speeches. My biggest fear is that I'll be standing there in front of hundreds of people and be incapable of talking. I'm afraid that I'll make a complete fool of myself and be unable to go on.

I will not do festivals. The thought of an audience that big frightens the life out of me.

If I have to speak in public, I am terrified.

The biggest problem for people who get really, really nervous when they perform live is that you think everybody's looking at you.

Public speaking, for me, or speaking even in front of a handful of people is my greatest fear.

It's hard to act in front of a lot of people.

I'm not big with an audience; I get very nervous.

I was scared every time I put on a uniform and stepped on the field. I’m scared every day I go into the studio and I come on stage because I fear that I will not live up to what is expected. I fear that somebody who spent a lot of money to come into our studio, to come to New York and they’ll walk away and go, ‘I could have stayed at home.’ I feared that as a player a fan would come to the stands and I wouldn’t perform well. Just the way I’m built. I’m more scared of failure than I am excited about the accolades that come with success.

You kind of half-prepare a speech in your head, and then you get up there and then you end up saying nothing that was in your head before you went up there. It's a very weird thing. I never do award speeches too well.

Getting up in front and talking to the people who build my cars is the worst. I get so damn nervous.

I would have stage-fright if I had to speak with every one of the people before whom I speak.

They want me to give another concert but I have no desire to do so. You cannot imagine what a torture the three days before a public appearance are to me.

It's terrifying to be the lead. There's a moment of excitement, and then pure terror.

I was extremely shy and had a terrible fear of public speaking. But I had fallen in love with stand-up.

I'm scared of rehearsals, I'm scared of doing all this because I don't feel like I'm an actress.

He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next

If I'm playing music in front of people, I'll lose days to nerves like really wasted days of just like being terrified. And then when I get out there, generally speaking, I enjoy it very much. But it seems to be I have to accept the fact that that's just part of the deal for me. And I can't just run on and do it.

My stage fright gets worse at every performance. During the overture I hope for a theater fire, typhoon, revolution in the Pentagon.

I have been nervous before, but I have never had stage fright.

I still get nervous sometimes before performing.

I'm scared of the interviews...I'm scared of having to get up onstage again. I'm scared of the critique. I'm scared right now of doing this again. But that's why I have to do it, I think.

To be honest, when I can feel that a lot of people are watching me, I get a little scared, but at the same time, it inspires me.

The worst feeling in the world is giving a bad audition.

I am not fitted to give concerts. The audience intimidates me, I feel choked by its breath, paralyzed by its curious glances, struck dumb by all those strange faces.