"The worst part is doubt. When you doubt yourself, which we are taught to do, you get lost"
About this Quote
Doubt is framed here not as a private weakness but as a learned social program - something installed in you, then mistaken for your own voice. Kevin Eubanks, a musician whose career lives in the high-wire space of improvisation, is talking about a mental saboteur with real-time consequences. In music, especially jazz, hesitation is audible. The moment you second-guess a phrase, you don’t just miss a note; you miss the next doorway. Getting "lost" isn’t poetic abstraction. It’s what happens when the inner critic grabs the steering wheel mid-solo.
The line "which we are taught to do" is the quiet indictment. Eubanks points past individual psychology toward institutions: classrooms that grade creativity, workplaces that reward safe repetition, cultural scripts that tell you confidence is arrogance unless you’ve been officially sanctioned. Doubt becomes manners. It masquerades as humility. And it keeps you dependent on external permission.
What makes the quote work is its economy. "Worst part" suggests there are other hardships - failure, rejection, limited time - but doubt is singled out as uniquely corrosive because it compounds everything else. It doesn’t merely hurt; it disorients. That’s the subtext: self-doubt isn’t just an emotion, it’s a navigational failure. For an artist, losing direction is more dangerous than being wrong, because wrong can be interesting. Lost is just quiet.
Eubanks’ intent feels less like motivational poster talk than a practical musician’s warning: trust is a technique. Without it, talent can’t even find the stage.
The line "which we are taught to do" is the quiet indictment. Eubanks points past individual psychology toward institutions: classrooms that grade creativity, workplaces that reward safe repetition, cultural scripts that tell you confidence is arrogance unless you’ve been officially sanctioned. Doubt becomes manners. It masquerades as humility. And it keeps you dependent on external permission.
What makes the quote work is its economy. "Worst part" suggests there are other hardships - failure, rejection, limited time - but doubt is singled out as uniquely corrosive because it compounds everything else. It doesn’t merely hurt; it disorients. That’s the subtext: self-doubt isn’t just an emotion, it’s a navigational failure. For an artist, losing direction is more dangerous than being wrong, because wrong can be interesting. Lost is just quiet.
Eubanks’ intent feels less like motivational poster talk than a practical musician’s warning: trust is a technique. Without it, talent can’t even find the stage.
Quote Details
| Topic | Confidence |
|---|
More Quotes by Kevin
Add to List
