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Daily Inspiration Quote by Olivia Wilde

"But even if I'm left high and dry at the end of this wild journey, just taking it is a great feeling"

About this Quote

There is a kind of reckless optimism baked into Olivia Wilde's line: a willingness to trade the safety of outcomes for the electricity of motion. "Left high and dry" is the bluntest possible image of failure - stranded, exposed, a little embarrassed. But she frames that risk as a cost she's already accepted, because the real payoff is "just taking it": choosing the leap, not the landing.

As an actress-turned-director who has navigated Hollywood's tight corridors of permission and perception, Wilde is speaking to a cultural moment where women's ambition is still treated like a gamble that needs to justify itself. The subtext is defensive and defiant at once. She isn't pretending the journey ends in triumph; she's pre-empting the gotcha. If the project flops, if the industry shrugs, if the internet turns, she wants it on record that the act of pursuing it mattered.

The phrase "wild journey" does important work, too. It romanticizes the mess: the long shoots, the public scrutiny, the career pivots, the reinvention. It turns what could be read as instability into narrative momentum. That's why it lands emotionally without sounding naive. Wilde isn't selling hustle culture or manifesting success; she's claiming authorship over how the experience is valued. Even failure can't fully confiscate the thrill of agency.

Quote Details

TopicJourney
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Wilde, Olivia. (2026, January 16). But even if I'm left high and dry at the end of this wild journey, just taking it is a great feeling. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-even-if-im-left-high-and-dry-at-the-end-of-120580/

Chicago Style
Wilde, Olivia. "But even if I'm left high and dry at the end of this wild journey, just taking it is a great feeling." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-even-if-im-left-high-and-dry-at-the-end-of-120580/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"But even if I'm left high and dry at the end of this wild journey, just taking it is a great feeling." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-even-if-im-left-high-and-dry-at-the-end-of-120580/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.

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But even if I'm left high and dry, the journey is great
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About the Author

Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde (born March 10, 1984) is a Actress from USA.

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