Quotes about screw-up (84 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

“[Everyone needs] a woman who'll listen, take your side, tell the truth - or not, as you need it. A woman you can count on, no matter what, and who'll love you no matter how much you screw up.”

Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer

Source: Chasing Fire

Love , Truth

“Soon after my arrival in Moscow I had an hour's conversation with Lenin in English, which he speaks fairly well… I have never met a personage so destitute of self-importance. He looks at his visitors very closely, and screws up one eye, which seems to increase alarmingly the penetrating power of the other. He laughs a great deal; at first his laugh seems merely friendly and jolly, but gradually I came to feel it rather grim. He is dictatorial, calm, incapable of fear, extraordinarily devoid of self-seeking, an embodied theory. The materialist conception of history, one feels, is his life-blood. He resembles a professor in his desire to have the theory understood and in his fury with those who misunderstand or disagree, as also in his love of expounding, I got the impression that he despises a great many people and is an intellectual aristocrat.
…When I suggested that whatever is possible in England can be achieved without bloodshed, he waved aside the suggestion as fantastic… He described the division between rich and poor peasants, and the Government propaganda among the latter against the former, leading to acts of violence which he seemed to find amusing.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

Part I, Ch. 3: Lenin, Trotsky and Gorky
1920s, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism (1920)

Love , Life , People , Fear

“Most people have two emergency modes. Fight and Flight. But Conner always knew he had three. Fight, Flight, and Screw Up Royally.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

People , Fight

“I'm screwed up, mixed up, messed around, dive-bombing, crashing and burning.”

Jaclyn Moriarty (1968) Australian writer

Source: The Year of Secret Assignments

“The world is crazy. You need a license to drive a car and go fishing. You don't need a license to start a family. Two people have sex and BAM! Perfectly innocent kid is born whose life will be screwed up by her parents forever.”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

Life , People , World , Family

“We all screw up. Everyone makes mistakes. That’s what she did. It was bad judgment, that’s all. You don’t cut off the people you love for mistakes like that.”

Richelle Mead book The Golden Lily

Source: The Golden Lily

Love , People

“My dad used to say that life's a journey, but somebody screwed up and lost the map.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Kiss of Death

Life

“What the hell? We’re all screwed up some way. At least you bathe and I don’t have to fight you for chicks. In my book, that makes you all right.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Unleash the Night

Books , Way , Hell , Fight

“If babies held the same tendency toward self-criticism as adults, they might never learn to walk or talk. Can you imagine infants stomping, 'Aarggh! Screwed up again!' Fortunately, babies are free of self-criticism. They just keep practicing.”

Dan Millman (1946) American self help writer

Imagination , Learning , Baby

“You need to screw up to learn. You need to experience to create greatness.”

Laurie Faria Stolarz (1972) American writer

Source: Deadly Little Secret

Learning

“But I'm not ready to stop listening to the screwed-up inner voice that's been ordering me around for a lifetime. My head thinks it can kill me… and go on living without me.”

Mary Karr (1955) American writer

Source: Lit

Thinking

“Genius or fool, you don't live in the world alone. You can hide underground or you can build a wall around yourself, but somebody's going to come along and screw up the works.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985)

World , Fools

“Anyone can be crazy. That's usually just because there's something screwed up in your wiring, you know? But suicide is a whole different thing. I mean, how much do you have to hate yourself to want to just wipe yourself out?”

Michael Thomas Ford (1968) American writer

Source: Suicide Notes

Hate , Suicide

“You may have created my past and screwed up my present, but you have no control over my future.”

David Klass book You Don't Know Me

Variant: The good news is that you may have created my past and screwed up my present, but you havce no control over my future. You don't know me at all.
Source: You Don't Know Me

Past , Future

“I'm sorry your pretty little world got all screwed up, but everybody's does, and you go on. It's how you go on that defines you.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Bloodfever

World

“We're [parents]) always bluffing, pretending we know best, when most of the time we're just praying we won't screw up too badly.”

