Not Trying Quotes

I'm not trying to become popular. ~ Jack Abramoff

If you are not making mistakes, you are not trying hard enough. ~ Vince Lombardi

The arms race between [predators] and [prey] is asymmetric, in which success on either side is felt as failure by the other side, but the nature of the success and failure on the two sides is very different. The two sides are 'trying' to do very different things. [Predators] are trying to eat [prey]. [Prey] are not trying to eat [predators], they are trying to avoid being eaten by [predators].
From an evolutionary point of view asymmetric arms races are more [likely] to generate highly complex weapons systems. ~ Richard Dawkins

Life is meant to be enjoyed, not trying to dissect your self-worth to others or even yourself."
~Love is respect ♥~ ~ Charlena E. Jackson

A lot of my video work is super lo-fi on purpose. I'm not trying to become technically super proficient. The only thing I'm interested in becoming technically proficient on is my alto saxophone. ~ Matana Roberts

I always felt that if you're not trying something different each time out of the gate, you're being safe, and you don't ever want to find that place of safety. I like that, each time, before I even go in front of the cameras, the studio's reaction will be fear. ~ Johnny Depp

There's a difference between winning and losing and not trying at all. ~ Tim Huelskamp

The point is that when I see a sunset or a waterfall or something, for a split second it's so great, because for a little bit I'm out of my brain, and it's got nothing to do with me. I'm not trying to figure it out, you know what I mean? And I wonder if I can somehow find a way to maintain that mind stillness. ~ Chris Evans

I'm not trying to keep anybody happy. ~ Bill Parcells

You are kind," she said softly. "I am not kind," Kjell scoffed. "And you are good," she added. "I am not good!" he laughed. "I have never known a man like you." "You were a slave in Quondoon! The men you knew were not trying to impress you." "Neither are you, Captain. Yet I am still impressed." "Then you have a lot to learn." She ~ Amy Harmon

If my mind's not trying to fix something or create something, I don't know what to do. It just throws me off. ~ Will.i.am

I'm camera shy. I don't necessarily like being front and center. I'd rather not have my face all up in everything. I'm not trying to be some mysterious producer or anything like that. ~ Galcher Lustwerk

In order to change, you need to stop fearing the change but instead fear the results of NOT trying to change. What happens if you don't jump? What happens if you stay where you are right now? Isn't the greatest risk the risk of doing nothing?
Exist or risk. Dream or do.
Fear not changing, and you will change your life. ~ Rachel Marie Martin

My father and I had a really good relationship. We're cool. I am not trying to outdo him or anything like that. ~ Ziggy Marley

I'm not trying to be coy or manipulative or Machiavellian, I want to spark people's imaginations. ~ J.J. Abrams

Thirty-six satisfactory exposures on a roll means a photographer is not trying anything new ~ Freeman Patterson

I am not trying to say that a passport photo of himself can cure a gloomy man of a gloom for which there is no ground; for true gloom is by nature groundless; such gloom, ours at least, can be traced to no identifiable cause, and with its almost riotous gratuitousness this gloom of ours attained a pitch of intensity that would yield to nothing. If there was any way of making friends with our gloom, it was through the photos, because in these serial snapshots we found an image of ourselves which, though not exactly clear, was - and that was the essential - passive and neutralized. They gave us a kind of freedom in our dealings with ourselves; we could drink beer, torture our blood sausages, make merry and play. We bent and folded the pictures, and cut them up with little scissors we carried about with us for this precise purpose. We juxtaposed old and new pictures, made ourselves one-eyed or three-eyed, put noses on our ears, made our exposed right ears into organs of speech or silence, combined chins and foreheads. And it was not only each with his own likeness that we made these montages; Klepp borrowed features from me and I from him: thus we succeeded in making new, and we hoped, happier creatures. ~ Gunter Grass

I am not trying to say that I am poor and that I don't like beautiful things. But I don't like luxury for luxury sake or in the sense of showing off luxury. ~ Vladimir Potanin

