56 Risk Quotes

Let these risk quotes encourage you to take positive chances in life rather than allowing fear to hold you back from your dreams and goals. Every day we make decisions without knowing exactly how things will turn out. There is always a possibility that we may not succeed, but without trying we may never discover what is possible.

Taking a risk does not mean acting without thought. Sometimes it means having the courage to try something new, make a change, speak honestly, pursue a goal, or move forward even when the outcome is uncertain. May these quotes inspire you to consider the opportunities before you and not be afraid to become all that you can be.

Updated September 28, 2026, by Catherine Pulsifer.

Risk Quotes About Taking Chances And Living Fully

Taking a risk can mean stepping beyond what feels comfortable and choosing to experience life more fully. These quotes encourage us not to let caution keep us from opportunities, adventures, and possibilities.

"Life is a risk."
Diane Von Furstenberg

You can play it safe and not take any risks, or you can live life with all the adventures it brings.
Catherine Pulsifer

To dare to go forth with a purpose true; to the unknown task of the year that’s new
Unknown, How To Be Happy This New Year

"Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first."
Frederick B. Wilcox

The real regrets in life are the risks you didn't take.
Habeeb Akande

"You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
Wayne Gretzky

"The universe will reward you for taking risks on its behalf."
Shakti Gawain

"Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down."
Ray Bradbury

"A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for."
John A. Shedd

Living means taking chances. Risks. Playing safe all the time is being dead inside, even if you happen to still be breathing.
Ellen Hopkins

"If you don't risk anything you risk even more."
Erica Jong

"When in doubt, risk it."
Holbrook Jackson

"The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all."
Jawaharlal Nehru

Risk Quotes About Courage And Overcoming Fear

Risk often asks us to be courageous before we know how things will turn out. These quotes remind us that confidence grows when we are willing to act despite uncertainty.

I'd rather risk gamely and lose for my trying than grind around tamely — a cog in the mill.
Berton Braley , The Joys Of Life

My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place.
Sidney Sheldon

Be bold about your dreams. Take risks. There is genius in being bold, because it is the opposite of being shy and uneasy.
Jason Harvey, Achieve Anything In Just One Year

"Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act."
Maxwell Maltz

Over the years I have discovered that taking less risks to avoid rejection is not an escape plan but instead, it can become a path to failing quietly.
Scott Allan, Rejection Free

A few strike out without map or chart, where never a man has been, from the beaten path they draw apart to see what no man has seen.
Edgar A. Guest, The Things That Haven't Been Done Before

"It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever."
Philip Adams

Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks.
Philip Adams

When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.
Steve Maraboli

"It's too easy to give in to the 'poor me' syndrome and keep doing what you've always done rather than risk tackling obstacles in your way to a new life."
Byron Pulsifer

To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
Author Unknown

"The thought of risk taking for many is tantamount to accepting the "I can't" syndrome as their main station in life."
Byron Pulsifer

Risk Quotes About Success, Goals And Achievement

Success usually requires effort, persistence, and a willingness to try without a guarantee of the outcome. These quotes connect risk with goals, winning, learning from failure, and reaching for more.

If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss, and lose, and start again at your beginnings.....you'll be a Man, my son
Rudyard Kipling , If

Taking risks with perseverance and persistence, luck comes to those who work against resistance.
Catherine Pulsifer, Luck An Invisible Thing

If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.
Jim Rohn

Those unwilling to take risks seldom win.
Wayne Gerard Trotman

Ambition is your special ware and you have dared to call it passion.
Sara Teasdale

"What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?"
Robert H. Schuller

To win you take the risks - To lose you are risk-averse.
Catherine Pulsifer, To Win or To Lose in Life

If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss, and lose, and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss...
Rudyard Kipling, If

You see to get ahead you must live not play dead. Some risks you may have to take - you have to live life awake.
Catherine Pulsifer, Failures You Have None?

"Risk, you can accomplish whatever your goals are."
Catherine Pulsifer

"If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk."
Rosalynn Carter

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."
Michelangelo

Be willing to take a risk, be willing to try new things, to think outside the box and you will find you will start moving towards the achievement of your goals.
Byron Pulsifer

"If you're not making mistakes, you're not taking risks, and that means you're not going anywhere. The key is to make mistakes faster than the competition, so you have more changes to learn and win."
John W. Holt, Jr.

Don't let other people stop you from achieving your goals. If you have determination and a plan, take the risk and move forward.
Mary S. Scotsburn

Risk Quotes About Change, Decisions And Growth

Some risks involve changing direction, making a difficult decision, or trying something new. These quotes encourage thoughtful action while reminding us that growth rarely comes from standing still.

"There are costs and risks to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction."
John F. Kennedy

Those who are not open to change risk missing out on the great opportunity of their stage in life.
Rachel Cowan, Wise Aging

"When you are faced with risk, uncertainty, and the unpredictable, your ability to deal with it is directly tied to your ability to absorb the consequences. Successful people know that in order to be "choosey" in life, in order to put themselves in a place of control over their lives, in order to make decisions on what they want instead of what they have to do, they must first have reserves."
Kathy Gates

"Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk."
Joaquin Setanti

"Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves."
Walter Anderson

"Often, people stay in jobs that they despise rather than taking a risk by changing their work to an area that they love."
Catherine Pulsifer

"These questions weighed heavily on my mind, but to simplify my life I had to take a risk….a risk dependent on my own abilities, and my own determination."
Catherine Pulsifer

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun."
Mary Lou Cook

"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash."
George S. Patton

"First weigh the considerations, then take the risks."
Helmuth von Moltke

Risk Quotes About Love, Family And Relationships

Opening our hearts to other people can involve trust, honesty, and vulnerability. These quotes reflect on the risks that can come with friendship, family, love, and caring deeply about others.

Don't risk losing a friendship over petty arguments.
Kate Summers

Be honest with your family, take a risk and tell them what you are planning. You may find they will be much more supportive than you expected.
Sam Fickinsen

True love is taking the risk that it won't be a happily-ever-after. True love is joining hands with the man who loves you for who you are, and saying, "I'm not afraid to believe in you."
Cara Lockwood

"What you risk reveals what you value."
Jeanette Winterson

Foster care is risky. Adoption is risky. Love itself is always risky.
Unknown

Risk Quotes About Faith And Community

Risk is not always personal ambition. Sometimes it involves serving others, strengthening community, and having faith as we step into responsibilities that matter.

A nurturing community of faith can best provide the thrusts of evangelism, discipleship, spiritual accountability, and relationship by which disciples grow in their walk with God.
John M. Perkins, Restoring At-Risk Communities

Conclusion

Taking a risk can feel uncomfortable because there are no guarantees about what will happen. Yet many of life's opportunities begin when we are willing to move beyond what is familiar and give something a try.

May these risk quotes encourage you to think carefully, trust what you have learned, and have the courage to move forward when an opportunity is worth pursuing. Even when things do not work out exactly as planned, the experience can help you grow and prepare you for the next step.

You do not have to take every risk that comes your way. But when fear is the only thing holding you back, remember that sometimes the greater risk is never trying at all.

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