Jodi Picoult book House Rules

Source: House Rules

Parent , Time

“People are screwed up in this world. I'd rather be with someone screwed up and open about it than somebody perfect and ready to explode.”

Ned Vizzini book It's Kind of a Funny Story

Source: It's Kind of a Funny Story

People , World , Perfection

“I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, an ax I can take to my memories or fears?”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

Fear , Way , Soul , Memory

“I want to explain everything to him, show him that it’s really not as screwed up as it all sounds, but then I remember that it is.”

Jonathan Tropper (1970) American writer

Source: How to Talk to a Widower

“Everyone has crap in their background, everyone has things they wish they could undo. But most people don't go around doing their best to screw up their present lives because of it.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Rescue

Source: The Rescue

People

“Fight, flight, and screw up royaly.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

Fight

“In this whole screwed up town, you're the only thing that's always been right to me," He whispered. "I love you, Claire" said Shane.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Variant: Shane talking to Claire -

"In this whole screwed up town, you're the only thing that's always been right to me," He whispered. "I love you, Claire
Source: Lord of Misrule

Love

“I want to keep feeling the way I feel when I'm with you. Just tell me what I have to do. And give me some room to screw up. I've never done this before. There's a learning curve.”

Sylvia Day book Bared to You

Source: Bared to You

Way , Feeling , Learning

“I screwed up. Again. You're shocked, I'm sure.”

Kelley Armstrong The Reckoning

Source: The Reckoning

“Life gives you lots of chances to screw up which means you have just as many chances to get it right.”

Candace Bushnell book Sex and the City

Source: Sex and the City

Life , Chance

“Dad," I said hesitantly, "I wish you could be there for me even when I'm doing the wrong thing. I wish you could love me even when I'm screwing up.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Blue-Eyed Devil

Love

“We are not perfect. We make mistakes. We screw up but then we forgive and move forward.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Last Song

Source: The Last Song

Forgiveness , Perfection

“I'd been in hairier situations than this one. Actually, it's sort of depressing, thinking how many times I'd been in them. But if experience had taught me anything, it was this: No matter how screwed up things are, they can get a whole lot worse.”

Jim Butcher book Blood Rites

Source: Blood Rites

Thinking , Time

“Women always put men first. That's how everything got so screwed up.”

Janet Fitch book White Oleander

Source: White Oleander

Women , Men

“Fine. Let’s begin with something even you can’t screw up.” – Death
“Way to build up my crappy confidence there. You should volunteer for the suicide hotline.” – Nick
“What makes you think I don’t?” – Death”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Invincible

Death , Way , Confidence , Thinking

“If it's over--if it's really over--then don't let it screw up the rest of your life.”

Nicholas Sparks A Bend in the Road

Charlie Curtis, Chapter 37, p. 339
Source: 2000s, A Bend in the Road (2001)

Life

“I can let you in, Eva. I’m trying. But your first response when I screw up is to run away. You do it every time and I can’t stand feeling like any moment I’m going to do or say something wrong and you’re going to bolt.”

Sylvia Day book Bared to You

Source: Bared to You

Feeling , Time

“In case you still haven't figured it out, he loves you. Your tiger will be back in the morning, and you can thank me anytime. Now, do I have to paint another picture for you, or do you think you can take it from here by yourself without screwing up?”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Kiss an Angel

Love , Thinking , Painting

“And there is another feeling, one which he shares with most of humankind. He knows he's screwed up his life, or something has twisted it. Every thinking man and woman knows this. Even the smug and dimwitted realize this unconsciously. But a baby, that beautiful being, that unsmirched blank tablet, unformed angel], represents a new [[hope. Perhaps it won't screw up. Perhaps it'll grow up to be a healthy confident reasonable good-humored unselfish loving man or woman. 'It won't be like me or my next-door neighbor,' the proud, but apprehensive, parent swears.”