You make this so hard," I muttered.
"Make what hard?"
Irritated and charmed, and annoyed because I was charmed, I glared at him. "Not liking you," I admitted.
Zayne's lips tipped up and a wide, beautiful smile appeared, stealing my breath again.
My eyes narrowed as I crossed my arms. "I don't know why you're smiling."
"Maybe because..." He rose, extending his hand toward me. "Maybe because I'm not trying to make it easy, Trin. ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout

I'm not trying to be a finger-wagger at society. I sort of start with myself. ~ Lisa Yuskavage

Jumping back into it was easy as apple pie, it was natural. Honestly, I'm not trying to be nostalgic and talk about the old days but I really believe wholeheartedly that the three of us, Woody Weatherman, Mike Dean & myself really learned how to play our instruments together and now that we are playing together again it can't be anything but natural. ~ Reed Mullin

I'm not trying to make myself look like a girl because I'm not a girl anymore. I'm very happy about being a grown woman. ~ Sharon Stone

We are simply committing ourselves to paying attention to our life. We use meditation to help us in that attention process. We are not trying to become good meditators. We are trying to wake up. ~ William Martin

I want people to see an honesty within me. I'm not trying to be the next Sam Cooke or Otis Redding. ~ Leon Bridges

I'm not trying to follow a set of rules and stuff. I'm just living my life. ~ Joel Osteen

Before you try to keep up with the Joneses, be sure they're not trying to keep up with you. ~ Erma Bombeck

This is a Personal Poem

My self's self is thinking about itself.
Trying to sell its self a new self.

Don't worry, reader,
I'm not trying to fool you with language,

I have eyes to do that with.
I have forgotten our history,

I have forgotten how we met.
Reader, are you upset at how fast we're moving?

I'm likely with you in your bed,
between your hands, somewhere

in your mouth before
whatever it is you'll say next.

Say yes and now and love too.
Say what did Judith Butler say when saying,

" … one is undone, in the face of the other,
by the touch, by the scent, by the feel,

by the prospect of the touch,
by the memory of the feel."

I want to know you, reader.
I want to know a lot of things.

Can we ever truly forget about ourselves?
Is every self a self that makes itself available to love?

Like death. And its kind availability.
Like language, reader,

would we still be so unhappy if we could escape it?
To name the namelessness that is love,

in what we read, and what we see,
and what are feelings really?

Facts or flaws,
or something tells me now

that I must leave you, reader.
It's not you, it's me.

We guess at why things end,
we ruin things, we start and stall,

and all all all we do
is want. ~ Alex Dimitrov

We shouldn't even get paid for this game. I'm not trying to take anything away from the Bobcats, they played a heck of a game, but we feel like we are at another level. I felt like we were the expansion team tonight. I'm thoroughly embarrassed. ~ Jermaine O'Neal

That's the truth about people with obsessively organised plans: we're not trying to control everything in our lives. We're trying to block out the things we can't. ~ Holly Smale

I am human. I am messy. I'm not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I'm right. I am just trying - trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself. ~ Roxane Gay

How did I think of that?" I wondered. I didn't feel like I had thought of it. It's a sort of flow that happens when you are completely in the moment and not getting in your own way. Not trying so hard, not planning ahead, just getting out of your own head and letting the magic happen. You could apply this to any activity, of course. You could apply it to life. ~ Rachel Dratch

One thing most of us agree on is that the universe exists (people who deny that usually follow some trade other than science), so if some theoretical particle interaction would lead ultimately to the nonexistence of the universe, then you can save a lot of electricity by not trying to demonstrate it. ~ Joe Haldeman

I'm not trying to be the triple threat guy. I'm still working on this one threat; acting. ~ John Krasinski

Meditation is the only intentional, systematic human activity which at bottom is about not trying to improve yourself or get anywhere else, but simply to realize where you already are. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

I think that people in general appreciate honesty and not trying to cook something up just to fit a mold that would be beneficial for you. I never made music like that. ~ Sam Hunt

Can you deal with the most vital matters by letting events take their course? Can you step back from you own mind and thus understand all things? Giving birth and nourishing, having without possessing, acting with no expectations, leading and not trying to control: this is the supreme virtue. ~ Laozi

This is the secret to satisfaction in anything: doing what gives you life and not trying to live up to others' expectations. ~ Jeff Goins

