“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”
— William Shakespeare
From Measure for Measure (Act 1, Scene 4), spoken by Lucio to Isabella, urging her to act despite her hesitation. Written around 1604.
I arrived in London with no degree, no patron, no name. Robert Greene called me an 'upstart crow' in print. The educated playwrights wanted me gone. I had every reason to doubt myself. But I noticed something: doubt never wrote a single line. Fear never filled a single seat. I wrote 37 plays while doubting every one of them. Your doubt is not protecting you. It is stealing from you. Write the thing. Build the thing. Say the thing. Doubt will still be there tomorrow. But so will you, if you act today.