Philip José Farmer book Riders of the Purple Wage

Of Chib
Riders of the Purple Wage (1967)

Love , Life , Beauty , Hope

“The days and weeks of screwed-up smiles and laboured courtesy, the mock geniality, the hearty shake of the filthy hand, the chuckling reply that must be made to the coarse joke, the loathsome, choking compliment that must be paid to the grimy wife and sluttish daughter, the indispensable flattery of the vilest religious prejudices, the wholesale deglutition of hypocritical pledges.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Source: On canvassing for election, quoted in 'The Faction-Fights', Bentley's Quarterly Review, 1, (1859), p. 355

Smile , Daughters

“If you understand comedy, you understand life. Drama, death, tragedy – everybody has these. But with humour you've got all these, and the antidote. You have found the answer. It doesn't follow that because you are a good comedy writer, you're a happy fellow. I've got one of the most miserable faces in the world. I am only happy when I am working. If I'm not working, I get screwed up because my time is going, my life is slipping by.”

Eric Sykes (1923–2012) English actor and director

Quoted in The Guardian, Wednesday 4 July 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jul/04/eric-sykes

Life , Death , World , Understanding

“I called him because it made me so damned angry to think of that bastard sentencing a citizen for four months of hard labor for a minor traffic offense and screwing up my brother's campaign and making our country look ridiculous before the world.”

Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) American politician and brother of John F. Kennedy

On calling Judge Oscar Mitchell for sentencing Martin Luther King, Jr., as quoted in Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector (2000), p. 173

World , Thinking , Country

“Older staffers don’t even bother coming in on weekends. Where is the sleep-crazed, Pepsi-fuelled one-point-oh tech environment that can only be created by having no green vegetables, no sex and no life?
Cowboy said, “I miss the greed of the 1990s bubble.”
John Doe said, “I miss the possibility of unearned wealth.”
Bree said, “I miss the possibility of doing something Apple, something one-point-oh.”
Evil Mark said, “I miss people having Hot Wheels tracks set up in their cubicles.”
Gord-O walked into the pod. “You can’t miss the nineties, because you weren’t there. They were great. Too bad you screwed-up twits missed out on the party.””

Douglas Coupland book JPod

JPod (2006)

Life , People , Sex , Sleep

“Will moved on grimly, screwing up his eyes against the glare, ignoring the worsening pain from his hand, and finally reaching a state in which movement alone was good and stillness bad, so that he suffered more from resting than from toiling on. And since the failure of the witches' spell to stop his bleeding, he thought they were regarding him with fear, too, as if he was marked by some curse greater than their own powers.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997), Ch. 15 : Bloodmoss

Pain , Fear , Failure , Suffering

“How many of you watched the vice presidential debate expecting Sarah Palin to screw up? Be honest. [cheers and applause] : And how many of you watched the debate expecting Joe Biden to screw up? [more cheers and applause] : And how many of you watched the baseball game knowing the Cubs would screw up?”

Jay Leno (1950) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, voice actor and television host

more applause
Monologue, 6 October, 2008
The Tonight Show

Game

“You need systems. You need checklists. You need … things in place to keep people from making mistakes. Left to their own devices, people will screw up on a regular basis.”

Steven Novella (1964) American neurologist, skepticist

SGU, Podcast #207, July 1st, 2009 http://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu/207
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Podcast, 2000s

People

“I'd been two years locked up in hospitals. I was twenty when I got out from Bloomingdale and I met a young man from Harvard who was very attractive in a sort of Ivy League way. And we made love in my grandmother's apartment and it was terrific, it was just fabulous. That was the first time I ever made love, and I had no inhibitions or anything. It was just beautiful. I didn't get my period and so I had to tell my doctor. The hospital pass was given to see if you could handle yourself outside. I was terrified to tell him that I thought I was pregnant, but I finally did. I was pregnant. I could get an abortion without any hassle at all, just on the grounds of a psychiatric case. So that wasn't too good a first experience with lovemaking. I mean it kind of screwed up my head, for one thing. This fellow found out. I was upset... and he asked me, and I said, "I'm pregnant. I'm not going to ask you for anything, so don't get uptight, but it's just kind of making me uncomfortable. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do about it."”