We are each one on a road going toward home, but we're not trying to get there for Christmas. We're trying to get there for eternity. We want to arrive home safely to our loving Father in Heaven. He wants us to make it safely there, so He has sent a guiding light for us to follow: a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect example. ~ Margaret D. Nadauld

The stated mission at the time was simply to use the influence of the entertainment industry to do an accurate portrayal of drug and alcohol abuse. We all admit that we're not trying to censor anybody. ~ Gerald McRaney

Posted 7/17/18

The Breath – Let the Breath be the Boss

When we begin sitting, it's good to begin with several big breaths, filling up the abdominal area,, the middle chest, and the upper chest until we're full of air, and then just letting it out and holding the exhalation for a moment. Do this three or four times. In a sense, it's artificial, but it helps to create a certain balance and forms a good basis for sitting.

Once we've done this, the next step is to forget it: forget controlling our breath. We won't entirely forget, of course, but it's useless to control the breath. Instead, just experience it, which is very different. We're not trying to make the breath long, slow, and even, as many books suggest. Instead, what we want is to let the breath be the boss, so that the breath is breathing us.

If the breath is shallow, let it be that. As we become our breathing, the breath of its own accord starts to slow down. The breath stays shallow because we want to think rather than experience our lives. When we do this everything becomes more shallow and controlled.

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, pg. 249 ~ Charlotte Joko Beck

We wake up most days not trying to serve, just trying to survive. ~ Kevin DeYoung

Georgie Porgie puddin' and pie. Kissed the boys and made them cry. What kind of name is Georgia?"
"My great-great grandma was Georgia. The first Georgia Shepherd. My dad calls me George."
"Yeah. I've heard him. That's just nasty."
I felt my temper rise in my cheeks, and I really wanted to spit on him from where I sat atop my horse, looking down on his neatly shorn, well-shaped head. He glanced up at me and his lips twitched, making me even angrier.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not trying to be mean. But George is a terrible name for a girl. Hell, for anyone who isn't the King of England."
"I think it suits me," I huffed.
"Oh, yeah? George is the name for a man with a stuffy, British accent or a man in a white, powdered wig. You better hope it doesn't suit you."
"Well, I don't exactly need a sexy name, do I? ~ Amy Harmon

Every time I step onto the field, whether people like it or not, I'm not trying to play dirty - I'm just playing tough. And I'm trying to earn my spot on the team. I'm trying to earn a starting spot. I'm trying to become a complete midfielder who attacks, who defends. So that's the mindset. ~ Carli Lloyd

Zen is discipline - the discipline of living life, the discipline of taking a breath, the discipline of not knowing and not trying to know. ~ Frederick Lenz

Concentration is not staring hard at something. It is not trying to concentrate. ~ Timothy Gallwey

I'm relaxed at the plate. I'm not trying to do too much. ~ Johnny Damon

I'm not trying to repeat myself or cater myself to one specific group of people. ~ Jenny Lewis

There was a positive side to not trying at something: you could always pretend that your life would have been different if you had. ~ Chris Abani

I'm not trying to steal the show. I tend to shy away from - I don't want to say the spotlight - how about responsibility? It's just very daunting. These movies are very intimidating. 'Captain America.' This is the stuff I struggle with. ~ Chris Evans

I'm not trying to be diplomatic. I'm trying to be more nuanced and realistic. I think there has to be a serious examination of the shortcomings of the Euro structure. Euro central institutions, whether it be fiscal policy, monetary policy, financial regulation, are simply not as robust as they are in a currency that has a national government behind it. ~ Stephen Harper

The lyrics are what I work on the hardest, but I'm not trying to make a perfectly clear message or anything like that. In fact, I'm usually trying to avoid saying something too directly, because usually that rings false anyway. ~ Matt Berninger

I don't think I'm complicated at all. I'm not political, and I'm not trying to be diplomatic. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, and I don't say bad things about people. There is no agenda. There's no trying to fool somebody. ~ Nick Saban

