"I would sort out all the arguments and see which belonged to fear and which to creativeness. Other things being equal, I would make the decision which had the larger number of creative reasons on its side"
About this Quote
Hathaway’s line reads like a private algorithm for courage: take your own thoughts, lay them out on the table, and audit their motives. The key move isn’t “be brave.” It’s “classify.” By sorting arguments into fear versus creativeness, she treats decision-making as an ethical practice, not a personality trait. Fear isn’t debated on its merits; it’s exposed as a source, a bias that smuggles itself in wearing the costume of reason.
The subtext is quietly radical: we often mistake anxiety for prudence. Hathaway implies that the mind manufactures respectable-sounding rationales to protect itself from risk, embarrassment, or change. Her method doesn’t demand you eliminate fear (impossible, and maybe unwise); it asks you to stop letting fear chair the meeting. “Other things being equal” is doing heavy work here. She’s not romanticizing reckless leaps. She’s describing the real-life moment when the data won’t save you, when multiple choices are defensible, and the deciding factor becomes what kind of person you’re rehearsing yourself to be.
“Larger number of creative reasons” is also shrewdly democratic: creativity isn’t a lightning bolt, it’s a tally. One more generative motive can outweigh a stack of protective ones. In the context of a writer’s life - and, by extension, any life shaped by uncertainty - the quote functions as a discipline for choosing expansion over self-shrinking. It’s less self-help than self-interrogation: when you call something “realistic,” is it actually just fear with better diction?
The subtext is quietly radical: we often mistake anxiety for prudence. Hathaway implies that the mind manufactures respectable-sounding rationales to protect itself from risk, embarrassment, or change. Her method doesn’t demand you eliminate fear (impossible, and maybe unwise); it asks you to stop letting fear chair the meeting. “Other things being equal” is doing heavy work here. She’s not romanticizing reckless leaps. She’s describing the real-life moment when the data won’t save you, when multiple choices are defensible, and the deciding factor becomes what kind of person you’re rehearsing yourself to be.
“Larger number of creative reasons” is also shrewdly democratic: creativity isn’t a lightning bolt, it’s a tally. One more generative motive can outweigh a stack of protective ones. In the context of a writer’s life - and, by extension, any life shaped by uncertainty - the quote functions as a discipline for choosing expansion over self-shrinking. It’s less self-help than self-interrogation: when you call something “realistic,” is it actually just fear with better diction?
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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