Edie Sedgwick (1943–1971) Socialite, actress, model

He split, and I didn't see him again until the summer had passed and I went to Cambridge for my first free year.
On becoming pregnant after her first sexual experience
Edie : American Girl (1982)

Love , Beauty , Way , Time

“He knew that he had screwed up but he was the kind of guy who, after he shoots his mouth off, cannot back down or admit any failing. The world is full of those people. All of us would be better off if their fathers would strangle them as soon as they showed signs of being that way. This particular fool was willing to sacrifice an army rather than admit his error.”

Glen Cook book She Is the Darkness

Source: She Is the Darkness (1997), Chapter 30 (p. 368)

People , World , Fools , Way

“Science Fiction Gods; Do they take much of an interest in us? I doubt it. How much entertainment does an ant's nest provide you with?
'Adepticus Sir, that bunch of Ornithoids on Artoc 4 that you asked me to observe, well they've just trashed their planet.'
'Oh that is a pity Initiatus Jones. What was it this time, ecological screw up or nuclear winter?'
'Worse than that sir, i looks lke they were mucking around with vacuum energy without having first invented the Mobius sphere.'
'Ah yes, the old classic mistake, we loose a few like that.'
'Could we not have tipped them off about it Sir?'
'I'm afraid not Jones, stupidity must remain its own reward, it's regrettable but there you are. Did you salvage anything?'
'They composed some fairly good poetry a couple of centuries ago, and some rather fine cloud sculptures fairly recently, I've logged some records in the archives.'
'Splendid Jones, I'll peruse them this evening. What about those Apes on Sol 3, how are they getting on?'
'Quit a bit of warfare as usual Sir, mostly based on chemical explosives these days, but with the occasional use of plutonium. Many of them have developed a belief in a big bang theory, and they reckon that they have the maths to prove it.'
'Really? Smith in anthropology will probably find that hilarious, I'm sure she would appreciate the data. It was one of her old Stomping grounds you know?'
'No I didnt know that Sir'
'It was a long time ago Jones, and a bit of a fiasco actually, she gave them a piece of her mind about some of their barbaric behavior which then abruptly became worse. Ever since then they have been obsessed with the number plate on her craft, it read 'JHVH'. The department gave her a desk job after that.”

Peter J. Carroll (1953) British occultist

Source: The Apophenion (2008), p. 107-108

God , Stupidity , Behavior , Science

“We humans who art on Earth, humanity is special, our kingdom has come. Do what we innately know to be right, on Earth because that's all there is. Share the bread we have, try not to screw up. When others screw up, understand. We can't have everything that tempts us (Unless we work in international finance). Deliver ourselves from evil because this is it. The Earth, the power to do right, and the glory that will come if we do is ours, now and forever. Hu-man.”

Marcus Brigstocke (1973) comedian

The Now Show

Art , Understanding , Evil

“I try to live with few rules, but one that I’ve adopted over the years is this: if it’s down to me being screwed up, or everybody else being screwed up, it is far, far, far more likely that I’m the one who’s screwed up.”

Mark Manson (1984) American writer and blogger

Source: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (2016), Chapter 6, “You’re Wrong About Everything (But So Am I)” (pp. 145-146)

“I'm just saying, a lot of people are on medicine, they don't need to be. Because let's be honest folks, it isn't easy for anyone. And I think in most cases, the only difference between depression and disappointment is your level of commitment. And to be honest, in the day and age we live in now, if someone comes up to you and says, “I think you might be clinically depressed,” the proper response is, “Thank you, thank you very much. That means I’m awake." Is there any indication we shouldn’t be depressed— are you living on the same planet that I am? Did you ever think that depression is the reasonable human response to the crap we’re going through as a species, meant to propel us into the next evolutionary step, or at least into taking some different course of action so we might survive? Did you ever think that maybe it’s the happy people that are really screwed up in the head? Where’s that spin on the situation? Maybe it's those guys. "Hey, how ya doing?" "I don't know, I feel great, again!" "Really, well, that's creepy and weird. Maybe you should be on medication. Clearly you're self-centered, delusional, narcissistic. I don't know, but you're draining me with your happy. Could you move along because I'm doing the big work, creating a world that functions properly in my brain."”