Americans have been dumbed down to the point where more people watching 'American Idol' than listen to the state of the union address. And that's too bad. I'm not trying to take any bread out of the mouth of Simon Cowell, but if the president is speaking to the people of the United States, and people are going to watch 'American Idol,' that's sad. ~ Henry Rollins

I'm not trying to defend Israel. What I'm telling my nation is that Israel is just like any other state, and I want them to get out of the illusion that Jewish people are evil, and that all they want is to kill Muslims and Palestinians. I want them to understand that their biggest problem is not Israel. ~ Mosab Hassan Yousef

We are this world. Its next generation. If you're not trying to save us, then what exactly are you trying to save? ~ Claudia Gray

I'm not trying to find and attain some sense of righteousness in my lifestyle. I'm just trying to live right. ~ K.I. Hope

I hated when people said 'no offense' or I don't mean to be rude.' If someone is going to say something rude or offensive, they should just say it or not. Trying to pawn it off as something not rude or offensive when it clearly was, was beyond insulting. ~ Aileen Erin

Our life comes in segments, and we have to understand that we can have it all if we're not trying to do it all at once. ~ Madeleine Albright

A woman who repeatedly asks a man she knows to be gay when he's going to get married and have children is not trying to let sleeping dogs lie. ~ Mallory Ortberg

Instead of failure being the outcome, failure became not trying. And it forced me at a young age to want to push myself so much further out of my comfort zone. ~ Sara Blakely

What I have appreciated about the 'Call of Duty' games is the scale of production. It's not an indie game. It's not trying to be an indie game. But I've genuinely been pretty consistently blown away by, wow, what an effort has gone into this. ~ Trent Reznor

If you're not making some mistakes, it probably means you're not trying hard enough. ~ Evan Davis

Not Trying Is The Real Failure ~ Karan BG

I'm not trying to be someone I'm not. ~ Donny Robinson

The truth is that I feel totally helpless, or totally inconsolable, to be more honest. I'm not trying to hide it, but it's something you're not to worry about. ~ Jostein Gaarder

I'm not trying to do it like that ... I'm trying to do it like it hasn't been done! ~ Michael Treanor

I'm not trying to look for pity or sympathy. I was just surprised that so many people in the world of entertainment seemed to be okay with misogyny and homophobia as long as they were profiting from it. ~ Moby

I'm not trying to make you cry. I'm trying to make you see. You're just like the colorful sky, Lilla, this beautiful creation, forgotten. Hidden wonders unseen, by those who don't bother to look any longer. I look. I can see them. ~ Pella Grace

We have to be able to criticise what we love, to say what we have to say 'cause if your not trying to make something better, than as far as I can tell, you are just in the way. ~ Ani DiFranco

The thing is, I've never believed in feuds. Don't get me wrong: I've been angry with people. Very angry – with people like Patrick Meehan, or that lawyer who tried to bill me for a drink, or Bob Daisley. But I don't hate them. And I don't wish them any harm. I reckon hating someone is just a total f**king waste of time and effort. What do you get out of it in the end? Nothing. I'm not trying to come over like the Archangel Gabriel here. I just think that if you're pissed off with someone, call them an arsehole, get it out of your system, and move on. It's not like we're on this earth very long. ~ Ozzy Osbourne

I'm a very friendly person, and I think that's had a big impact on my work because I tend to be pretty good with not trying to always win every argument and things like that. I just sort of try to bring a lot of people together to talk. ~ Jimmy Wales

We head out into space, ready for anything, which is to say, for solitude, arduous work, self-sacrifice, and death. Out of modesty we don't say it aloud, but from time to time we think about how magnificent we are. In the meantime - in the meantime, we're not trying to conquer the universe; all we want is to expand Earth to its limits. ~ Stanislaw Lem

I'm not trying to be a star on TV. I am who I am, which I hope comes out. I have a little bit of a different sense than most people know, and it takes a while to get used to it. ~ Cal Ripken, Jr.

