GREATEST RISK IS RISK NOTHING

To Orwell Today,

Hi,

I was doing research for a presentation I am giving and saw your poem on Risk that author is unknown. According to this poetry website the poem is by Janet Rand.

RISKS

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 the crowd is to risk being called naive.
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
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, feel, change, grow or love.
Chained by his certitude, he is a slave; he has forfeited his freedom.
Only the person who risks is truly free.

Often attributed to the poet and thinker, Leo Buscaglia,
the real author of this inspirational verse is Janet Rand

Just thought I would pass on the info,
Joshua P. Farmer, PE

Greetings Joshua,

Thanks for passing along that info about the Risk poem not being by "Author Unknown" but by Janet Rand.

Your version is slightly different than the other two versions of the RISK poem I've seen.

The first time I saw the poem was in a book I was reading. See ONLY A PERSON WHO RISKS IS FREE

Then a few years later a reader wrote in saying the author of the poem was William Arthur Ward, and that version was slightly different too. See UNKNOWN AUTHOR RISK POEM KNOWN

It's an inspirational poem in all its slight variations -- and hopefully the true author is among the three cited so far -- Leo Buscaglia, Janet Rand or William Arthur Ward. To quote a popular TV game show from the 60s (To Tell the Truth) -- "Will the real author please stand up".

All the best,
Jackie Jura, October 2017

GREATEST RISK IS RISK NOTHING (poem by Janet Rand)

UNKNOWN AUTHOR RISK POEM KNOWN (poem by William Arthur Ward)

ONLY A PERSON WHO RISKS IS FREE (poem by Author Unknown)

21.Crimestop (...Speculations which might possibly induce a sceptical or rebellious attitude are killed in advance...)

27.Goodthink (...She was the newspeak word goodthinkful - meaning naturally orthodox, incapable of thinking a bad thought. She had not a thought in her head that was not a slogan, and there was no imbecility, absolutely none that she was not capable of swallowing if the Party handed it out to her." 'The human sound-track' he nicknamed her in his own mind....)

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

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