Marc Maron (1963) Comedian

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/2ufif7/comedy-central-presents-bipolar-coaster
Comedy Central Presents (2007)

People , Age , World , Disappointment

“Stage is much more intimidating than going before the cameras, because you can really screw up, and can't do a retake.”

Daniel Radcliffe (1989) English actor

http://www.flixster.com/actor/daniel-radcliffe/daniel-radcliffe-quotes

“Given enough time humans will screw up Wikipedia just as they have screwed up everything else, but so far it's not too bad.”

Jimmy Wales (1966) Wikipedia co-founder and American Internet entrepreneur

Berkman Center (May 15, 2008) http://news.cnet.com/8301-13953_3-9945028-80.html

Time

“And the boy was right in back of her, his neck thin as a pencil. "My name is Thomas," he said. "Thomas Neary."
She didn't answer.
"The horse's name is Alfred, in case you want to know." He screwed up his face. "Or maybe Fernando."”

Patricia Reilly Giff (1935) American children's writer

Source: Water Street (2006), Chapters 1-10, p. 21-22

Boy , Horse

“The future might have been crammed with miracles and wonders, but it also offered truly awesome opportunities for screwing up.”

Alastair Reynolds book Century Rain

Source: Century Rain (2004), Chapter 30 (p. 467)

Future

“I can't screw up Alabama… We are number 48 in everything and Arkansas and Mississippi aren't going anywhere.”

Charles Barkley (1963) American basketball player

About running for governor of Alabama, on Campbell Brown, CNN, October 27, 2008 http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/27/brown.barkley/index.html.

“The sexuality of creativity – on that level, human interaction becomes less of an oppressive pyramid and more of a dance, an orgy, something that you can imagine being a bit of fun. It seems to work naturally, except when order is imposed upon it, from above, and then everything starts getting a bit screwed up. The information, the energy, starts to get messed up.”

Alan Moore (1953) English writer primarily known for his work in comic books

De Abaitua interview (1998)

Imagination , Nature , Dance

“I think you can meet the right girl at the wrong time, and it gets screwed up. If you meet the right girl at the wrong time, that girl has to be the most understanding person in the world because there's going to be a lot more bumps in the road. And, hey, it might be the right time for the guy and not for the girl, but if it's not the right time for one of them, and the other one tries to control that, it's not gonna have a happy ending. Both people have to be ready, and they might not think they're ready… that's why I think it's the right girl first.”

Jake Johnson

New Girl's Jake Johnson Talks Married Life, Drinking, and Partying at Steven Speilberg's House (for Real) http://www.glamour.com/story/new-girls-jake-johnson-talks-t (August 22, 2013)

People , World , Guy , Girl

“Actually, it's tough, because he's not really screwing up. He seems to be doing a good job, but we're there just in case — the first time he does anything.”

Jimmy Fallon (1974) American TV Personality

In answer the question "Is it easy to write jokes [on Saturday Night Live] about President Bush?", posed in the summer of 2001
Smith, Kerry L. (2001-07-05), "Jimmy Fallon". Rolling Stone. (872):153

Time

“Rudolpho, a thrice-divorced man in his forties, put it aptly: "Relationships with women always begin on a high. When the relationship begins I'm the hero, the rescuer, and superman, all wrapped up in one package. Naturally, it's hot and romantic and the woman adores me. As the relationship progresses and negative things happen, she reacts with hurt, disappointment, or silence. The message is clear: The problem is my fault, it's my creation."In my twenty years of experience with various women, I can barely recall a woman who acknowledged her contribution to a problem. The words, 'I'm sorry. I screwed up,' or, 'That's my problem and I want to work on changing the way I react,' are not what I hear."”