So what's the big picture about our lust for sex?
We're not trying to acquire something. We want to feel something: Alive. Electrically, intensely, blazingly alive. Good. Bad. Pleasure. Pain. Bring it on
all of it.
For people who live small, I guess enough of that can be found in sex.
But for those of us who live large, the most alive we ever feel is when we're punching air with a fist, uncurling our middle finger with a cool smile, and flipping Death the big old bird. ~ Karen Marie Moning

No one else. It was me who had to carry myself over the finish line, and all I needed to remember when I felt like not trying was that that feeling wouldn't last forever.
Forever.
I used to believe it didn't exist. One word has terrified me as a child and it haunted me. But now I knew, and many small ways, but it was real, But it didn't scare me anymore. Forever wasn't a little girl cowering in the closet. Forever wasn't the shadows sitting in the back of the class. Forever wasn't doing what I thought Carl and Rose wanted instead of what I needed to do with my life. Forever wasn't believing I was some kind of replacement daughter and that I was letting them down. Forever wasn't being the one who needed protection. Forever wasn't pain and grief forever wasn't a problem. Forever was my heartbeat and it was the hope tomorrow held. Forever was the glistening silver lining of the dark cloud, no matter how heavy and thick it was. Forever was knowing it moments of weakness didn't equate to an eternity of them. Forever was knowing that I was strong. Forever was Carl and Rosa, Ainsley and Kira, Hector and Rider. Jaden would always be a part of my forever. Forever was in the fire-breathing dragon inside me that had shed the fear like a snake shedding skin. Forever was simply a promise of more. Forever was a work in progress. And I couldn't wait for forever. ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout

Hurt people hurt people. We are not being judgmental by separating ourselves from such people. But we should do so with compassion. Compassion is defined as a "keen awareness of the suffering of another coupled with a desire to see it relieved." People hurt others as a result of their own inner strife and pain. Avoid the reactive response of believeing they are bad; they already think so and are acting that way. They aren't bad; they are damaged and they deserve compassion. Note that compassion is an internal process, an understanding of the painful and troubled road trod by another. It is not trying to change or fix that person. ~ Will Bowen

Amanda bit her lip. "You're not ... trying to be funny or something, are you?"
"I'm not trying to be anything!" I said.
"All right, kids," the photographer called. "On the count of three. One, two-" She broke off, straightening up from the camera with a frown. "Excuse me. You in the turquoise? I need you to face forward."
I rotated my body as best I could.
"All the way, please."
I turned so that my shoulders werre even with everybody else's, only now my head faced Gail instead of the lens.
Gail pressed her lips together. "Stop it!" she said.
"Winnie?" Mr. Hutchinson said. He walked to the end of our row. "What's going on?"
"I can't," I whispered.
"Can't what?"
"Can't move my neck, it's stuck." Tears burned in my eyes, and I blinked hard to keep them back.
"Mr. Hutchinson, she's faking," Gail said. "She's trying to be funny and she's ruining everything. ~ Lauren Myracle

I'm not trying to be noble. I'm afraid. And the idea of having more love than I've ever had
and knowing I might never have it again
that scares me worse than anything. ~ Randall Wallace

Oh, please, please, no!' I begged, jumping to my feet. 'Please tell me you are not trying to have a sex talk with me, Charlie. ~ Stephenie Meyer

A proper lady should be able to smile pretty, wear sequins like she means it, and kick a man's ass nine ways from Sunday while wearing stiletto heels. If she can't do that much, she's not trying hard enough. ~ Seanan McGuire

Failing is not a problem. Not trying is a problem. ~ Jay Maisel

The notion that "this too shall pass" is comforting, both in knowing that whatever pain I'm in will change into something else and allowing myself to experience the pain, not trying to blunt it or brush it aside. It's important to feel and to be connected to your emotions, whichever way they play out. ~ Patrick Fabian

I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush. ~ Mitt Romney

Don't ever try to be somebody you're not. ~ Jeremy Davis

She'd like to bounce me off the ceiling."
"Oh aye,that she would, but she's not trying it at the moment.You're doing well, too." His gaze lifted until his eyes met Keeley's. "As natural at this as she is.Blue bloods, both of you."
"Are we making history,Brian?"
"Bet on it," he told her and kissed Betty just above the nose. ~ Nora Roberts

