Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool,
To Weep is to risk being called sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self.
To place your ideas and your dreams before a crowd is to risk being called naive.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair, and to try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken because the greatest risk in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.
Chained by things that are certain,
he is a slave. He has forfeited his freedom.

(Author Unknown)