Herb Goldberg (1937–2019) American psychologist

"A Woman" Is an Abstraction, p. 51
What Men Still Don't Know About Women, Relationships, and Love (2007)

Women , Disappointment , Way , Nature

“My Hindi direction is screwed up, I blink too much and I have no technical knowledge of film making.”

Preity Zinta (1975) film actress

Personal Quotes

Knowledge

“Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.”

Randy Pausch book The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture (2007)

People

“It's all false pressure; you put the heat on yourself, you get it from the networks and record companies and movie studios. You put more pressure on yourself to make everything that much harder. You say, 'Well, I'll get all screwed up and then it'll be a real challenge again.' So stupid—I've often wondered why people do these things. You're so much happier if you don't, but I guess happiness is not a state you want to be in all the time.”

John Belushi (1949–1982) American comedian, actor, and musician

Source: Bob Woodward. Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi. p. 209 ; Form interview in Cosmopolitan, December 1981, according to: Robert Andrews (2003), The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations. p. 144

People , Stupidity , Time , Falseness

“How sweet is praise, and justly purchased glory,
By one's own actions, when to Heaven they soar!
Each nobler soul will strain, to have his story,
Match, if not darken, all that went before.
Envy of other's fame, not transitory,
Screws up illustrious actions more, and more.
Such, as contend in honorable deeds,
The spur of high applause incites their speeds.”

Luís de Camões (1524–1580) Portuguese poet

Quão doce é o louvor e a justa glória
Dos próprios feitos, quando são soados!
Qualquer nobre trabalha que em memória
Vença ou iguale os grandes já passados.
As invejas da ilustre e alheia história
Fazem mil vezes feitos sublimados.
Quem valerosas obras exercita,
Louvor alheio muito o esperta e incita.
Stanza 92 (tr. Richard Fanshawe)
Epic poetry, Os Lusíadas (1572), Canto V

Soul , Envy , Speed

“When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.”

Randy Pausch book The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture (2008)

“I'm trying to figure out, let's see, I'm in my room, in New York city, and I want to put a little spray, so I can, you know [mimes spraying] right, right, but I hear they don't want me to use the hairspray, they want me to use the pump, because the other one, which I really like better than going [mimes pumping] bang, bang, bang, and then it comes out in big globs, right, and it's stuck in your hair and you say, "Oh my god I've got to take a shower again, my hair's all screwed up", right, I want to use hairspray, but they say "Don't use hairspray, it's bad for the ozone", so I'm sitting in this concealed [sic] apartment, this concealed unit (you know I do live in a very apartment, right) but it's sealed (it's beautiful) I don't think anything gets out, and I'm not supposed to be using hairspray!”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Speaking at a rally in Hilton Head, SC https://www.c-span.org/video/?402610-1/donald-trump-campaign-rally-hilton-head-south-carolina (30 December 2015)
2010s, 2015

God , Beauty , Thinking

“When you screw up someone’s life, the least you can do is leave the person alone.”

Chetan Bhagat book Revolution 2020

Revolution 2020 (2011)

Life , Personality

“I have done some films along the way that have been screwed up and not as good as they read. Some films that are not that good on the page turn into good movies. So I’m fallible is what I’m saying. It’s OK to be wrong. You learn from your wrongs. You don’t learn from being right. If you’re right, you already know it. If you’re wrong, it’s because you don’t know about it, and you made a mistake.”

Martin Landau (1928–2017) American actor and acting coach

Martin Landau: ‘Doubt Is Important’, Washington Times (December 25, 2016)

Way , Learning , Reading

“Don't come into the music industry. It's almost inevitable that you'll psychologically be quite screwed up. Fame isn't a natural, human, behavioural thing. You get alienated. You're not really surrounded by truth.”

Katie Melua (1984) British singer-songwriter

[Bernard Perusse, A private path to fame, http://www.canada.com/cityguides/montreal/story.html?id=cb6fe4fc-01ef-4d0b-ad86-7ad091135e1b, The Gazette, canada.com, 2008-06-26]

Truth , Music , Nature

“He said, when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up. And that’s a lesson that stuck with me my whole life. Is that when you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.”