Are using the word practice here in a special way. It does not mean a rehearsal or a perfecting of some skill so that we can put it to use at some other time. In the meditative context, practice means "being in the present on purpose." The means and the end of meditation are really the same. We are not trying to get somewhere else, only working ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

It's really easy to insist that people read the manual. It's really easy to blame the user/student/prospect/customer for not trying hard, for being too stupid to get it, or for not caring enough to pay attention. ~ Seth Godin

Willow nodded. "Far be it from me to make excuses for him, and I'm not trying to do that now. But you are the prettiest little thing, Nicks. And then you strap on that guitar, and you turn into a ten-foot-tall warrior woman. I imagine you were a shock to Mr. Jensen's nervous system the first time he saw you. He has no justification for being an idiot, but I'll tell you, based on what I know about men, that his reaction was understandable to a certain extent. You must've come across like a ten on the Richter scale the first time he saw you play. ~ Shari Copell

I don't care if my opinion falls on the right or the left. I'm more of what I call a passionate centrist. I just believe what I believe. I'm not trying to prove anything for the right or the left. Which gives me freedom to make jokes about either side, too. ~ Larry Wilmore

Don't be afraid to take risks, for you take them every day without realizing it. I'd rather fail at trying something new or different than to lose just for not trying at all. ~ Bianca McCormick-Johnson

Sometimes it's okay to give up. Giving up is not bad; not trying to take that back is. ~ Bhavik Sarkhedi

I failed the LSAT. Basically, if I had not failed, I'd have been a lawyer and there would be no Spanx. I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. It is liberating. ~ Sara Blakely

Oh, sweet little boy, beloved little girl, you are so overwhelmed by life sometimes, I know, by the enormity of it all, by the vastness of the possibilities, by the myriad of perspectives available to you. You feel so pressed down sometimes, by all the unresolved questions, by all the information you are supposed to process and hold, by the urgency of things. You are overcome by powerful emotions, trying to make it all "work out" somehow, trying to get everything done "on time," trying to resolve things so fast, even trying not to try at all.
You are exhausted, sweet one, exhausted from all the trying and the not trying, and you are struggling to trust life again. It's all too much for the poor organism, isn't it? You are exhausted; you long to rest. And that is not a failing of yours, not a horrible mistake, but something wonderful to embrace! ~ Jeff Foster

I'm not trying to be a spokeswoman for the transgender community; I just want to be looked at as a living, breathing, happy human being. ~ Candis Cayne

I'm not trying to turn you into cowboys, I'm just trying to get you better coordinated, get your horse used to things, get your horse comfortable.
Heck, on the first ride you should be swinging a rope off a horse. You should be doing this not so you can rope a cow, but just to get him (your horse) gentle.
You can't think of everything in life your horse might encounter that might make him afraid so you'd better prepare em for it in other ways. ~ Buck Brannaman

To love light, you have to love dark. I'm not trying to be profound, I know you'll understand. I don't mean that you have to hate to love, or that you have to die to live.
I mean that sometimes, you turn out the lights just to turn them back on. ~ Alaya Dawn Johnson

I'm not trying to win individual awards. ~ Chris Webber

Often in the morning I will sit in a favorite chair in my study with a cup of coffee, with classical music playing, not trying to form a prayer with words but waiting, listening, until perhaps I sense the Spirit bringing to the surface a word from God. Then I offer just a simple 'Thank you.' ~ Leighton Ford

I told her that we go to work to provide for our families, attend school functions that our children are involved in, take a few pieces of cake we just baked over to our neighbor next door, drive our children to school in the morning. "No! No!" She said. "How do you worship?" I said we make love to our spouses, smile and greet someone we pass on the street, help our children with their homework, hold open a door for someone behind us. "Worship! I'm asking about worship!" She exclaimed. I asked her exactly what she had in mind. "You know-Rituals!" She insisted. I answered her that we practice those also and that they are a very important part of Muslim worship. I was not trying to frustrate her, but I answered her in this way in order to emphasize Islam's comprehensive conception of worship. ~ Jeffrey Lang

After you've found love, and you look back on the path you took to reach it, it all seems a bit silly. We spend so much time fearing rejection, when what we really should fear is not trying at all. ~ Mitch Rowland