Randy Pausch book The Last Lecture

When Pausch spoke of "when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gaveup." he was quoting an assistant coach of football coach James Graham
The Last Lecture (2007)

Love , Life

“I screwed up the first competition and she stayed with me. That's when I knew I'd found the one.”

Tessa Virtue (1989) Canadian ice dancer

Scott Moir, quoted by Olympic Channel (2018)
Partnership with Scott Moir, Scott Moir about Virtue

“"When you're a head coach, you don't know where to stand," Edwards said. "You're screwed up. You go on the field, no one's talking to you. `Somebody's gonna talk to me.' You don't know what to do. So you go over and talk to the other head coach, and kind of shake his hand, then you go, `Where do I stand?'"—In an interview with South Florida Sun-Sentinel Reporter Ethan J. Skolnick.”

Herm Edwards (1954) American football player, coach and analyst

With Kansas City

Sun

“People say 'Poor guy.' That insults me. I despise sympathy. So I screwed up. I made some mistakes. 'Poor guy,' like I'm some victim. There's nothing poor about me.”

Mike Tyson (1966) American boxer

http://jco.usfca.edu/boxing/rape.html
On himself

People , Guy

“Susan [Silver] gives me a huge amount of room to be that recluse, and also the incentive to not be. It’s worth a lot to see her be excited about being around someone who’s not afraid of his shadow. It’s good for her. She digs it. But we’re becoming more alike. When she comes home to me from a day at the office, where she’s talking to people from all over the world about all sorts of important things… well, I probably haven’t answered the phone in seventy-two hours. She knows that when she comes home she’s going to get privacy, because I’m not like ‘These are my South American friends and… honey, have you ever really listened to that first Van Halen album?’ She’s the best roommate I’ve ever had. People are sort of perplexed, as to how this could possibly work in this grunge-music, super-druggy era where everybody is so emotionally screwed up. Not only is Soundgarden not OD’ing on heroin, but the singer’s wife manages the band, there’s no weird Yoko Ono trip, and she’s not trying to make us dress up like lions and unicorns.”

Chris Cornell (1964–2017) American singer-songwriter, musician

When asked if intimacy is an issue in his marriage to Soundgarden's manager Susan Silver ** Interview with Details Magazine, December 1996 https://pitchfork.com/features/article/10081-chris-cornell-searching-for-solitude/,
Soundgarden Era

People , World , Music , Home

“Waldo Butters: Screw up my life?
[He stared a me for a second and then said, deadpan]
Waldo Butters: I’m a five-foot-three, thirty-seven-year-old, single, Jewish medical examiner who needs to pick up his lederhosen from the dry cleaners so that he can play in a one-man polka band at Oktoberfest tomorrow.
[He pushed up his glasses with his forefinger, folded his arms, and said]
Waldo Butters: Do your worst.”

Jim Butcher The Dresden Files

Source: The Dresden Files, Dead Beat (2005), Chapter 5

Life

“Tell David Cameron that if he screws up my beloved NHS I'll come back and bloody haunt him.”

Claire Rayner (1931–2010) British writer

Deathbed statement. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8059107/Agony-aunt-Claire-Rayners-deathbed-warning-to-haunt-Cameron-over-NHS.html

“I may be small, but I screw up big because I'm standing on the shoulders of GIANTS.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

This evokes the statement by Newton: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Vorkosigan Saga, The Vor Game (1990)

“If the potential damage is moderate or in any way reversible, don't give people the chance to say no. Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitant to get in the way if you're moving. Get good at being a troublemaker and saying sorry when you really screw up.”

Timothy Ferriss book The 4-Hour Workweek

The 4-Hour Workweek (2007)

People , Way , Chance

“Everybody's a bit screwed up, you know. You can take it as symptoms of a disorder, or you can take it as personality. Me, I'd rather think it as parts of personality.”

Jarvis Cocker (1963) English musician, singer-songwriter, radio presenter and editor

Talking about his father and family relationships in South Bank Show (2007)

Thinking , Parting , Personality

“I screwed up the first competition and she stayed with me. That's when I knew I'd found the one.”

Scott Moir (1987) Canadian figure skater

Scott Moir, quoted by Olympic Channel (2018)
Partnership with Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir about Virtue

“But as far as I am concerned, the computer is the worst damn instrument devised by man to screw up man-management.”

Christopher Vokes (1904–1985) Canadian general

England, p. 74
Vokes - My Story (1985)
Context: I looked for certain attributes in a soldier. I know the modern method is to put the attributes into a computer and see what comes out. But as far as I am concerned, the computer is the worst damn instrument devised by man to screw up man-management.

“Haitians weren't screwed-up, but everything political, intellectual, and material around them is.”

P. J. O'Rourke (1947) American journalist

All the Trouble in the World (1994)

“I’ve been through a lot of hearings about one damn thing and another. Most of the time they’re exercises in ass covering. If the unvarnished truth ever came out at one, it would be because someone screwed up.”

Daniel Abraham (1969) speculative fiction writer from the United States

Source: Caliban's War (2012), Chapter 9 (pp. 93-94)

Truth , Time , Exercises

“Time seemed stationary, yet the painful pressure of time was constantly felt. If only the pressure would crush the life out of him and allow him simply to sink into the inviting movement of clock hands or feel the passing of time he could then feel he was getting closer to something or at least further away from something, it didnt really matter which. Nothing really mattered. If only there were some kind of movement. But everything remained motionless, the body not even moving on the bed, while feeling the tearing pressures from all sides in all directions. Feeling deep within him in that pit where there lived the violent and contorting pain of maggots crawling through your guts between the rusty cans and broken bottles and the screaming urgency to get time to move, to just move before every FUCKING GODDAMN PART OF YOUR BODY SCREWS UP INTO A FUCKING BALL AND YOUR WHOLE FUCKING BODY DISINTEGRATES, JUST SHATTERS and there was no escape, even with the lack consciousness, for with it came dreams of wakefulness. There was no escape from the past. The struggle against it only entangled him deeper in the fear of the future. There was no place for him to go. No place he could hide. No place where his enemy didnt exist. No escape from unconscious wakefulness. There was no rest.”

Hubert Selby Jr. book The Room

The Room (1971)

Fear , Pain , Time , Past

“Stupidity, yes, but not unilateral stupidity. Something this screwed up had to have taken a committee.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar (1991), Chapter 10 (p. 411)

Stupidity

“… Wage theft, the intentional dumping of oil, shark finning—in each of those categories you’ll find people who are the culprits, but if you really try to understand what makes them tick, you’ll see that they’re pretty desperate characters who are victims themselves of a larger, screwed-up system…”

Ian Urbina (1972) American journalist

On trying to distinguish predator from prey in The Outlaw Ocean in “Wage Theft, Slavery, and Climate Change on the Outlaw Ocean” https://civileats.com/2019/09/27/wage-theft-slavery-and-climate-change-on-the-outlaw-ocean/ (Civil Eats; 2019 Sep 27)

Making love , People , Understanding

“I’m probably more laid-back in a lot of ways. I was very type-A as a kid, and I wanted to be the best at everything. Now I’ve definitely learned that this is not the best [quality] to have. You need to be able to screw up and learn from it.”

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (1984) American actress and singer

Interview with Glamour Magazine (26 April 2017)

Learning , Way

“Too many politicians try to be something they're not. There is greatness and flaws in all of us, all in the same package. But I realized I had the ability to screw up but then move on. Being able to recognize a mistake and move on is necessary in politics.”

Joel Kleefisch (1971) US politician

All in the family: Former officials head in new direction https://www.wdtimes.com/news/local/article_b6ae2c56-15c7-11e9-8dfd-df72ef1b3f77.html (January 11, 2019)